A Golden Globe for Best Film, $1.62 billion dollars worldwide and seven years in the making, James Cameron's Avatar isn't exactly failing to pull in the viewers. Why then, after taking a whopping $73 million there already, is the country that has just overtaken the US to become the world's leading economy, banning the blockbuster from its screens after just two weeks? China's government yesterday issued a statement to explain they feared the revolt by the indigenous Na'vi population shown in the film would ignite the Chinese people's imagination to instigate a similar popular revolt. Sure. Maybe the Americans should watch out while we're at it, and the Irish too, because by the same token there is just as much reason to ban extreme violence from our screens. Furthermore, it's an insult to suggest the Chinese population are stupid enough to ignore the political agenda behind replacing 2D screenings of Avatar with a biographical production about Confucius. Subtle? I think not. Twentieth Century Fox has confirmed that the film will be withdrawn from 1600 Chinese cinemas nationwide, but that the 3D version is expected to continue showing in 900 cinemas across the country. Now forgive me if I'm wrong dear Communist Party of China leader, but if you really want to stop people from seeing something you should probably get rid of the real-life three dimensional version. Didn't you know that prohibition breeds rebellion?
