Dark Knight Not Released in China
Warner Brothers says they will not officially release The Dark Knight in China due to the country’s “pre-release conditions” and “cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film.” The negative portrayal of several Chinese people in scenes shot in Hong Kong may be worrisome in the eyes of censors (WB didn’t submit the film to Chinese authorities in fear of this). Generally, Chinese culture is group-oriented while the American filmmakers are from a more individualistic culture, thus a divergence of perspectives. Where the acts of a character in the movie, e.g. a Chinese money-launderer, may only reflect that individual’s character to an American viewer, a Chinese viewer may interpret that person’s actions as a stereotype and find the movie offensive.
The theme of national and cultural unity runs deep in China’s history, as many movies are kept from the market to avoid certain forms of outside influence from entering mainstream society. In 2005, Memoirs of a Geisha was banned by Chinese censors, since the actresses playing Japanese geisha were actually Chinese. Their portrayal was inappropriate to censors, as some critics said the casting didn’t acknowledge China’s historically troubled relations with Japan (e.g. its violent occupation of China in the 1930s). For most Chinese viewers, geisha are akin to prostitutes, which is not how they are known in Japan. The act of a Chinese woman being intimate with a Japanese man incited a feeling of ‘national disgrace,’ regardless of the movie being a fictional account.
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