SPIRITUAL POLLUTION
AND
CULTURAL MISNOMERS
American television series have become very popular with Chinese university students and some Chinese teachers of English even use them to teach English and western culture.
It is appalling to hear Chinese utter statements similar to the following:
- 1. I really like “Friends.” I have learned so much western culture.
- 2. “The Apprentice” is a good series that teaches me much about business in the US.
- 3. I am going to America next year so I am watching “Sex and the City” to learn as much western culture as possible.
- 4. I have learned so much about life in America watching “Desperate Housewives.”
“Nobody Likes Chris” and “Ugly Betty” are re-broadcast on Guangzhou television and Chinese college students are enamored with both.
The American television industry and much of Hollywood’s film industry are controlled by liberal writers and producers who are preoccupied with implementing their liberal socio/political agenda. They do not write and produce television series that reflect current life in America but rather they write and produce that which reflects how they want life in America. They are simply unabashed agents of social and Political change. They also produce a saleable product for profit. This means they constantly push the envelope to keep the audience interested so sponsors will pay higher advertising fees.
They do not reflect and promote historical family values, instead glorifying alternative lifestyles that are inconsistent with traditional American values.
A couple of decades ago there was a public service announcement on all American T.V. networks that said “There is a Smart Way to Watch T.V.” The message was clear, use your common sense and do not believe everything you see and hear on T.V. Such a warning to the Chinese would be useless because the “American common sense” and the “Chinese common sense” are worlds apart. The American reference database and the Chinese reference database are so different as to deprive the Chinese of any opportunity to distinguish between fiction and reality in American television series.
I once had the misfortune of watching “Friends” with a Chinese colleague. Due to my upbringing in America, I was able to identify and laugh at the preposterous make believe situations the show presented for my entertainment. My colleague did not see the humor but claimed to have learned a great deal about American culture.
My Chinese colleague did not know the smart way to watch T.V. nor did she have any real grounding in American culture so as to appreciate how preposterously funny the show was. It wasn’t that my colleague did not have a sense of humor; it was that she accepted everything as true and not humorous because she did not know any better. She never even laughed at what were, to me, obvious punch lines that demanded a laugh.
She treated “Friends” as if it were a documentary on American culture rather than as the comedy it is.
To be very clear, no one in America lives the lifestyle portrayed in “Friends.” This T.V. series targets an American audience that has the requisite database to understand the punch lines and preposterously funny situations. It also targets a liberal minded audience that can be rather easily led, by suggestion, innuendo, and example, into abandoning traditional family values and leading a more liberal lifestyle. That is the goal, to destroy traditional America and replace it with the new city of sin, the new Roman Empire.
“The Apprentice” is all about showmanship and making money through entertainment. There is not even the slightest resemblance of real business life in America; it is an entertaining piece for those with the requisite American background to appreciate the pure absurdity of it all. Donald Trump is a master showman but rest assured that if he ran his financial empire as he appears to run the selection process on “The Apprentice”, his empire would have collapsed years ago.
Just research how the show winners fare in the Trump organization. They are gone within a very short period.
Smoking, alcohol consumption, illegal drug use, adultery and homosexuality are all glorified, to one extent or another. The message is not always overt or direct, it is often subliminal. You see a T.V. star do it, so you think that gives you encouragement and permission to do it also.
“Sex and the City” and “Desperate Housewives” are excellent examples of subliminal messages that sexual promiscuity and adultery are acceptable standards of conduct.
It is useless to attempt to close the border to these imported examples of perverted American culture. They will find their way into China, one way or another. There is no avoiding this new spiritual pollution. The best way to deal with it is through educating the Chinese people that there is a smart way to watch American T.V. series and to discourage their use for any academic purpose.
Such shows will never be included in the Free Choice English Movie Library.
I hadn’t watched the American television series until I entered into the university and enjoyed in it with my friends. 4 years ego, I just watched the English movie which was translated into Chinese only. During the days of studying in the university, most of my classmates started to watch “Friends”. it’s the first one of the American television series I watched. But I just want to improve my oral English and the listening skill. And in the last summer, I had watched “Desperate Housewives (season 1)”. From then on, I found that it’s very interested in the American television series, if you followed the series story step by step. Now, I watched the American television series not only for improving my English, but enjoyed the exciting story in it. You may found there are so many difference between Chinese television series and American television series. After Martin’s classes, I chose to watch the one which do not have Chinese lines now. I believed we can enjoy the story in the American television series, and not just want to know more about the different culture for your English studying.
Well, the article is a good warning. It reminds me to notice a interesting phenomenon.
when we watch the Chinese TV series, at first we often make a judgement before imitating the words and actions. we can distinguish what’s real and what’s not real.
