BEIJING -- "Kung Fu Panda" is doing boffo B.O. Stateside, and is probably going to get Chinese auds all excited too, but not everyone is a fan of the antics of the reluctant martial arts bear.
Performance artist Zhao Bandi, perhaps best known for carrying around a toy panda and using panda images in a lot of his work, has called for a boycott of the film and taken his protest and a petition to the powerful State Administration of State Administration of Radio Film and Television in Beijing.
"If the Hollywood film ‘Kung Fu Panda’ is released on June 20th, it will be just like snatching the necklaces and watches from the corpses of disaster victims," the petition reads.
"Kung Fu Panda" has grossed close to $120 million since opening on June 6th and bows in cinemas across China on Friday, although there was a restricted screening at the Shanghai International Film Festival this week.
Zhao has a number of complaints to make – chiefly the fact that it is a Hollywood movie, and Sharon Stone comes from there, and her recent remarks linking karma to the devastating May 12th earthquake have earned her unending ire in China.
Hollywood is also exploiting Chinese culture with the movie and the Dreamworks studio was founded by Steven Spielberg, who is unpopular in China for pulling out as adviser to the Beijing Olympics because of China’s role in Sudan.
"The film "Kung Fu Panda" steals China’s national treasure, the panda, and kung fu," said Zhao, who confessed he had not seen the movie. SARFT head Tong Gang met Zhao for 20 minutes, said the Film Bureau understood Zhao’s feelings but that given the film had passed censorship it could not block the film.
Zhao said after the meeting he was happy for the film to screen, but suggested it not be shown in the earthquake zone in Sichuan, which is also home to the Giant Panda.
Zhao came in for criticism in blog postings, admittedly anonymous, on the Xinhua news agency website.
"This is completely a waste of time. There is no need for such sensitivity. China's cultural heritage belongs to the world," wrote one blogger.
"His thinking is too narrow. Chinese things can only be shot by the Chinese people themselves? Ridiculous! Does everything have to relate to patriotism? He is just an angry man. It is a very good film. Many elements contains Chinese tradition. Children love this film. So do adults. Why do not they think about the reasons that Chinese people can not produce such a film?" wrote another.
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