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."
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.
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.
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.