The commentary attacked such TV dramas for their contents, production techniques and social influence. It said they “are awash with concepts of intrigue, jealousy and political scheme, magnifying the dark sides of humanity…They are not faithfully based on historical records,” but rather, “mutilate the history and fabricate nonsense.” Most of all, it said, “their interpretation of history conceals their fetish of power, overnight stardom, quick money and hedonism, which can do nothing to help the audience understand history or meditate the meaning of life.”
The pungent article exacerbated an already existing division of opinions among China’s Weibo users, most of which are young savvy people aged 18 to 25, about the quality of such TV dramas. A poll by Sina Weibo revealed that by midday May 9, over two thirds of the 20,000 respondents agreed that such programs were nonsensical garbage.
User 韩雨汐_Sunny wrote：”#Court Intrigue-based TV Dramas Are Garbage# Being criticized as rubbish is a little bit excessive when we take its entertainment function into account. However, for us young, inspirational books or biography may be a better choice.”
User 高方gaofang wrote：”#Court Intrigue-based TV Dramas Are Garbage# Their contents are not completely fabricated, but most of them are fictitious nonsense. The worst are the time travel dramas, full of nonsense and a blatant trample on history. What is the purpose of such playwrights? Boring! Personally, I totally loath watching them.”
Voices of the relatively few supporters of the genre could also be heard.
User miss-miss刘小姐 wrote：”#Court Intrigue-based TV Dramas Are Not Garbage# Existence is reasonable. The righteous people have to watch documentaries if they are seeking serious contents. If you want to be both entertained and informed, who do you think you are?”
User YOYO_o-六六 wrote: ”#Court Intrigue-based TV Dramas Are Not Garbage# Stories about the harems have not been historically recorded. Adapting them into TV dramas is a way to have fun, why are they so serious about them?”
By Xu Xinlei
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