The summer holiday film season might be drawing to a close, but
China's moviegoers, not content with the likes of
Star
Wars and
Mr and Mrs Smith, are hankering for another
reason to pack the cinemas.
War of the Worlds, Steven
Spielberg's latest flick just might be the answer. Or is it?
The new sci-fi adventure film, starring Tom Cruise, is scheduled
to premiere in major Chinese cities on August 25. But before film
buffs scramble to get their tickets to watch humans have it out
with Martians, they have to keep in mind the rating that the film's
distributors here have given it.
Distributors have gone out of their way to say that the film is
"Unsuitable For Children", that is, children should only be allowed
to watch it under parental guidance.
According to Huaxia Film Company, the movie's Chinese
distributors, the imported version of the 120-minute movie survived
the censorship process by the State Administration of Radio, Film
and Television (SARFT), China's film watchdog, uncut. They added
that some of the violent scenes and its theme, likely to be
construed as negative, might not be suitable for children.
"The movie is rated PG-13 in the US, and I think children should
watch the movie accompanied by their parents,"? Teng
Jun,? a film distributor, said after a recent private
screening for mainland distributors.
A PG-13 rating in the US warns parents of the unsuitability of
the content for children under 13 years of age and strongly advises
parental guidance.
?
Huaxia Company said the rating was not imposed by the government,
which means that distributors and movie theaters have cannot refuse
entry to children or minors.
The lack of any real rating system in China is a problem. As far
as industry insiders are concerned, they believe that the film's
producers made the specific request for War of the Worlds to be
rated in China.
Foreign films that have been screened uncut, including
Saving Private Ryan and The Day After Tomorrow,
reportedly made children cry, inciting complaints from concerned
parents.
"If something goes wrong (with a film's acceptance by mainland
audiences), it would be an unimaginable blow to the foreign film
industry," a member of staff at a foreign film company said. He
only gave his name as Chen.
Film ratings systems around the world differ. Often given in
lieu of censorship, some countries like Australia have a system
developed by an official government body. Others, like the US, have
a system that is developed by the industry and on a voluntary
basis.
Although there is no real ratings system in China, SARFT filters
and decides which movies, both local and foreign, make it to the
big screen.
In 1988, Wang Jin's Widow Village had the honor of
being the first Chinese movie to incite a proposal to ban children
from watching it.
However, the "Unsuitable for Children" rating over the years has
been increasingly used as a publicity stunt rather than a
well-intentioned piece of advice.
China has been importing foreign films since the 1990s in an
attempt to resuscitate the stagnant local movie industry. But
despite a rising import quota, Chinese moviegoers have been denied
many titles, including A.I (Artificial Intelligence) and
Minority Report, because of the lack of a comprehensive
rating policy.??
"The movies we import have to be appropriate to both the old and
young, which greatly reduces the selection range," according to the
China Film Group.
Filmgoers and experts have been calling for a rating system to
protect children, general audiences as well as filmmakers. But it
wasn't until March 2003 that the issue was actually raised. At the
time, screenwriter Wang Xingdong proposed that movies be rated in
one of three ways: all ages admitted, only 15 years and over
admitted, and 18 years and over admitted.
The following year, SARFT issued a new rule stipulating that in
principle no more crime-related movies or television shows would be
imported.
It wasn't until January 2005 that the issue was brought to light
again when Tong Gang, the head of SARFT, said at the First Chinese
Film Directors Association Awards that a rating system would be
introduced by the end of 2005, to be written into law in 2006.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, August 22, 2005)
