One cannot criticize A&F ad for being too shallow, because it aligns with their business philosophy of being 'liberal and young', and those who are offended by it are clearly not their target audience.
Similarly, Lee Yi Shyan, our regrettable Minister for trade & industry and national development, should not condemn the local Chinese TV drama 'Love Thy Neighbour' for being too shallow, he only watched that one single episode to jump into that conclusion. If everyone base their decisions just on one particular area or situation like Mr Lee does, in this case an episode, and make a vague, overarching statement that wraps up the entirety of the subject matter, irregardless of its heads and tails, progression of events, then wouldn't it be similar to what the foreigners report about the corrupted practices on Singapore politics, that our oppositions won nearly 40% of the votes but only gain six seats in the parliament out of eighty-seven seats? Although the latter is more factual and accurate than what Mr Lee says on 'Love Thy Neighbor', my circumventing argument is the same - that both statements are flawed, the foreign reporters to an extent, Mr Lee to a large degreee.
To post on his FB asking 'why the characters in Channel 8 dramas shout and fight so much' and conclude that the 'characters communicate too little and fail to express themselves sufficiently' conveys not about the quality of the series but the depth of his research and breadth of his intellect in regard to making decisions (must be careful of the wordings here in lieu of his position.) Lets say I flippantly flip and selectively read the middle passage of the Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, I would be expounded by Chae idyllic remarks and what the Scotland people reciprocates:
'Damn folk, we'll all have the whimsies if we listen to any more woesome songs! Have none of you a cheerful one? And the folk in the barn laughed at him and shook their heads, it came on Chris how strange was the sadness of Scotland singing, made for the sadness of the land and sky in dark autumn evenings, the crying of men and women of the land who had seen their lives and loves sink away in the years, things wept for beside the sheep-buchts, remembered at night and in twilight.
Also, unless he is an ou pa san which clearly he is not, or a homme au foyer but he is a well-compensated salaried man, he is clearly not the targeted audience of the show, therefore he had in no capacity to audit the series. Criticize can, but not different from the opinion of others. Only by his ministerial authority could his criticizing voice booms beyond the ordinary ou pa sans, and infringe upon the integrity of the series without seeking the permission of these estimated 35-65 year-old, low-to-middle income aunties feelings. My mum loves this 9pm show, I don't, but I did not switch it off because I don't like the show, Mr Lee intended to pull the plug.
Mr Lee pointed out that 'drama serials in countries like China have well-written lines that convey feelings and can touch audiences'.I couldn't believe it when I read this sentence (tatz the reason why I write this post), why use China as a benchmark to set our media standards? Every well-informed third grader knows China possesses one of the most tauten media censorship, and citizens of China themselves implicitly recognized the media is heavily suppressed by CCP, so can these plot lines really convey the authentic feelings and touches audiences? Or just to ignite a few storms in the teacup without changing the old dredges?
To prefer one nation TV program over another country is a matter of personal taste - so in this case Mr Lee would slant towards TV series produced by the autocratic, the red-flag waving, the Confucius-indoctrinated nation, whereas ordinary ou pa sans and kopi-sipping uncles would rather choose to watch local TV series about true, full-bloom heartlanders produced by culturally-varied Singaporeans. Unless he aspires our media to progress/ regress into China standards of severe red-tapes and high-handed censorship, it made no sense why he didn't mention about the well-written plots of Taiwan, Korea or US media, but China? Really? Therefore, to strike a comparison between two countries media, especially one that is severely oppressed is, in my opinion, asinine to the point of mock-able tragedy.
http://news.insing.com/tabloid/minister-criticises-channel-8-drama-serials/id-bcda3e00
I waste an hour blabbering nonsense T.T
