A new crisis faced by the owners of the Netflix platform, a few days after the fierce attack they were recently exposed to, following the release of the French movie "Cuties".
The film shocked many because of its content, as young heroines appeared in scenes of a sexual nature that violated their childhood and innocence, which called thousands of followers to call for a boycott of Netflix, which resulted in Netflix withdrawing the film from some countries, especially the Arab countries.
Accusation of normalization
The new crisis was not ignited by the public this time, but by Republican senators who criticized Netflix for announcing their adaptation of the science fiction trilogy "The Three Body Problem" written by Chinese writer Liu Shixin, and their intention to turn it into a TV series.
Netflix faces call to rethink Liu Cixin adaptation after his Uighur comments
Five US senators have written to question plans to adapt The Three-Body Problem after its author voiced support for China's mass internments in Xinjiang pic.twitter.com/1dPRb6d5mC
- UyghurTimes English (@uytimes) September 26, 2020
The reason behind these criticisms - which reached the point of sending an official letter to Netflix from 5 lawmakers - was the author's position on the Chinese government's dealing with Uighur Muslims, according to an interview he had conducted in 2019 by The New Yorker magazine. During this period, the government works, explaining this as helping the economy and trying to lift everyone out of poverty.
The senators expressed their fear of the reflection of the Chinese writer's positions on the new show, especially that Liu will work as a consultant producer in the series, stressing that this cooperation is a normalization with those ideas adopted by the author, which were described as criminal, and they called on Netflix to reconsider this project.
Whether it be Liu Cixin or Orson Scott Card or Ezra Pound, one cannot simply separate the art from the rest of the artist.
"Netflix faces criticism over 'Game of Thrones' showrunners'" Three-Body Problem "series" https://t.co/bqQXajZg1O
- Mark Pitcavage (@egavactip) September 27, 2020
This is what Dean Garfield, vice president of public policy at Netflix, responded to, explaining that their citation of the work does not mean that they agree or adopt the author's ideas that they are against in form and object, especially as they have nothing to do with plot or novel.
Garfield emphasized that Liu is an author only, and he has nothing to do with how to create the series that they intend to produce, and they see that its fertile material deserves to be presented.
After "Game of Thrones"
Although no information has been released about the expected production date of the series "The Three Bodies Problem" so far, some technical information has already become known with regard to the team. The transformation of the series was assigned to the artwork of the authors David Benioff and DB Weiss, who were previously They have to present the series "Game of Thrones" with "HBO".
This work will be the first production of the duo after accepting a giant deal to cooperate with Netflix worth $ 200 million. The experience will be shared by television and playwright Alexander Wu, who in February concluded a deal with Netflix that includes developing and authoring a number of drama and science fiction series.
The audience split
"The most ambitious science fiction series we've read," is how Benioff and Weiss described the series, announcing their enthusiasm for working on it, while Alexander Wu said it was "an allegory of depth."
While some were happy with the work when they knew that Benioff and Weiss were the ones behind it, following the epic experience that everyone witnessed during the series "Game of Thrones", others felt frustrated and apprehensive because of the end of the work that failed everyone and was naive and substandard.
I really watched Game Of Thrones all day and night just to catch up and see the worst ending to a show ever
- Rob (@Robfrfr) September 28, 2020
Just a wild imagination
Former US President Barack Obama described the "Three Body Problem" trilogy in an interview with The NewYork Times in 2017 "just an interesting wild fantasy."
It is noteworthy that the first part of the trilogy was published as a series of articles in the Chinese magazine "Science Fiction World" in 2006, before it was compiled into a book during 2008.
The serial novel was praised by critics in China who admired the delicate mixture that came with it, combining mathematics, physics and science fiction, as well as some philosophical elements presented against the bloody background of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
The novel won the Galaxy Prize in 2006, the most famous science fiction award in China, and was translated into English by Chinese writer Qin Liu, who won it equally with the original author of the novel Liu Shishin the Hugo International Prize for the best novel in 2015, in the first precedent for winning an Asian novel. / Translated by award.
Disney is also accused
This crisis comes in the wake of the controversy after Disney produced the live version of the movie "Mulan" and partly filmed it in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where the Chinese government is accused of detaining about one million Uyghur Muslims in what it describes as rehabilitation camps, while human rights organizations consider them International mass concentration camps.
Netflix's "Three-Body Problem" has to figure out how to not be the next "Mulan" https://t.co/fy64NH5N46
- Quartz (@qz) September 25, 2020
American lawmakers sent a letter to Disney CEO Bob Chapik, asking him to explain the decision to shoot in Xinjiang and to clarify the extent of the Chinese government’s participation in the film, but no public statements have been made about Chapik in this regard yet.