WHEN China's film board ordered the 2D version of "Avatar" to be pulled from cinemas and replaced with a worthy state-produced epic about Confucius in time for the upcoming Chinese New Year, many suspected censorship. The fictional tale of land expropriation and eviction seemed to cut too close to the bone. But so anaemic has been the response to "Confucius", despite the draw of Chow Yun-fat, that "Avatar" has been allowed back. Mary Kay Magistad writes well about it here.
Update: For reasons of scrupulous balance, I should have pointed out that not all arms of government resent "Avatar". Yesterday Hunan formally renamed a scenic part of the Zhangjiajie national park in the north-west of the province, famous for its fabulous karst formations. Nantian Yizhu (Pillar of the Southern Sky) is henceforth to be Avatar Hallelujah Mountain. Bu dao AHM fei hao han.
很多人對中國電影監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)產(chǎn)生了質(zhì)疑,因?yàn)樗鼈円?D版的阿凡達(dá)撤出熒屏來為國產(chǎn)故事片《孔子》讓路,以迎接農(nóng)歷新年。阿凡達(dá)科幻版的強(qiáng)征土地和驅(qū)趕原居民看起來觸到了政府的軟肋。但是盡管有周潤發(fā)的出演,市場仍然對《孔子》反應(yīng)冷淡,于是只能讓阿凡達(dá)重新放映。Mary Kay Magistad在這里做了更詳細(xì)的報(bào)道。
原作者按:出于對本文觀點(diǎn)的進(jìn)一步解釋,我必須指出并不是所有的政府措施都是反對阿凡達(dá)的。昨天,湖南正式的以阿凡達(dá)的名義重命名了張家界國家公園的一個(gè)景點(diǎn)。以喀斯特地貌而出名的南天一柱(音譯)從此以后就成為了阿凡達(dá)(哈利路亞)山。