A Convenient Truth
Sometime last year, before my Chinese friend had begun to fully realize the differences between America and China, we were having a conversation about the Nanjing Massacre. At some point, my friend casually remarked, “Actually, there is a very good film about the Massacre, but I don’t think you will be able to get it in America because your government and Japan’s government are allies.”
Fast forward to today when Nanking, an American-made documentary about the Massacre, is finishing up its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Lest there be any doubt about whether or not the film seeks to discredit the Chinese version of the event, Japanese filmmaker Satoru Mizushima has called the film a “setup by China to control intelligence“.
While I’m not surprised that such a film will be playing in America, I am surprised that it will be playing in China.
Only twenty or so foreign films are cleared each year by Chinese censors to screen in the country, the rest being rejected for sexual or violent content. Regardless, while Nanking depicts the wholesale slaughter, torture, and rape of some 200,000+ Chinese civilians, the rights to distribute the film in China have already been sold. (There are no takers in the U.S., as of yet).
If Pirates of the Caribbean can get bann3d for “supernatural content” and the documentary Morning Sun gets the same treatment for speaking about the “major topic” of the Cultural Revoluti0n, why does it seem that Nanking is posed to break into the Chinese market so easily?
Of course, I’m being intentionally ignorant in my analysis of this, but then again, one has to be to truly appreciate the backwardness of this situation.
I hope there are at least a few Japanese “good guys” in it, like there were in Tokyo Trial. Many Chinese I know make ridiculous statements like, “To be frank, I hate all Japanese people.” In nearly all cases, the people I have met who make these statements personally know no Japanese people. Their ideas are shaped by Chinese media that makes Japanese people out to be completely evil. Since Nanking is sure to be seen widely here in China it can only be a good thing if some of the Japanese in it are seen as being against what their compatriots are doing in China or as victims of circumstance in similar ways to the Chinese victims in Nanjing.
↓ Quote | Posted January 28, 2007, 8:54 amI know there are interviews with Japanese who participated in the Massacre in the film, but I don’t know if any of them are “good” Japanese. I somehow doubt it. Certainly there were good Japanese at the time and in the world today, but I don’t think many such people remained that way after being molded by the Imperial Military machine. Sure, showing such people would probably help Sino/Japanese relations, but it seems to border on telling a statistical lie in this case.
↓ Quote | Posted January 28, 2007, 2:27 pmHonestly, as a Chinese, I just don’t like Japanese people at my first sight, simply because I grew up under this culture. However, since I try to be international just like my major, I tell myself not to think that way. Talk to them and understand what they are thinking are more important than just hate them.
↓ Quote | Posted January 30, 2007, 5:14 amSo, the result is I met a very nice Japanese girl in my university, and we are good friends since then. So I believe there is good Japanese people, but I still hate the Japanese GOVERNMENT!!!