The Energon Pub

A new column in People's Daily Online discusses the way some Chinese people feel about the depiction of Shanghai in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

As most of you know by now, the first long scene in the film shows a battle in the Chinese city of Shanghai. In fact, this scene was not shot in China at all, but instead in Bethlehem, PA at the former Bethlehem Steel Plant. Originally, this scene had been billed as taking place in a "fictional Chinese city" but was changed later on.

Here is an excerpt from the article. Please note that this is only an opinion column and far from an "official" statmenet from the people of China.

Some Chinese netizens are not happy about this movie because Shanghai appears to be very shabby in the movie which they think is not a real representation of the city.

Moreover, they think bombing Shanghai is an insult to China. They think the movie intentionally tries to uglify China. It is understood that publisher may cut these scenes from the Chinese edition out of consideration for box office receipts.

Some people comment that it is still unbearable for the publisher to only promise to cut these scenes in China. If the "shabby Shanghai" in "Transformers 2" is widely seen by people all over the world, this will mean an even bigger insult to us. Therefore, those people are requiring that those scenes are not shown anywhere in the world.

You may read the entire column here

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Oh well.

They'll get over it.

or they won't.

Either way, I don't care.

Maybe if they took their collective red books out of their rectums and stopped producing all kinds of K/O crap.. maybe THEN we would listen.

till then? I'm staying Taiwanese!

Waaah, cry me a river. It's a movie. Who cares who they bombed in a fictitious story.

Weren't they the same ones who made the Bumblebee parade?

They wanna complain about that? Do you see anyone in the navy, or even the united states alone complaining they took out an entire Carrier? It took transformers to destroy a US Aircraft Carrier LOL! I'm in the navy and I think that's awesome! Cause I know its fictitious.

So, they bombed Paris, Egypt, USA bases,etc. and Chinese get offended because they also bombed Shanghai. LOL.

People were shocked at Bay for pulling Megatron and Optimus through a sky scrapper in TF1 depicting it 9/11ish but no one here is complaining.

China just needs to grow a pair of Devestator-sized balls and just grin and bear it.

Totally ridiculous that they're getting worked up over this. So obsessed with reputation/saving face. Seriously, some asian countries need to chill out. Whatever. Yeah, they'll get over it.

kirbenvost wrote:Totally ridiculous that they're getting worked up over this. So obsessed with reputation/saving face. Seriously, some asian countries need to chill out. Whatever. Yeah, they'll get over it.

Should be noted that it's not 'The Chinese People' makng the complaint, just some idiot editorial piece.

Yes, the government-alligned Chinese Press strikes again. I'm not surprised considering most Communist countries have inter-governmental confidence issues due to how weak the system in question is. Still, the rest of the world (especially the rest of Asia) doesn't care. India itself changed Oliver Stone's 'Alexander' by making appear as if he died IN India after a amazingly successful Indian military campaign - then the film ended right away!

Counterpunch wrote:

kirbenvost wrote:Totally ridiculous that they're getting worked up over this. So obsessed with reputation/saving face. Seriously, some asian countries need to chill out. Whatever. Yeah, they'll get over it.

Should be noted that it's not 'The Chinese People' makng the complaint, just some idiot editorial piece.

True, my mistake.

It just bugs me a lot because I know the whole 'saving face' thing is a huge thing in Chinese culture. I know because my girlfriend is Chinese-Canadian. XD If people are really outraged about it, that's just so damn uptight, and that really annoys me. It's just a movie, get over it, etc etc. But if it is indeed just a stupid editorial (no doubt biased towards the government), then yeah, *shrug* I guess. /rant

Kiracon wrote:They wanna complain about that? Do you see anyone in the navy, or even the united states alone complaining they took out an entire Carrier? It took transformers to destroy a US Aircraft Carrier LOL! I'm in the navy and I think that's awesome! Cause I know its fictitious.

You're saying a carrier that has been ripped in half will still stay afloat even at dog zebra? I kinda doubt that. I was in the navy, too. As a submairiner, I got to see my end of the service in action too. Megatron taking the sail of that sub would have doom the sub for sure.

So wait if "they" are upset about Shanghai looking shabby, and it was filmed in Bethlehm PA, are they trying to say Western PA is Shabby?

Shockerwave333 wrote:So wait if "they" are upset about Shanghai looking shabby, and it was filmed in Bethlehm PA, are they trying to say Western PA is Shabby?

