Movies - TV
The Controversy Surrounding Netflix’s 3 Body Problem Explained
By JEREMY MATHAI
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ new show, “3 Body Problem,” adapts the first novel of Chinese writer Liu Cixin’s epic alien-invasion “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy.
However, the renowned sci-fi series isn’t free from controversy, which is also in the Netflix show. One specific scene early on proved to be a particularly hot-button issue.
The story begins in 1966 Beijing amid a so-called “struggle session” where students and other impressionable people hold harrowing anti-science demonstrations.
These demonstrators are seeking to forcibly uproot established scholars, scientists, and other “bourgeois” intellectuals from positions of governmental influence.
Cixin essentially had to hide this chapter much later on in the hopes that it would slip past government censors as China downplays and denies facts about the Cultural Revolution.
Netflix series faithfully adapted these scenes. The company quickly made headlines when some Chinese viewers accused the show of intentionally painting China in a negative light.