Why China Canned Batman

Posted by LK on 12/26/08 • Categorized as Anarchy, Culture War, Film

LOS ANGELES: Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight won’t be screened in Chinese cinemas.

Warner Bros studios said in a statement yesterday that the acclaimed film — the second-highest-grossing movie in US box-office history — would be canned in China, with “cultural sensitivities” cited as one of the reasons for the no-show.

“Based on a number of pre-release conditions that are being attached to The Dark Knight, as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film, we have opted to forgo a theatrical release of the film in China,” the statement said.

Explanations being bantered about include a character who’s a Chinese money launderer, and the presence of the late Heath Ledger, whose “Brokeback Mountain” was banned in China as well.

Both of those reasons are small minded diversions, and they’re wrong.

“The Dark Knight” portrays a society in chaos, disorder in the streets, and a lack of central authority that can restore whatever passed for normalcy. With China’s economy experiencing a downturn as a result of the global swan dive, Chinese unemployment is rising, and workers who migrated to the cities are unhappily returning to their old peasant-farmer lives.

The keepers of the poorly named People’s Republic are concerned with the effect that the on screen chaos of “The Dark Knight” would have on a populace who have been kept in check over the past decade by the Chinese boom and the subsequent rise of the middle class along with the general standard of living.

There are already rumblings of social unrest; Party leaders fear that Eastern fascination and emulation of Western culture may include copycat riots. They err on the side of caution. I think we call it censorship here.

Readers of these pages know that “Batman: The Dark Knight” disgusted me, but one of the things I have to be thankful for this holiday season is that movies I’m disgusted by still have the right to do huge box office in this otherwise fraying nation.