However when we touch the new culture , we lost our way in it.
We are confused, We didn’t know , even want to know , the subtle difference between
life and TV programs. We regard all these as reality. As a consequence, we display the lack of thinking. why? curious? lazy? what motivate us acting like this?
Actually I don’t know. Maybe when we encounter something totally different, we fell excited .we try to know well it ,yet, at most time, for most people, thinking is a bitter thing. so we make a mistake.
I’m not a fan of American television series. And I have watched few of them. But I have discussed this topic with a friend from America. He was so surprised that there are many Chinese people watch the US-TV. He did agree that the US-TV doesn’t reflect the real life in America. Producers of the TVs may just want to entertain the audiences so that they can earn more money. So maybe Chinese people will fail to deeply understand western culture by watching the US-TV.
Actually, I also have a rage for American television, such as Gossip Girl. Every weekend I will wait for a new one. I think I have followed it for nearly eight months. I am attracted by their fashion college life. All stories center around struggling for the queen-party queen, college queen and so on. In this television, I am communicated the message that a high school student can spare no expense in reputation, and also take drugs. It’s unbelievable. Compared with the reality, I always hear an American student argue that the television doesn’t reflect the fact, and their colleges have a atmosphere for academic research, not always with criminal youth. So just as the article says, we should take a smart way to watch the TV.
Recently, American television series are so popular in China, more and more young people like to watch them. However, to be honest, I’d rather to watch traditional Chinese series. The reason is quite simple: I cannot recognize which program shows the real life in America. Some says that we can tough western culture through watching American television series or Hollywood’s films. I am not very sure whether we can know real life in America by watching such series, the only thing I know is that we can learn English from them, and that’s enough.
Regarding US TV, the title reminds me that my girlfriend enjoy watching several series like Bones, Desperate Housewife, Sexy and the City and so on. I am an old tradition man, I have not been polluted by that foreign “soap tv”, but I do enjoy watching US movie. My girlfriend told me that these tv has a open attitude, which has all kinds of shot like affair and sex and top science technology. These open her view and color her evening, but sometimes she is so nervous about how things go on, which make her hard to sleep. So I think it do have so kinds of pollution.
I have watched an American television series . It’s about a story that an engineer (Wentworth Miller) installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to help his brother (Dominic Purcell), a death-row inmate who insists he did not commit the crime for which he has been sentenced to die and help him escape. I have been impressed by the love, courage and wisdom expressed in it. In my opinion, although there’re some problems in American television series industry , we can learn some things from special series.
Finally this topic get my eyes!we love American television series !
the funny and mordacity in “Big Bang Theory” and the intelligent doctor and the advanced lab of “Bones” let me can’t stop them!The beautiful dancers in “so you think you can dance” and the brilliant Tyra get me crazy!Maybe the compact plots of the play attract me all the time.They don’t like the Korean routineer ones,or the insipid Chinese series,also not like the Japanese short but difficult to understand(the creepy Japanese,forgive me).what’s more thanks for the large produce of American plays I can enjoy them all the year, not afraid of be vacancy.
By the way, the medium to know a country I prefer to the history from books or the Internet.For the reason I know: art is from life while higher than the latte.
However I learn the humor from those Americans, they are brilliant!
PS: I am sure “My Chinese colleague did not know the smart way to watch T.V. nor did she have any real grounding in American culture so as to appreciate how preposterously funny the show was.”I have to say only part of Chinese enjoy a TV show so painfully.What about your idea?
Frankly speaking, I really love US-TV very much. I have seen “Desperate Housewives”, “Friends” .etc every series. I get a lot of fun from these television series. First of all, I think it really helpful for me to practice my listening skills. Secondly, I am sure I can hear the pure American English through them. And I have thought that I can also get to know a lot of US culture. But now, since martin tells us some background information about the TV series and American, I will watch the show from an objective, comprehensive aspect to get to know US culture.
There are some series that reflect the reality of China, such as WOJU, Shuangmianjiao,and so on.Concequently ,I have the same sense that the American series also does that and don’t doubt that. It is shocking to hear that they are not the reflection of Amirican values. Frome the films ,I learn that American people are with great aspiration ,aggression endeavor, extroversion ,etc. I don’t know whether those are the relity of American Values.
The article give me a new understanding about American television.They are very wonderful to see.From my high school,I started to see the Foreign movies and the television that were very popular in China .For example,the“Prison Break” “Friends”are looked very nice.I hope it could improve my listening English.Of course and make me know more about American culture.But after reading the article,I start to think more about the TV series.Maybe they not coincide with the real life just like our Chinese TV series are not in line with the reality completely.But I still like watching the English movie to learn English.That is the final terminal.
