The overridden voice-over and subtitle change led to the viewers to believe the production crew was discriminating against women.
On September 19th, Sina reported about controversial details from the television series “Rising Lady”. Specifically, when the two characters were talking about buying tampons for women, the subtitle and voice-over was changed into cotton pads.
The audiences were confused as to why the word “tampon” was considered sensitive, hence, needing to avoid. The action of the crew was judged to be regressive to current social progress.
Viewers criticized the unsophisticated detail in the series, stating, “We have spent years trying to be more open when discussing personal matters, now the film crew is trying to hide it as if it was something wrong”, “I saw her carrying tampons in the following scene”.
Zhang Han’s “Gentlemen of East 8th” previously came under fire for insensible detail that degraded women by considering them as “toys”.
According to Sina, the Chinese National Radio and Television Administration has issued guidelines on specific sets of subjects, character development, or regulations on dialogues and costumes. In detail, many genres specific to Chinese television such as time travel and royal court dramas are prohibited from airing. Police and military officer characters are not to play the bad guy and always have to keep fine images. These restrictions are limiting the creative extent of Chinese scriptwriters.
Source: K14
