Chinese Pleased With China’s Portrayal in Sony’s 2012 Movie, Indonesia Less So
As those of us who have seen Sony’s 2012 movie may have expected, many in China are very pleased with how China is portrayed in the movie:
‘2012′ a home run with patriotic fans in China
Associated Press – Nov 20, 2009 By CHI-CHI ZHANGBEIJING — When the apocalypse comes, China will save the world.
Or at least that’s how Chinese audiences are interpreting “2012,” Hollywood’s latest blockbuster disaster movie.
“It’s about time the world sees us as a dominant ally,” said Liu Xinliang, 27, a Beijing-based computer programmer who watched the movie twice.
The movie, currently No. 1 in the U.S., is also No. 1 in China, grossing $17.2 million here since it opened Nov. 13.
In the nearly 3-hour movie, the Earth’s core overheats, threatening humanity. Leaders of the world embark on a mission to build an ark in the mountains of central China to house people and animals that can repopulate the planet — a story line many Chinese have praised.
Like others in a Beijing theater this week, Liu grinned with pride as he watched Chinese troops escort wealthy and important citizens onto the ark.
Chinese netizens on popular blogs have also been quick to note other scenes perceived as having pro-China messages — Chinese military officers saluting American refugees entering China, China being one of the first nations to agree to open the ark’s gates to admit more refugees, and a U.S. military officer saying that only the Chinese could build an ark of such a scale so quickly.
“I felt really proud to be Chinese as I was watching our (military) officers rescue civilians in need,” said Zhang Ying, 26, an advertising executive in Beijing. “The movie along with (President Barack) Obama’s visit this week made me realize that China has become a respected country on the world stage.”
At a theater in central Beijing, hoards of people lined up to buy tickets.
“It’s been sold out every night. They all want to watch China save the world,” a ticket attendant said with a laugh.
It has also pulled in the crowds in Indonesia but has garnered a less positive response in some quarters in what is the world’s most populous Muslim nation — because it predicts doomsday.
Conservative Muslim clerics on the islands of Java, Kalimantan and Sumatra have urged or banned their followers from watching the movie, saying it contradicts Islamic teachings. They say only God, not man, knows when the world will end.
“We are worried that the film will make Muslims believe that the end of the world will really happen by 2012. That is not true. The end will surely come but no one can tell when,” said Mahmud Zubaida, an imam in the eastern Javanese city of Malang.
Still, Indonesia’s most influential Muslim body, the Ulema Council, say there is no need for believers to worry as “2012″ is only a work of fiction.
In China, the movie is seen as a refreshing change for audiences after decades of unflattering portrayals of the communist nation in Hollywood movies such as “Red Corner” starring Richard Gere, in which an innocent foreigner faces a corrupt Chinese legal system, and Martin Scorsese’s “Kundun,” which highlights China’s rule of Tibet.
Scenes with Chinese bad guys were cut from “Mission Impossible III” and Warner Bros. decided not to release its hit blockbuster last year, “The Dark Knight,” in China due to “cultural sensitivities.” The latest Batman movie sees the masked hero nab a Chinese criminal in Hong Kong.
As China’s economy continues to burgeon, Hollywood has set it sights on the nation of 1.3 billion where they can share profits on only up to 20 of their releases every year — making it crucial for studios to reap as much as they can with each movie.
“China has a legitimate movie market that’s growing, but Hollywood is learning that movies portraying us as poor or the enemy will not make money in China,” said Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.
“Chinese love action and disaster movies with special effects, so “2012″ would have been released regardless if China played a role in the story line,” Li Chow, Sony Pictures Releasing International’s general manager for China, said in a phone interview.
Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gBYH6FvSiCoM9lMbs5bqu9WXsbKgD9C38RBO0
Now despite Hollywood hype, according to the Bible China is not expected to save the world in 2012.
However, the Bible does tell of a time when the Chinese will turn against the European Beast power and attempt to bring an end to that horrific system.
Muslims also believe in an end of the world scenario–but it, like the biblical version–differs from how Sony portrays it (Sony’s is based upon a particular interpretation of Mayan prophecies).
But the end of the world as we know it will come. And all nations, including China, the USA, and Indonesia will be affected.
More about China and prophecies concerning it from a biblical perspective (as well as how certain Chinese prophecies seem to line up with the Bible), please check out the following:
2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect This is a link related to a book by Bob Thiel (COGwriter). This also has YouTube videos related to 2012. The book contains documented prophecies as well as an end time sequence of events that Christians should study and understand. Including the role of nations such as China and what Islam teach and where such line up with biblical prophecy.
China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 1: Genesis and Chinese Characters This article provides information showing that the Chinese peoples must have known about various accounts in the Book of Genesis up until their dispersion after the Tower of Babel.
China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 2: The Sabbath and Some of God’s Witness in China When did Christianity first come to China? And is there early evidence that they observed the seventh day sabbath?
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for Asia? Who are the “Kings of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, Indians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where? Who has the 200,000,000 man army related to Armageddon?
