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War-themed TV series do disservice to history and viewers (3)

(Shanghai Daily)

09:31, April 19, 2013

Ludicrous

Obviously, the absurdity has reached such an extent that authorities decided to put an end to it.

Asked by reporters how he felt about the spate of eye-popping ? and often factually inaccurate ? series, Wang Weiping, an official with the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, said the broadcasting watchdog has taken note of the issue, and is taking action to correct it.

It's understandable that in peacetime war epics featuring brave Chinese battling marauding Japanese invaders are still one of the most popular themes of TV series. After all, the hideous wartime atrocities committed by Japanese troops still outrage and rankle many Chinese, and the war memories and hatred of the fascists are kept alive as part of our national patriotic education.

So we grow up seeing China's suffering rehashed, again and again in such films as "Nanking! Nanking!" (2009) and "The Flowers of War" (2011) and often the directors go to great lengths to dramatize quixotic individual struggles against the formidable Japanese war machine without compromising historical facts too much.

And what better choices than these orthodox dramas to easily pass censors and garner high audience ratings?

So although Japan occasionally complains that its image is being perpetually cast in a negative light by these war films, the cameras just keep on rolling.

But many directors, in their earnest desire to make knockoffs of classic war epics, are overdoing the theaters to the detriment of historical facts.

While it may give us an adrenalin rush to see brutal Japanese soldiers mauled to pieces, these gory scenes in fact reveal the troubled mind of their authors who have no scruples about distorting the facts of China's subjugation into imaginary victories, to please a deluded audience.

Needless to say, some of the dramas should have been X-rated for containing scenes of graphic violence and sex.

More importantly, the excessive number of these series and their fantastic content is misleading our children about the true story of World War II, leading them to believe that Japan was not China's equal, that China won the war with little more than passion, patriotism and a few martial arts warriors and guerrillas.

History is a serious subject and any tinkering with it must be treated seriously. Although films and soaps are needed to fuel our love of the motherland and commemorate the martyrs who died repelling the invaders, shoddily made, surreal and irresponsible films are counterproductive, as they ignore history and facts, insulting the intelligence of martyrs by showing them defeating unbelievably unintelligent enemies. Thus, they take the glory out of our hard-won victory.

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Email|Print|Comments(Editor:LiXiang、Ye Xin)

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