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Zhao Benshan's Spring Festival MDMAPosted by Joel Martinsen on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 1:01 PM
The controversy surrounding "Not Short of Cash," (不差钱), Zhao Benshan's skit at the 2009 Spring Festival Gala, shows no signs of abating. The skit, set at a Scotland-themed restaurant, involved Zhao's efforts to convince a TV host to use his granddaughter in a variety show, and was the Gala debut of Xiao Shenyang, an errenzhuan actor who played an effeminate waiter bribed into helping Zhao keep the cost of the banquet to an absolute minimum. Xiao Shenyang was a hit, but the skit was criticized by Zhao's fans for relegating him to a supporting role. Perhaps because of Xiao Shenyang's visibility in the weeks following the Gala, the skit soon came under fire for a variety of other offenses:
Today's Jingjiang Evening News reports that Wei elaborated on his evaluation in a lecture at Sichuan University, where he has just accepted a part-time position in the College of Literature and Journalism. "Artistic ecstasy" is his new assessment of the skit:
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Comments on Zhao Benshan's Spring Festival MDMA
Hey Wei Minlun, it's none of your business. The reason why Zhao's skit won the prize was merely because of the support of the audience. Zhao and his skits have been popularly welcomed in Asia, what makes you so jealous?
It is only a joke,we can get something funny from the perfomance, it is okay. We do not have to draw a moral lesson from such things.
Interesting controversy. I re-watched the skit on Youtube, and I really can't see what's all that immoral about this compared to other skits.
Maybe the gender-bender humor of Xiao Shenyang was the real issue, and not "turning swindlers' techniques into the elements of entertainment". Or, it could also be, when the guy is saying that he'll pay for the meal, Zhao's character says something to the effect of "no need, we farmers are much richer now", but the hint to the audience, perhaps, is that that official rhetoric is not quite accurate. Of course, that's just a minor point in the skit, but I guess in some senses the skit doesn't completely follow the "Party/Gov are making things better" narrative that tends to dominate the Gala, nor the education through proper model behavior element.
"Some people think looking at sexy pictures is fun, some people think taking ecstasy is fun."
Since when did looking at "sexy pictures" (I assume he/she means porn?) become equivalent in depravity to taking psychedelic drugs?
Wei Minglun, you can proclaim all day long that libido = immorality, but when you wake up tomorrow, it's still going to be there whether you like it or not.
Wei is referring to "sexy photos-gate" (艳照门), the Edison Chen scandal from last year. Why, I can't say.
It's a Ukranian-themed restaurant...