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The Big [Censored] Theory

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Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#111

Post by buscoquadnary »

swayvil wrote: post #75
jollybean wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, I think there's a more benign reason and that is references to those kinds of things are just a bit below bar for normally civil programming. If you've ever watched the banal things that people go through to get something past daytime censors, or, get a PG rating for films etc. it's similar. This is not 'Xi's authoritarian' system so much as 'different cultural standards of the moment'. Respect that in some…

I wonder how China protects its censors from wrong ideas (seeing as how they must necessarily come into contact with it). Extra indoctrination? Some kind of surveillance layercake? I read a scifi where digital personality-recordings became popular for various office/industrial applications. Sorta like an AI, but human. They were used for censorship. The remedy for ideological contamination? Full reboot every morning.

You choose people based on their loyalty to the party and fanatical devotion. It's a pretty straightforward way of doing it, heck somewhere else in this thread someone was already getting offended at the joke about the chicken.

Some people just have no sense of humour and a fanatical devotion to a cause, they are useful if not very wise. This is one of those situations where they are useful.

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#112

Post by nightpool »

cutemonster wrote: post #63
Sin2x wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This idea can be easily reversed: It's a deeper level of indoctrination. When these things are covertly inserted in an innocuous sounding show, not only will you start thinking about them, you will subconsiously think of them in a tolerant light. China has its own culture and mores, why should it allow that kind of soft projection of Western power.

> China has its own culture and mores Correction: Xi and the CCP have their own culture and mores The people, though, want to see The Big Bang Theory uncensored. The people are different from Xi . They don't want the same things as he (except for the ones Xi has successfully brainwashed, or those who have a highly tribal brain). > why should it allow that kind of soft projection That sounds paranoid, I hope you don't…

> Reasoning in that way, almost all movies in the world wold be a "soft projection" and Nation State attack

I mean, I don't think it requires any sort of active attack, or paranoia about a malicious attack, to recognize that soft power is real and it can influence people's behavior even when nobody intended it. The Big Bang Theory, as a reflection of American culture, can work to perpetuate that culture and serve America's interests even without anybody in America or anybody working on the Big Bang Theory intending for that to happen.

Now, in the case of the Big Bang Theory, whether that is good or bad is somewhat up to whether you think American-culture-as-espoused-by-the-Big-Bang-Theory is good or not, but honestly as an American who generally thinks American culture is good about some stuff but not everything, the Big Bang Theory is pretty far down on the list of cultural exports I would consider good or important. There's a lot of stuff in the Big Bang Theory that I feel ashamed to be associated with, including some of the stuff mentioned in this article as cut, like the racist jokes about Chinese people.

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#113

Post by paxys »

ascar wrote: post #110

Side note: the article mentions canned laughter in TBBT rather early. TBBT actually doesn't use canned laughter but uses laughter from the live audience for its laugh track. I pity that I didn't have the chance to visit the studios and be part of that laugh track :(

It's normally a mix of both. All such shows will heavily edit/enhance the audience laugh track during post production.

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#114

Post by davemp »

okasaki wrote: post #77
cutemonster wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> China has its own culture and mores Correction: Xi and the CCP have their own culture and mores The people, though, want to see The Big Bang Theory uncensored. The people are different from Xi . They don't want the same things as he (except for the ones Xi has successfully brainwashed, or those who have a highly tribal brain). > why should it allow that kind of soft projection That sounds paranoid, I hope you don't…

Good thing we have HN user cutemonster to tell us what the Chinese people want.

Please don't post insubstantial comments like this on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#115

Post by function_seven »

commandlinefan wrote: post #91
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #2

It's really interesting that such a bland, un-subversive show whose only mentions of sensitive topics are in bad throwaway jokes is so heavily censored. I guess a more interesting show would just not get aired at all.

> such a bland, un-subversive show ... is so heavily censored American censorship is honestly no better, it's just that the show was written with the specifics of American censorship in mind.

Bullshit.

Sorry, this "we're the same" retort is exhausting. The United States government does not employ censors to remove portions of shows before allowing them to air (or stream, whatever). The closest thing I can think of is DoD not giving access to a movie unless it paints Navy pilots in a certain light. Okay, fine. Not nearly the same as what this site is showing us.

Yes, we have cultural taboos, like any culture. Studios have more trouble presenting some viewpoints over others. Chappelle gets protested, that one episode of Community was memory-holed on Hulu (but not on Amazon!). We ban pornography on public airwaves (but not on streaming or cable or satellite, or Blueray).

If you compare and contrast the pervasiveness of censorship between China and the United States, the difference is huge.

When it comes to artistic freedom, the US is way better than China. Maybe you can say we can improve even more, sure. But that's a long way off from our censorship being "honestly no better".

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#116

Post by [deleted] »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #2

It's really interesting that such a bland, un-subversive show whose only mentions of sensitive topics are in bad throwaway jokes is so heavily censored. I guess a more interesting show would just not get aired at all.

[deleted]

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#117

Post by bee_rider »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #2

It's really interesting that such a bland, un-subversive show whose only mentions of sensitive topics are in bad throwaway jokes is so heavily censored. I guess a more interesting show would just not get aired at all.

Actually, I wonder if that would be a "good" way of making a comedy that can be shown everywhere. Just film like 40 minutes per episode for a 30 minute slot, but only include throwaway jokes to they can be removed as needed.

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#118

Post by deepdriver »

jjcon wrote: post #82
deepdriver wrote: post #51

This type of censorship isn’t unique to China. Numerous scenes and whole episodes of The Office were silently removed from streaming services. The episodes were renumbered so you wouldn’t notice: https://www.newsweek.com/comedy-central-caves-cancel-culture... This article goes so far as to praise the censorship: https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-office-edited-censor... As usual, piracy (or the legal purchase an…

> Numerous scenes and whole episodes of The Office were silently removed from streaming services Some private companies vs entire undemocratically elected governments conversation aside… What entire episode has been removed? I’m an office trivia buff and I’m not aware of this

"Diversity Day" has been removed in its entirety per first link.

The distinction between private and government censorship is increasingly irrelevant to consumers, as in heavily consolidated markets the end effect is the same.

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#119

Post by jacobsenscott »

jedberg wrote: post #86
sltkr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I'm mostly offended how stale and unoriginal a lot of these jokes are, but I can definitely see why the censors took offense at some of them. For example, the joke about the Chinese restaurant ("I'd be more concerned about what they're passing off as chicken") plays off of the stereotype that Chinese people eat dogs and cats, and the “passing off” remark implies that the Chinese restaurant owners are decep…

> I dare you to show that scene at a liberal college and notice how few laughs you get. Did you see the recent video where the white guy dressed up in a poncho, big hat, and fake mustache and carried around maracas? He asked a bunch of white kids on a college campus if they thought his outfit was offensive to Mexicans, and they all said yes. Then he went to the Mexican part of town and asked actual Mexicans, and they…

No, but I constantly hear right wingers referencing it. It must be very popular in the echo chamber.

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#120

Post by joshuahedlund »

commandlinefan wrote: post #94
sltkr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I'm mostly offended how stale and unoriginal a lot of these jokes are, but I can definitely see why the censors took offense at some of them. For example, the joke about the Chinese restaurant ("I'd be more concerned about what they're passing off as chicken") plays off of the stereotype that Chinese people eat dogs and cats, and the “passing off” remark implies that the Chinese restaurant owners are decep…

> plays off of the stereotype that Chinese people eat dogs and cats So... you support government censorship of jokes that somebody, somewhere might be offended by?

The original poster only said they could "see why" the censors took offense, not that they supported it.
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