China Film Journal

Tang Wei (汤唯), the female star of Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, has been blacklisted from all mainland Chinese press. However, this doesn’t just coverher appearances in print media and TV commercials, but extends to the participation of her and other people involved in that movie in awards events, film festivals, etc. This means that you won’t catch her on the cover of Elle magazine again anytime soon.The Viagra seems to be working for the people at SARFT, since they’ve decided to reassert censorship guidelines in a March 7 statement:

In a statement titled “Reassertion of Censorship Guidelines” and dated March 7, SARFT said that, on Monday, it informed all major film and broadcast entities and governing bodies that it was renewing prohibitions on “lewd and pornographic content” and content that “show promiscuous acts, rape, prostitution, sexual intercourse, sexual perversity, masturbation and male/female sexual organs and other private parts.” However, the public notice, posted on SARFT’s Web site, did not specifically mention “Lust” or Tang.      

Of course, they did have some issues with Lust, Caution in particular, what with the way it glorified traitors and maligned an entire nation and race of people. Here are some of the charges, in Chinese:

电影上映后，负面批评不少，认为恶搞抗日史实，亵渎抗日先烈，宣扬汉奸，损害国家荣誉，践踏民族尊严，危害社会公德，颠倒真、善、美与假、恶、丑，混淆了正义与非正义的基本性质；看完电影，遭受巨大精神痛苦，民族自豪感、民族自尊感遭受严重挫伤。      

In addition to the usual malarkey about the distortion of history, the glorification of traitors, and the trampling of national dignity, there’s also this bit about how “after watching this film” the (indoctrinated) audience would “feel great spiritual pain”. The Hollywood Reporter article mentions that Tang’s Ponds cream contract, worth a pretty penny, will be adversely affected.Technorati Tags: china, chinese, SARFT, cinema, film, Tang wei, lust caution, anglee, ang lee, ban, censorship, blacklist, actors, actress, movie