What do people make of this Comrade Squarepants video?

[prephil]

Thought it was priceless. Not racist but really well done I thought.

[Meng Lelan]

It's terrible.

[jbradfor]

I got half way through it, and then closed the browser tab in disgust. Maybe the second half is better.

[yonglin]

Just a bit meh. Didn't see the point.

(Labour markets in China have been deregulated for some 25 years. Chinese people consume more stuff than ever before. They have also been able to shop at Walmart themselves for some 14 years. Etcetera.)

[prephil]

Ah come on people. It's a classic. I wonder do they have a similar one for ireland? If anyone finds one, please do let me know. I don't mind having a laugh at my own nation's expense.

[imron]

I agree with the meh comment. More than anything it demonstrates the complete lack of understanding and knowledge the creators have of China.

[Lu]

Am at work, so I watch with the sound of, but from what I've seen I have to agree with Imron.

Boom Chicago, whose video that is, is an American group that has a comedy show going in Amsterdam that makes fun of Holland and America, and is dead funny to both Dutch and American audiences. This video makes fun of a country that the makers don't really know, and don't really get. I doubt it would be funny to a Chinese audience. Makes it a cheap shot at Other People.

And by the way, when eyes and hats and such are exaggerated like that, yeah, that is considered racist.

[Hofmann]

Not complete lack of understanding. Actually I think they understand China at least as much as an average Chinese student, as they should in order to screw with Communist Party like this.

[renzhe]

You should show it to your in-laws. They are bound to find it hilarious.

[querido]

It looks like another tiny contributor to the very gradual engineered demonization of China, leading toward another fake cold war.

"Engineered? But it was produced by a private entity."

Just watch as the number of negative commentators reaches critical mass, and the people think and feel as they're told.

"Fake cold war?

You heard me.

[c_redman]

22 million hits for that video?? I'm in the wrong line of work.

[trisha2766]

More than anything it demonstrates the complete lack of understanding and knowledge the creators have of China.

I agree. It makes them look stupid. I think its still offensive though too.

[Meng Lelan]

You should show it to your in-laws. They are bound to find it hilarious.

I don't think that's a good idea, refer to post #6 for the reason.

[renzhe]

I wasn't serious.

[prephil]

I'm Irish and married to a Chinese woman. I've watched the video again and I actually.

Point No.1: Most people (particularly teenagers) idolise Chairman Mao.

Point No.2: Brainwashing does go on in China. The students who protested in 1989 were sent to a reform school in Shijiazhuang to change their thoughts so to speak to conform with the Communist Party. Id that's not brainwashing then I don't know what is. I know an old chinese lady who spent 30 years in a labour camp for her faith. She told me stories of how they'd wake her in the middle of the night and question her and try to get her to denounce her faith. Need I go on.

Point No.3: A lot of people work serious hours. I worked with a Chinese man from Wuhan and he said he worked 28 days a month and had 2 days off. Madness.

Maybe the greetings to the tanks and Great Wall are a bit pointless but they're funny.

Point No.4: Chinese people don't really get Western humour in my experience and when Spongebob says "stop making humour" it reminds me of my wife a little.

Point No.5: The Great Firewall........

Point No.6: almost everything comes from China in terms of consumable products.

Point No.6: The average Chinese worker earns about €150 to €200 a month which doesn't allow them to buy what they make.

Point No.7: The ordinary jo sobe can't stand up for his rights without being intimidated.

So I think this video has a lot of valid points and the humour is good. I don't find it racist. Anyway, I guess we don't all see it the same way. Perhaps somebody can find a stereotypical video on Irish people and I'll give my comments.

[renzhe]

After reading all your threads, I'm pretty convinced that you're a subtle troll.

[Lu]

I don't find it racist.

You're not the one to judge that. The people to really judge that are Chinese(-looking people) who have been on the receiving side of things like this.

[wushijiao]

Yeah, I don't think the premise of the joke really works: that Chinese are simply underpaid and brainwashed by the government. Sure, those two things are semi-truths, but the complete truth is that there are tons of exposes in the Chinese media about labor conditions, and even about the RMB, and China's economic model...etc. I think many people would be shocked at how many things are discussed in the Chinese media and Internet, and also, how the limits are made and by whom. .

Of course, it's difficult to understand another country's complex and ever fluid censorship and Party-led public opinion apparatus without living in the country. So in that sense, you can't blame Sponge Bob too much. He'd benefit from reading the China Media Project and Rebecca MacKinnon!

One might also add that the Party doesn't need overt force (ie. tanks everywhere) when it has fostered a much deeper and more subtle sense of cognitive dissonance and self-censorship that is almost unnoticed among people who have received PRC education, or even many long-term expats.

[Lu]

Of course, it's difficult to understand another country's complex and ever fluid censorship and Party-led public opinion apparatus without living in the country. So in that sense, you can't blame Sponge Bob too much.

That is indeed very difficult, and I wouldn't blame people for not knowing a whole lot about China. But refraining from making ignorant jokes is not very difficult.

Boom Chicago especially should be aware of the fact that a foreign country is not that easy to get to know, seeing that they consist of Americans living in Holland. They should know better than make stupid movies about a country they don't understand.

[prephil]

ok, points taken. I guess I just found it quite amusing. I feel that maybe our sense of humour compared to Asian sense of humor is quite different going by all the comments. As an Irish person, I'm used to seeing comedians take the piss (joke) out of ourselves so I'm quite used to it. I'm not sure if comedy works like that in China. Maybe I should write to Boom Chicago and request they make a similar video on Ireland. I'm sure it would have a lot of drunken leperachauns but I don't think I'd take offence.