But Will the Mail Go Through?

China’s ancient culture has outlasted famine, Mongol hordes, the
British Empire, opium wars and Japanese militarism.

So why is Beijing scared of Tinky Wink?

That’s the member of U.K. kids’ favorite Teletubbies, which aroused the
ire of televangelist Jerry Falwell. Now the animated gang has fallen
afoul of Communist China–although not for the preacher’s reasons.

See, Teletubbies is a mixed media show, in that it blends cartoons with
live action. And that melange is now officially banned by Beijing.

from Forbes Magazine

When we find out about something interesting but can’t
put together even a plausible theory as to why it should be so, it sticks
in our craw and itches our imagination
like a touch of poison ivy in that exact spot between and below the
shoulder blades you can never seem to scratch. Why in the world would
the
Chinese be afraid of mixed
media?
Promoting a homegrown animation industry is all well and good, look
at what the Japanese have done with anime and animation, art forms
invented
and
monopolized by the US during the first stages of their development.
But why do the Chinese feel that Space Jam is intrinsically
more subversive than Bullwinkle or Ghost in the Machine?

Is it that their studios lack the know-how or hardware to mix live action
with animation? That is hard to imagine; the young Chinese entrepreneurs
we know seem to think they can do or make anything, and we are inclined
to believe them. Is it some weird cultural revulsion, like cartoons of
the Prophet, which makes mixed media an abomination in the middle kingdom?

Any readers with insights into the Chinese mind who might enlighten
us are encouraged to comment.

Afterthought – Gabe just mentioned that it is also somewhat hypocritical of the Chinese to ban the Tubbies – considering that every plastic Teletubby toy, coloring book, play set and fuzzy jammies featuring them is now “Made in China”…..