Remember that crazy Paula Abdul video that features her dancing with a cartoon cat? Well, it seems that in China, no longer will viewers get to enjoy the fun that ensues when people and cartoons interact. When I sat down late last week to read the latest Entertainment Weekly, I came across a short sidebar with a pretty big story: on February 15th, China officially banned all cartoons that blend animated elements with live-actions actors. That means bye-bye Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Space Jam, and maybe even Teletubbies and the ever-popular Blue's Clues.
Officials say that this is an effort to help promote local artists and to further decrease the amount of foreign cartoons (even now, foreign cartoons can only account for 40% of all cartoons aired). This sounds like a good cause; support the local artists. Yet to what extent can you actually impose these bans before you're holding out from the public? (At this point it has not yet been officially announced what will be banned and what will be deemed appropriate to keep airing.)
These people (probably primarily children) are probably used to seeing all of these cartoons on a regular basis, so it seems somewhat silly to take them away. What harm are they actually doing? Shows like Blue's Clues and Teletubbies are educational. And seeing as how these shows are rather popular with the younger set and Chinese animators have yet to come up with something as well loved, it seems like if anything it would spawn what would essentially by Chinese versions of these shows.
So really, why limit these shows if they are so popular and (to an extent) educational? Help promote local artists, but is it really necessary to eliminate anything else, forcing people to watch Chinese shows?
Julia Song @ Wed, 03/08/2006 - 11:32am
I'm not familiar with Chinese TV programs, but I don't think banning the foreign shows will necessarily help promote local artists. It sounds like they are more concerned about keeping the Western influence out though, than about encouraging their local animators. Either way, I don't think banning foreign cartoons will achieve what they want, because it's just not possible to avoid any foreign influence. And about encouraging their own industry, if keeping it down to 40% didn't do it, then I don't think it's going to happen just because they eliminate foreign shows altogether.