www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Lifestyle
Home / Lifestyle / X-Ray

Messing with a legend

By Raymond Zhou | China Daily | Updated: 2015-07-27 07:40

Messing with a legend

[Wang Xiaoying/China Daily]

The tale of Mulan is familiar to every Chinese schoolchild and, through Disney's 1998 animated feature, became known to a significant part of the world.

The young woman who passes as a man and takes the place of her ailing father in military service has been an inspiration for generations of Chinese down through the centuries.

A recent television parody thrust the fictional character back into the spotlight or, more accurately, it put a comedienne who gave a subversive twist on the beloved cross-dresser into the center of a storm. On June 27, Shanghai Oriental TV aired a comedy show that included Jia Ling, a plump performer. Not only does she physically look a world apart from the usual Mulan, who tends to be the Angelina Jolie type, but she made her into someone lazy, unloving, cowardly and lacking ambition, essentially everything that is the opposite of Mulan as we know her.

The spoof made many uncomfortable. Ten days later, an organization named China Mulan Culture Research Center issued an open letter, demanding an apology from the broadcaster and the creative team behind the skit. On July 18, Jia published a formal apology, saying this work of hers ran counter of public acceptance and was unfit for our time. The TV station suspended the show for a week as a gesture of taking blame.

Meanwhile, the tide of public opinion seemed to turn. More voices have come forward to criticize the critic, i.e. the Mulan organization. Mulan is a fictional character that was passed down in folklore and, as the argument goes, no one should claim the exclusive right to her interpretation or adaptation. You can certainly find fault with Jia's portrayal and lambaste it for what it is, but you cannot deprive her of her right as a performer to offer her take no matter how unconventional it is.

The rush to claim fictional characters in China is a farce in itself. I have been to several places in disparate provinces that, through often dubious studies, assert to be the birthplace or hometown of Liang Shanbo or Zhu Yingtai, the Chinese equivalent of Romeo and Juliet. How lucky is Verona-so clearly identified in the Bard's play that no other city would even think of tinkering with the setting for the star-crossed lovers.

Then there are the historical figures or quasi-historical ones whose portrayals would occasionally incur the wrath of certain people with vested interests. For example, nobody knows what Confucius looked like and literary descriptions from his time were not reliable, yet some organization once claimed only they had the authority for endorsing his likeliness-as if their members had hour-long sittings with the Great Sage.

Huo Yuanjia (1868-1910) was a real person, but many of his heroic deeds elaborated in countless film and television adaptations are dramatizations that are the result of flights of artistic fancy. His descendents did not utter a word until one movie included a subplot in which he took a younger second wife, something that in Huo's time was nothing unusual.

There were even protests when the hairdo for a new television drama made from a literary classic was different from the one the public had got accustomed to.

When it comes to literary or artistic creations or historical personalities or events, there is a prolonged tug of war between the loyalists and-ahem-other loyalists. On one hand, writers and artists cling to the old chestnuts, recounting the familiar tales rather than embarking on the adventurous road of inventing something original. On the other hand, the public at large tends to be shaped by one work or one style and then refuse to accept more and different interpretations. Zhuge Liang (181-234 AD), the prime minister of the Kingdom of Shu, was a young man when the Battle of Red Cliff (208 AD) took place, but the image of a wise old man with flowing beard a la Gandalf has persisted through countless operas. Anyone who presents him as a 27-year-old would be laughed off the stage, so to speak.

Parody is a whole new ballgame whose rules many Chinese have not figured out. In a culture that emphasizes the respect for authority, anything subversive is frowned upon. Living persons are naturally off-limits as any imitation other than glowing would be conceived as slanderous. Historical figures often have accepted portrayals that allow little latitude for representation. That leaves the fictional ones.

As evidenced by the Mulan controversy, the risk does not fade away. Even though there is no record she existed and even though the narrative poem which is the written source of her legend is extremely sketchy in details, the image has cemented layers of public expectation. The Disney version, while not really endearing Chinese viewers, made two subtle changes: It replaced (1) filial piety with love between a father and a daughter and (2) subjugation to the emperor with patriotism-all the while retaining Mulan's valor and feminine beauty. Had it been a Saturday Night Live-style version, it might have caused a diplomatic furor.

A true classic would stand all kinds of reinterpretations, including caricatures. Whether it's Disney's more global take or Jia Ling's sendup, it will only add to the legacy that is Mulan. It wouldn't be a classic if it cannot take a comedic jab.

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 日本特黄特色 | 日韩一区二区不卡 | 手机黄色网址 | 成年女人看片免费视频播放器 | a级国产乱理伦片在线观看国 | 国内精品久久久久久野外 | 色丁香久久| 免费亚洲视频 | 日本三级s级在线播放 | 亚洲韩国欧美一区二区三区 | 欧美一级毛片在线播放 | 欧美日韩成人在线视频 | 午夜视频一区二区三区 | 99久久久国产精品免费播放器 | 国产人成 | 成人午夜在线 | 手机日韩理论片在线播放 | 欧美成在线播放 | 久久一日本道色综合久久 | 亚洲国产成人精品一区91 | 成人毛片1024你懂的 | 欧美一级毛片高清毛片 | 国产成人精品免费视频大全软件 | 国产91第一页 | 久久www免费人成看国产片 | 成人免费手机在线看网站 | 亚洲理论在线观看 | 黄色网址国产 | 国产操操 | 亚洲综合91 | 99国产精品久久久久久久... | 亚洲伊人色综合网站小说 | 亚洲精品国产专区91在线 | 亚洲精品99久久久久久 | 日韩在线观看一区 | 久久久久综合给合狠狠狠 | 国产高清国产专区国产精品 | 成人精品一区二区三区 | 九九精品视频在线观看 | www.亚洲免费| 日韩在线观看视频免费 |