The plan of China Central Television (CCTV) to introduce the
popular play Friends from the National Broadcasting
Company (NBC) of the United States may get stranded, according to
Wednesday's Shanghai Morning Post.
Qin Mingxin, deputy director of the international department of
CCTV's Entertainment Program Center, recently feels greatly worried
about the work. "I had thought the play focused on friendship, but
after a careful preview I found each episode had something to do
with sex. Also, the attitudes of the six close-knit young friends
in the play cannot be generally accepted by Chinese audiences yet,"
he said. "We will face many problems in translation and
abridgement, but I'm unwilling to give it up."
According to Qin, a group of experts have been invited to review
and evaluate
Friends, including old and young people as
well as skillful English practitioners and experienced TV workers.
They came to the same conclusion: too many difficulties! "Though
the play is a TV series divided into 10 seasons, the story is
consistent. If we cut off some parts concentrated on sex, the
continuity of the play will be interrupted," Qin said.
In mid February, Friends will come to an end at NBC and
bid farewell to its eager audiences, which has been a great hit
with American TV audiences for a decade. CCTV had planned to take
this opportunity to let the play debut here. With 10 seasons
altogether, each containing 24 episodes and each episode lasting 25
minutes, CCTV-8 would bring out two episodes in its "Overseas
Theater" every night starting from 22:45 and go on for half a
year.
However, the "nice" plan may have to be aborted. "Most youths on
the Chinese mainland have watched the play and feel passionate
about it. If we make too much trimming, I'm afraid they will not
agree. But it is also impossible to accept it uncritically," Qin
explained. "First, a large number of slang and jokes are hard to
convey. Language is an important criterion in judging the
excellence of situation comedy. If translation falls short of
requirements, the viewing effect will subside. Second, much content
of
Friends, considered healthy in the United States, still
seems unacceptable to the Chinese. This is totally different from
introducing operas from the Republic of Korea, for Koreans have
similar ethics and values as the Chinese."
Qin said they even thought of making a concession: cutting one
or two episodes each season as Friends is a situation
comedy, which demands little consistency between plots. "But this
would destroy the overall structure of the play. If we introduce
it, we must satisfy our audiences," said Qin.
Now the expert group are working hard and racking their brains
to find a more satisfactory decision. Everyone hopes to realize the
introduction, but more feasible suggestions are called for.
(China.org.cn by Li Jinhui and Daragh Moller, January 15,
2004)