LOL, I wouldn't put it past them. I think what really got them PO'd was the depiction of the grotto adjacent to the industrial area. After all, they have an "image" to uphold. What they fail to take into account is that any of us watching the national news have seen firsthand the conditions over there. Rather than trying to maintain an image the government should actually try to do something about the problem and improve the situation for it's people. Of course, that can be said for all nations since everyone has places like that bordering their industrial zones to some degree or another. If the U.S. was that ashamed of all of its "redneck" regions can you imagine how much of the country would be closed off to the rest of the world?
I think the whole situation is laughable at best. I saw nothing disparaging at all about how Shanghai was depicted. In fact, the majority of the shots outside of the construction site were of a sprawling metropolis so I don't understand the issue here.
We were all watching the troops and the robots anyway, who cares about the backdrop?!

Evolution Prime wrote:

Kiracon wrote:They wanna complain about that? Do you see anyone in the navy, or even the united states alone complaining they took out an entire Carrier? It took transformers to destroy a US Aircraft Carrier LOL! I'm in the navy and I think that's awesome! Cause I know its fictitious.

You're saying a carrier that has been ripped in half will still stay afloat even at dog zebra? I kinda doubt that. I was in the navy, too. As a submairiner, I got to see my end of the service in action too. Megatron taking the sail of that sub would have doom the sub for sure.

When I say fictitious I mean the carrier is still floating irl, and this aren't real events. You don't see robots raining down and taking out ships, buildings and such. lol

before you bash the article you should read all of it. All that was posted was the negative, and the entire pro part of it that basically said if you don't like it then do what you can to make the city greater.

Pros:

Aren't some Chinese overreacting to this science fiction movie? They cannot even stand an old house! Aren't they being too sensitive?

Shanghai is the top city in China. But as with many other cities, there must be some shabby places somewhere in the city. Just like there are small rugged alleys under grand viaducts.

Is it only by shooting prosperous areas and ignoring shabby places, that we can not call it an insult to China?

The rational reaction should be to face the unsatisfactory reality and try our best to reform and construct out cities. Forbidding others to talk about our deficiencies and pretending to be perfect while we are not is only fooling ourselves.

www.ifeng.com contributes to this story

If I were Paramount, I'd leave the attack in, claiming it is a key plot point, and without that scene, you would not be able to understand the rationale for any future explosions throughout the whole movie.

Instead, Paramount should cut out the scene where the Carrier gets hit. Obviously, America cannot have their military show weakness to anybody who may want to sink a carrier someday, before we know it, all the Chinese knockoff factories will be knocking off a full-sized, fusion cannon bearing, ROTF Megatron...

And I'm lol-ing at the Chinese. One of the central tenents of Communism is that everyone is treated equally. Therefore, all Chinese citizens in Shanghai live in opulent penthouses, because there is no poor in China that has to live in a slum... At least that's what they want us to believe...

Shut the frak up china. Be happy they put one of your cities in the movie. So what if it wasnt filmed in the actual city and doesnt look 100% like it. This happens all the time on movies. Thats why its called a movie and not a documentary.

Counterpunch wrote:Oh well.

They'll get over it.

or they won't.

Either way, I don't care.

exactly.

This is a prime example of me not knowing what reactione would have gotten . I thought this one would have gotten 2-3 comments max.

In truth the writer did present both sides but I think the negative weighed more heavily in the piece.

I guess we won't be seeing Demolishor, huh?

once again the Chinese are pissed for what? all because they have Bethelem,PA which i happen to live in, turned the Steel plant into a chinese city and bombed the hell out of it and like one member said, they had to destory a aircraft carrier for one scene. China needs to chill and they should complain when they make cheal KOs and cheap ass toys

I thought "Shanghai" was awesome. Then again, I love me some dystopian society and it felt very earthy, so I don't know if I'm the fairest judge when it comes to things like that.

Sometimes we don't mix up press article with general chinese Transformers fans.
Press people write something with motives.

I am frequent visitors of Chinese TF fan sites, they are the same as us, complaining issues like Devastator balls, sick jokes, weak decepticons etc. I dont see a single thread that saying Michael Bay gave an bad impression about Shanghai.

So please dont get excited about a bloody press article. Chinese TF Fans are the same as us here, love TF and complaining the same things. No need to bring Politics into it.