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The Douban website is apparently (as advised by AI 🧐) the sounding board of students, artists & white collared workers. These native Chinese cohorts are possibly not so keen to be faced with re-enactments of their native contemporary history. Even less do they tolerate in silence being witness to the protrayal of abusive intergender behaviours or inequitable social situations even if some of the actions involve the delectable Cheng Lei (that he is at times is the face of the abuse bits even more).
Regardless of the intentions of the original web novel IP, this film version was clearly conceived as a veiled propaganda vehicle. The non Chinese public would have no difficulty in decoding this fact & presumably so have cohorts of native Chinese who are in no doubt as to how their lifes to all effects is under the control of an authoritarian central power. Not quite the reaction expected by the Authorities: a modicum of enthusiasm for all that the Communism movement achieved post the end of the Japanese invasion of China, perhaps.
Neither can it truthfully be said that the political/social situation in China has really shifted totally & irrevocably from what existed in the past feudal eras or when the Warlords set the law for everyone within the regions under their control.
Another consideration is that nowhere in the world has abusive behaviour towards members of either gender been stamped out. Awareness of its inhumanity is stronger, that yes, but this is as far as it has come. China is no exception in this regard whatever the powers-that-be will claim. Hence the criticism leveled at the drama for the scenes which depicted various forms of entitled or possessive behaviour, with or without the use of physical force or a sexual assault overtone. What personally surprised me is that torture scenes or references to the use of torture were not targeted with similar sharp disapproval.
It will also not have escaped the drama viewers' notice that the meek have yet to inherit the earth as worldwide (China being no exception) the association of material wealthy with increased social clout is as strong as it ever was in the Republican Era.
The Lament of Autumn is indeed a work of fiction set in an era a 100 years ago but the human behaviours & social conflicts it mirrors are not fictional & in so many aspects still painfully present in the lives of those alive today (and not just on the Chinese mainland). This drama imparts a veritable deluge of importance points for personal reflection & is therefore very much worthy, in my modest opinion, of the viewer's time.
Regardless of the intentions of the original web novel IP, this film version was clearly conceived as a veiled propaganda vehicle. The non Chinese public would have no difficulty in decoding this fact & presumably so have cohorts of native Chinese who are in no doubt as to how their lifes to all effects is under the control of an authoritarian central power. Not quite the reaction expected by the Authorities: a modicum of enthusiasm for all that the Communism movement achieved post the end of the Japanese invasion of China, perhaps.
Neither can it truthfully be said that the political/social situation in China has really shifted totally & irrevocably from what existed in the past feudal eras or when the Warlords set the law for everyone within the regions under their control.
Another consideration is that nowhere in the world has abusive behaviour towards members of either gender been stamped out. Awareness of its inhumanity is stronger, that yes, but this is as far as it has come. China is no exception in this regard whatever the powers-that-be will claim. Hence the criticism leveled at the drama for the scenes which depicted various forms of entitled or possessive behaviour, with or without the use of physical force or a sexual assault overtone. What personally surprised me is that torture scenes or references to the use of torture were not targeted with similar sharp disapproval.
It will also not have escaped the drama viewers' notice that the meek have yet to inherit the earth as worldwide (China being no exception) the association of material wealthy with increased social clout is as strong as it ever was in the Republican Era.
The Lament of Autumn is indeed a work of fiction set in an era a 100 years ago but the human behaviours & social conflicts it mirrors are not fictional & in so many aspects still painfully present in the lives of those alive today (and not just on the Chinese mainland). This drama imparts a veritable deluge of importance points for personal reflection & is therefore very much worthy, in my modest opinion, of the viewer's time.
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