Internet

Hu Ge's new spoof: Action movie dodgy drug infomercial

Hu Ge (胡戈), the video artist whose Internet video spoof of director Chen Kaige's movie The Promise brought him nationwide fame and threats of legal action from Chen, has been busy again.

The People's Daily has republished a Xinhua story about the new video:

The three-and-half minute Internet video made by Hu Ge appears to be a typical, mundane television shopping program. The advertiser is a medicine called "Two Foot Kick", produced by "Apollo Biopharm" that boasts "99 percent effectiveness in boosting courage".

The video uses movie clips including Hollywood hits "American Dream", "Mr. & Mrs. Smith", "Terminator 2", "Scary Movie 4" and Chinese movies "Crazy Stone" and "KungFu Hustle". Stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Angelina Jolie appear to be promoting the new "super medicine".

This is the new video:

The People's Daily / Xinhua article commented further:

In July, China banned misleading advertising that promoted products for breast enlargement, weight loss and height enhancing drugs...

..."Egao", a slang term coined to describe the use of real film clips to create mocking video with a completely different story has been growing rapidly on the Internet. China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television announced new rules in August that were meant to rein in the fad by requiring only authorized Web sites to show short films online.

It seems that spoofing is considered, at least by the People's Daily, to be harmonious if it's used to mock dodgy advertising.

The People's Daily story quoted above is here. Below you can find Hu Ge's steamed bun spoof video, and a huge collection of links to articles about spoofing culture and Hu Ge.

Hu Ge's first spoof: The Bloody Case That Started From A Steamed Bun

Links and Sources

Hu Ge and spoofing culture in China

Media regulation: attempts to stop spoof videos

Other Chinese spoof videos

Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
The latest recommended blogs and new media
laomo2010x80.jpg
From 2008
Books on China
The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas.
+ Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet.
+ David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30