Cleavage in Chinese cinema still taboo
Director Zhang Yimou’s ‘Curse of the Golden Flower’ is facing flack from all quarters of the Chinese society for it’s actresses’ showing off too much cleavage.
Though the film’s major scenes are a riot of colors, with a dominant golden hue, bloody battles and highly decorated sets with tens of thousands of flowers, the limelight is hogged by it’s actresses’ cleavages.
The most eye-catching is Gong Li, with her breasts appearing ready to pop out of her tightly wrapped costumes, reports ChinaDaily.
But sadly there were no warnings for parents who took their underage kids “to support the domestic film industry”.
A note of warning in the film’s posters and publicity trailers could have saved the parents from unnecessary embarrassment and their children from unwanted exposure.
“There should have been a warning,” deputy dean of the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University Yin Hong told China Daily Wednesday. “But it’s not a must in the country because we don’t have a movie ratings system.”
To make things worse, posters on the campuses of primary schools urge youngsters to watch the movie to support the domestic movie industry, professor of Beijing Film Academy Cui Weiping said.
Despite China traditionally being a conservative society, more and more of its films, both commercial and artistic, have scenes of exposure that could be offending to many, Cui said. The trend began with the new century.
Zhang may have liked the viewers to admire the “Curse of the Golden Flower” for its story, splendor and visual effects, but unfortunately they are likely to remember it only for the controversy Gong’s gowns and their busts created, he said.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) declined comment on controversial scenes in films made in the country, saying the ratings system was too “sensitive” a subject to be talked about.
— ANI
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