In fact,I always like to watch the American television series,for instance , Friends,Prison Break,Lost,D.H., 24 Hours,Hero et al.I like the way American living in the series,because it looks more free and open than China.Sometimes some series harshly criticized the ugly phenomenons of the society and revealed some human nature.I always thought that is American,that’s American culture in the series.However,now,after reading your comments about the American television series,I know I am wrong.The basic goal of the series is to make profits,they don’t care if they reflect the ture life.Only function of them to us is just for fun.
I am not quite agree with some of the arguments in this article. It is a saying that it is the best way to transmitt the values by producing the best movies and TV series. I am quite agree with that and I saw that the American entertainment industry has reach that goal. We all know that what happened in the TV are not that in the real life or we shall not call that a drama. But the reason people would like to watch is not the difference with the real life but it is the real life value that attract people. I am fond of the TV Boston Legal. Of course I knew that in the real life there is no possibility that the law system runs like that. But the TV did show me how the U.S. legal system runs and what is the basic society value that America is standing on. I am really educated by such impressive product and I guess that it how this industry runs and succeeds.
After I entered the college, I began to watch the American television series. The initial purpose was to practice my pronunciation. My first American television series is “Friends”, just like many people. Unlike “the Chinese colleague”, I treated “Friends” just as if a comedy rather than as a documentary on American culture. After I have the Holistic English class, I decided to improve my pronunciation. Compared to other American television series, for example, “Sex and the City” “Desperate Housewives” “Gossip Girl”, “Friends” is a better series for my pronunciation.
As to me, I actually know the smart way to watch T.V. But I’m always exposed to the subliminal message, smoking, alcohol consumption, illegal drug use, adultery and homosexuality, etc. Sometimes I feel very nervous about the future in China. I ask myself whether the new generation in China will behave so.
Actually, I enjoy American television series, but I don’t take that so serious. It’s just a show; it’s just for entertainment, like most of the other Chinese television series. I think the TV show is an easy way for me to approach American culture. Of course, American people do not live exactly the way in the TV shows. One can surely learn about American culture from academy articles, but that’s not fun.
Besides all those soap series, there are still some serious TV shows. The ones about laws may even teach me something never been taught in China.
I have been watching American television series for years. For example, I am watching CSI: NY season 6 recently. But I am just interested in the way to find criminals, not for learning American culture or other purposes. I think it is only an entertainment to watch TV. By the way, the American television series we downloaded from the internet may infringe the IP.
I had watched the series “Prison Break”,it is a really exciting and fantastic,and I admired Michael Scofield so much because he is so smart and couraged to fight with dark forces.But I also understand what happened in the series isn’t true in the really American society.So I think when we watch the TV,we must keep rational and learn to justify the ture and false.After all,the main purpose of the director is to make the movie attracted by the audience.
Actually,I did not watch American television before,because I feel that I could not understand the plot and context of the TV shows,so I took it as wasting of time.But now,after the class,I begin to watch American films and some intertsting TV shows.I think it is a new way to improve my ability of listening English. As a matter of fact,my pronunciation really get too much promotion.I enjoy American TV!
I like watching the TV and movies.Because I want to learn the western culture and western contents from them.It is a good way for me to learn English.So interesting it is.I don’t know whether the American people do live like these.
But I want to live like in the movies some day.I prefer serious TV shows to soap series.Time is limited.I prefer to learn more from limited movies.
Many of my classmates had recommended I see “Friends”. They said it can help me to learn English. I watched it only one time. And I must confess that I watched it with Chinese subtitles. I just wanted to learn more English. I also considered it as comedy when I understood it by the translation. But now I think I can’t learn much from it if I still depend on the Chinese subtitles. Maybe I should listen to the English and also watch the English subtitles next time. But I’m very clear that my purpose is just to listen and entertainment but not to learn American culture.
In my idea, not only American series but also Chinese series do not reflect the true scenes of real life. Most of us understand it, so when we watching a movie or a series no matter which country it came from we won’t be affected. We all realized that novels, movies and series are made to fulfill one’s dream, it won’t come true in reality. So just watching, then go on your own life.
“Gossip Girl” is the first American TV series I watched during the college. And I just watched the first and second season of it. In addition, I just looked through some pieces of “Friend” “Sex and the City” and “Desperate Housewives”. These are all American TV series I watched. Obviously, I’m not interesting in watching American TV series let alone enamored with them. The mixed relationship among figures and something inappropriately described on series such as smoking, alcohol consumption, illegal drug use, adultery, and homosexuality rather disgusted me. Although there are always some people tell me to learn English via watching American TV series and movies, I still cannot accept them. Of course, there are some excellent films such as “the Terminal” “Lost in Translation”. I could watch them with pleasure. But TV series, hng~~~