Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ Draws Fire in China, Praise From U.S. Conservatives | The Hollywood Reporter
Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ Draws Fire in China, Praise From U.S. Conservatives | The Hollywood Reporter
Showrunner David Benioff says the show's brutal Cultural Revolution scenes were not intended to be a critique of cancel culture but notes that some parallels are "hard to ignore."
This is literally a "random people too unnoteworthy to even name on social media are saying X" article.
This is tripe. It's not journalism. I don't care what the overall message is, the publisher and reporter should be embarrassed to release it.
US conservatives will ALWAYS find an angle to say something is related to how much they hate the imaginary and undefinable threat of "wokeness". PRC goons will ALWAYS find a way to say something western-produced is anti-China. Neither deserve platforming for their every nonsense claim.
It's a decent albeit brief write-up of the scene and the story if you take all this social media horseshit out of it. But instead they led with it.
But what did Ja Rule think of it? 🤔
Some conservatives in the U.S. are likewise zeroing in on the scene, calling it a rare example of Hollywood showing what happens when collectivist ideologies are taken too far.
Just wanted to clarify what conservatives supported.
Because (and legit not trying to just shit on them) my first thought was they supported ignorant people killing anyone with an education because they think ignorance is bliss.
They just still don't understand they're 99% the same as the red guard.
After what they did to GoT, I'll never watch anything by Benioff & Weiss again.
They're fine if they have a source material to recreate. If they try to take this series beyond the books, abandon hope and abandon ship immediately
Fuck that! I don't like the ending either. It's bullshit. And I blame the two, indeed. But I will not forget that they also gave us 4 seasons of the best TV that has ever been produced! And I believe that people can learn from their mistakes... I won't say that tbp will be good, but I liked the first 3 episodes so I hope it continues like that. Why are people so resentful?
The book was written and published in China, wasn't it? And that scene is a centerpiece of the first chapters and gets regularly referenced to here and there in the course of the plot.
Why now the outcry for something that has been very public for years and has become ralatively famous in that time, see all the prices this novel won?
It was controversial in China as well, the author had to reorganize the book because of it.
It's also worth noting that the good guys and the bad guys where all Chinese in the book while the series kept the bad guys Chinese but changed all the scientist to Brits and what not.
More importantly, it hits way harder in the series than in the book. I would need to re-read it but I don't think his wife was even there in the original. I found it much more impactful how it was done in the series.
I think it's silly to get butthurt about your country's past in such a way, just trying to give context.
The wife was in the trial and accused her husband of the prefabricated stuff that was put forward by the revolutionaries (later on she breaks down over her false allegations). I'm talking about the book, read it several weeks ago.
The scene was also buried halfway through the Chinese version of the novel but was brought to the beginning of the book for the English version — with the author’s blessing.
From the article. So I guess it was less prominent in the original chinese version? But you are right being a book adaption the story has been out for years and quite prominently at that.
Then again we don't really know what "draws fire in china" actually means, if it's just some random online posters, then you can make any claim and likely find a comment supporting it. Really doesn't mean much.
On a side note I think there was a Chinese TV adaption already. Has anyone seen that one and how they handled it?
Before reading the article I actually didn't think about that scene, but thought they'd be annoyed that nationalities of the characters were changed.
I felt like the Tencent version had to show the scene to establish motive, but glossed over the surface of the deeper meaning.
Having only read the English language books, I don’t know if the Tencent version was closer to the Chinese language book. Overall, I enjoyed this version of the show. I’m on the fence about seeing the Netflix version.
Have anyone seen it? It is good?
I read the first book and I've seen the first 6 episodes of the show.
It's good. It cuts down on some of the nerdy math and science bits from the book while still hitting all the interesting plot points and the highlights. It changes quite a few characters and the city it takes place in (for the present day segments), but the meat of the book was the ideas, so it still works quite well IMO.
So far I'd say it's good or very good, but not mind-blowingly great. A competent adaptation that takes some liberties but leaves the really good stuff the same.
It's good, but literally every major and minor plot point is going to get smashed into your head over and over again with obvious foreshadowing.
Really interesting story, and I'll probably read all the books before season 2 comes out then (hopefully) keep enjoying the show.
The same guys who did GoT are making this. They do really well at taking in depth high quality books, and then dumbing it down and stripping everything that isn't plot relevant out.
So anything they're involved in, it's usually best to read the books first.
Silo would be an example of the opposite. The show changes the order information is presented and fleshes it out more than the books in some ways. The two compliment each other.
DB and Dan (or whatever their names are) basically just do AV book reports with insane budgets. As long as they don't run out of source material again, the show is pretty good.
They often take out good stuff though. Like in the books there's a chapter that touches on The Mountain having CTE and insane migraines, which causes his hyper aggressive behavior. He's pure evil, and a literal giant piece of shit. But there's a reason that explains it without excusing it.
I feel like most of the characters in 3 body problem are like that, and knowing that extra info would make the show better.
I'm only a few episodes in but if you like reading, I would give the book a go first.
The series isn't bad and the direction they are going in is okay if a little different.
The main problem is they got rid of the whole mystery aspect of the book. They give the whole plot in the first episode while the book had me scratching my head the whole time.
You should check Quinn's review.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Netflix’s acclaimed new sci-fi epic 3 Body Problem is getting some heated reactions from viewers in China, while its opening scene is drawing praise among some conservatives in the United States.
The show’s opening is set in 1966 and depicts a Chinese Cultural Revolution struggle session at a Beijing university where a physics professor is brutally beaten by Red Guards for his refusal to conform to government beliefs before a jeering crowd.
“Even though I had anticipated this, the scene still startled me.” According to CNN, the show has sparked “nationalist anger” in China and some accused its Red Guard depictions as Hollywood deliberately trying to make the country look bad.
Some conservatives in the United States are heralding the opening scene on X, where an elderly professor refuses to acquiesce to demands by young revolutionaries to change his thinking.
Apply anything to that opening scene, COVID, the Climate Cult, Transfuckwitism etc.” Conservatives are also criticizing the show overall for some of the same “woke” casting moves that have annoyed some viewers in China.
David Benioff — who is the co-showrunner of 3 Body Problem alongside Dan Weiss and Alexander Woo — was asked about the progressive authoritarian vibe in the opening scene during a set visit to the show in 2022.
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