Ethnic-Chinese Ang Lee, a Taiwanese,
wins the Best Director Oscar
for Life of Pi: Why do
people pay so much attention to the Oscars,
and so little to the Golden Rooster? It may have to do with Beijing's
influence over China's film industry.
Why Chinese
Like the Oscars and Ignore their Own Movie Awards (China Daily, People's Republic of
China)
Why
don't people pay as much attention to China's Golden Rooster Awards as they do
to America's Academy Awards? For China's state-run China Daily, Wang Hongqiang suggests that
it might have to do with 'the policy orientation of our state.' After this breakthrough
admission about censorship, Mr. Wang backs off quickly, yet proving his point
by saying, 'As a layman and amateur movie critic, on this point I'm not sure.'
The Golden Rooster Awards, China's equivalent of the Academy Awards, was named for 1981 - the Year of the Rooster and first year the awards were handed out. Why is it that so few people pay attention to them?
When it comes to the Academy Awards, I’ve got little to say.
They mean little except for pointing me toward which Western movies
are worth watching. The Award has directed me toward dozens of great films sure
to be at the top of the field in terms of their artistic expression and subject
matter, such as Forrest Gump, Titanic and The Silence of Lambs. But that’s about all.
I don't excitingly watch its annual awards process. Neither
would I yell "bingo" for Ang Lee, who won
the Best Director Oscar for his adventure film Life of Pi. Nor am I likely to gossip about amusing anecdotes about
what happened behind the glittering awards stage.
I'd rather scout the Web for whatever version of Argo is available and digest it by
myself one night, much like I have with other movies that won various movie-competitions.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Part of the reason I'm not crazy about Oscar is that it
isn't Chinese. Don’t get me wrong. I’m no xenophobe. I am a patriot! We've got
our own movie awards, the leading three being the Golden Rooster Awards
[China's Academy Awards], the Hundred Flowers
Awards [China's Golden Globes], and the Ornamental Column Awards. To my
disappointment, neither at home or abroad do these top Oscar in terms of
popularity or influence. Particularly in recent years, Chinese seem less and
less interested in them. Our talented filmmakers produce about 500 movies a
year, some of which failed to make even a ripple.
But there's little doubt that many do pop-out of obscurity, such
as Lost on Journey (人在囧途,
2010), which is widely known among China's natives. So at one end of the spectrum
is our flourishing movie industry, and at the other, our unpopular, even
isolated, movie awards. What’s the problem with our awards? Why can’t they
catch the eyes of movie fans here and abroad like Oscar?
First of all, the phenomenon is closely ties to soft state power.
As the sole superpower, the influence of the United States manifests itself in
every aspect of our lives - movie awards being no exemption. But that cannot
explain why our awards were so popular in 80s and 90s, when the power of our
state didn't compare to that of today.
It follows from there, that the reason for the unpopularity
of our awards likely lies in the policy orientation of our state and in the awards
themselves. Generally speaking, our awards, more than artistic beauty or plot, tend
to take political correctness more into account. With Oscar and similar Western
awards, meanwhile, it is just the opposite.
As a layman and amateur movie critic, on this point I'm not
sure. So I would like to stop there. What I am sure of is that we can learn a
lot from Oscar and other prestigious Western Awards by examining their
evaluation criteria, their propaganda, and more importantly, their professional
spirit.
The fact that Oscar exceeds our awards lessens my enthusiasm
about the world-famous celebration. The same is true with World Cup football. It
may sound unreasonable and a little populist, but I can't help myself or be any
other way.
Yes - Argo beckons
me.
But first it is time for me to play some knife and fork.
