[Warning: today's entry is slightly sexually graphic. But not too bad, really. Point is, you were warned.]
Last week, Creative Differences mocked a Chinese graduate student for suing China's media watchdog after it insisted Ang Lee delete some steamy sex scenes from his new film, Lust, Caution. The student, Dong Yanbin, alleged "psychological damages" as a result of the way the deletions fragmented the narrative structure.
It turns out those deletions may have saved Dong's life. Reuters reported this week that Chinese doctors "have warned moviegoers not to try some of the more ambitious sexual positions featured in the uncut version of the film." A deputy hospital director added, "Only women with comparatively flexible bodies that have gymnastics or yoga experience are able to perform them. For average people to blindly copy them could lead to unnecessary physical harm."
I know China is all about innovation, but it's always important to check one's aspirations when safety and security are on the line. Obviously, Chinese martial artists with the ability to fly are exempt from the warning.
While Americans may chuckle at the perceived modesty, most Chinese people gravely recall the epidemic of muscle pulls that resulted from China's ill-fated Great Sexual Leap Forward in the late 1960s. In order to help nurse the labor force back to health, China had to remove thousands of posters urging "ambitious sexual positions" like:
Express Yourself Sexually for the Nation
Cast Off the Missionary Yoke
Moving Forward From Behind
Riding Each Other and the Wave of Progress
In addition to the sexual dangers the film engenders, its distribution has also lead to the proliferation of internet viruses polluting several download sites. While Chinese authorities are alarmed, internet denizens downloading uncut versions of the film in order to drool at the sex scenes were adequately prepared for the onslaught of spyware to which they have grown accustomed after years spent viewing internet porn.
Monday, 19 November 2007
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