Only a limited number of foreign films are allowed to be shown in Chinese cinemas each year. Ironically, Barbie is one of them. Online networks are puzzled: How did the worldwide hit get through the censorship?
A white cowboy hat, pink bell bottoms and a pink top: Cai Yi dressed like Barbie in the film to take pictures in a Shanghai department store. Barbie photo backdrops are set up here over seven floors. A Hollywood swing, for example, a phone booth, everything in pink, even the sand on the beach.
The 24-year-old Taiwanese spent a lot of time creating the perfect photo for social media. She has her picture taken on every single floor and raves about Barbie. “I didn’t have high expectations for the film at first, but after watching it it’s actually my favorite film of the year,” says Cai Yi. “Because he’s just really funny. There’s a lot of jokes, he’s cool.”
But that’s not all: “He encourages women to be independent. I think that’s very important because there are still some women who don’t dare to be themselves,” says the “Barbie” – Fan from Taiwan.
The big box office hit is not “Barbie” in China. “Barbie” grossed the equivalent of more than 33 million dollars in China, so the People’s Republic doesn’t even make it into the top five international markets for the film.
Chen Xiaohan and her friend style themselves as barbies when they go to the cinema.
“It’s about equality”
However, “Barbie” seems to have struck a chord among women. On the Chinese Internet, for example, on Douyin, the Chinese TikTok, there was a lot of discussion. Some Chinese women there have complained that men either don’t watch the film at all, leave the cinema, or scroll through their cell phones while bored and then curse the film. Some even claim to have broken up with their boyfriend after the film.
“It’s about equality between men and women,” says Chen Xiaohan. She is standing on the top floor of the department store in front of one of the many pink make-up tables that are set up here. Dressed in a matching pink top by her friend, she lets her hair be brushed.
“Some men overreact to the film a bit. But not all are like that. Some don’t get it. They think it’s all about women’s rights, but Barbie tells Ken in the film that he’s also independent and not just committed Barbie owns it, so it’s about equality,” she continues, while her friend ties a pink bow in her hair.
Few foreign licenses
Chinese online networks are also puzzling over why the film got through the censors in the first place. Some speculate that Barbie was underestimated as a children’s film. Katja Drinhausen from the Merics China Research Institute in Berlin sees Barbie as an alternative world to the many patriotic, sometimes military films that are otherwise shown in Chinese cinemas – often with male protagonists.
“Of course, you never know what’s going on in the minds of the censors or those who examine foreign films and issue the few coveted licenses,” says Drinhausen. The censors may have paid more attention to the fact that the film was “poking fun at the US a bit” and that it was primarily an entertainment film, and that they “then overlooked the underlying message and underlying discussion, just the question of who gender ratio,” the Merics expert continued.
Stress in the world of work and household
Since Xi Jinping took power more than a decade ago, the Chinese state has increasingly cracked down on feminist activism. Several #MeToo cases, such as that of popular tennis player Peng Shuai, have been severely censored. The Communist Party had always upheld equality between men and women since the founding of the People’s Republic. Mao Zedong once said that women hold half the sky.
“But in practice it was simply the case that women carry half the sky and then a good bit more, especially when it came to having to shoulder the world of work and the household in the last few decades,” says Drinhausen. This double burden is also a reason for some young women nowadays not to have children or not to have more than one, which is also reflected in the low birth rate in China.
Women are also less and less represented in Chinese politics. Just last fall, the only woman left the Politburo, the second-highest political body in the Communist Party.
“Barbie” as a reason for separation?
23-year-old Ma Jincao is standing in front of a cinema in Shanghai. He thinks it’s good when women stand up for their rights. He doesn’t like “Barbie” that much though. “I find this film a bit dull. Some plots are very flat and direct. I think that kind of film will create more confrontation between the sexes.”
He wants to discuss the film with his girlfriend, but he doesn’t think much of the hysteria about relationship dramas and separations after “Barbie”. “I think whoever breaks up didn’t have a harmonious relationship beforehand. So the film was more of a reason or an opportunity to break up.”
2023-08-20 18:36:22
#Barbie #slipped #Chinese #censorship
