The #Netflix drama's depiction of China is, well, problematic. How did the people of China react to it? In this issue I highlight what Chinese viewers think about the 3 Body Problem.
The reaction on Chinese social media to Netflix's adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem" has been mixed, but Vox's Aja Romano argues that depictions of nationalistic outrage are probably exaggerations. She unpacks the response to this adaptation, the book trilogy, and Tencent's "Three Body," and says this time around, the problem is Netflix, not Chinese viewers.
The #Netflix adaptation of #TheThreeBodyProblem (#三体) (2024) is simply a summary of #Tencent's adaptation released in 2023, set in the UK + with a disturbing E05.
Oh, less appealing special effects too, and less impactful scenes and dialogues.
Okay. My first negative feedback re: #Shogun is they use English when speaking Portuguese, yet use Nihongo and Latin when speaking in Japanese and Latin.
No offence, but Western producers need to learn from Asian producers. It's 2024.
A live-action adaptation is different from a novel. In a book medium, an author should of course write it in the language their target audience understands.
However, in a TV/film medium, we have subtitles. If the production was made in the 90s or earlier, it's understandable, since the tradition has been to use the audience's language. It's no longer the case for the past few years. The practice today is to use the actual language of communication… unless they have a universal translator like in Star Trek.
If one wants to listen to English instead of reading subtitles, then the OTT service, or the production, can provide an English “dub”.
Now, if it is an adaptation where the setting was changed, like Netflix's live-action adaptation of the Chinese novel #ThreeBody where they set it in North America, then obviously, it should be in American English, not Chinese.
But in the case of “Shõgun”, it was set in Japan's history where Portuguese was the primary foreign language.
If the argument is simply, because it was written in English, then Netflix's adaptation of Three-Body should be in Chinese. Or, because the audience wouldn't understand, then Shõgun should not have used Japanese at all (and the actors can speak English well).
I mean, no matter where we look at it, there is no reason why they did not use Portuguese.
I am watching the #ThreeBody#CDrama version and also saw the #Netflix version's teaser. I compared the same scene with the Cdrama one, and I can tell you - I do not have a good feeling about the Netflix adaptation. The Netflix version of that scene lacks the gravitas, urgency and sophistication of the Cdrama version.
I am also worried they are going to water down or completely erase the Chinese perspectives and cultural context, which is really important.