A Chinese TV Show Is Being Called Out For Showing Women Badly In The Fight Against Coronavirus. What Even?
Let’s keep all the speculative theories, questionable testimonies of China being responsible for the spread of Covid 19 aside. But generally also, this year hasn’t panned out very well for them. And this coming from someone whose year 2020 is going just as bad. You see, while we too were caught with our pants down in this pandemic but China is facing the wrath for more reasons than one. For starters, their portrayal of women in the fight against coronavirus in this Chinese TV show.
A new Chinese television drama is based on the fight of China against Covid-19 is getting plenty of flak. The series that has aired 8 episodes up till now, sought to narrate the challenges faced by the people with the outbreak of Coronavirus and also to depict how it handled and kept the situation under control. And while that would seem like a promising attempt in steering the perception of people, what it instead ended up doing was enraging them.
“Heroes in Harm’s Way”, the recent show that went on air is now being asked to be taken down by several thousand people on Chinese social media, as they condemn it for its poor and untrue depiction of women during the pandemic. Claiming that the show reduced the contributions of women to just containing the virus, the show is being called out for propagating gender inequality among other things.
Also Read : In China, Female Nurses Are Taking Pills To Delay Their Period. Yes, They Are Heroes But We Must Also Protect Their Interests.
CCTV Covid-19 drama, "Heroes in Harm’s Way" receives historically low score of 2.4 on Douban and 0.6 on Zhihuhttps://t.co/GDGcNeJGus
— RADII (@RADII_Media) September 22, 2020
A few particular scenes in this Chinese TV show, have sparked quite a few vociferous protests among citizens including one where the head of a Wuhan bus company can be seen saying: “All volunteers are men, are there any women who want to join?”, implying that no women actually came forward on their own. And another one where a male doctor told a female colleague: “You’re a woman, you can just stay aside to assist.” This after almost two thirds of the frontline medics comprised women! The gall is appaling. And just like that, the actual contribution of women in fighting against this deadly virus was cast aside.
'Heroes in Harm's Way': #Covid_19 drama faces online backlash https://t.co/7zHUJIh9Qh
— Anees Hanif (@anees_avis) September 21, 2020
People have also spoken about how unprofessional portrayals of the treatment of patients has been shown in the series. With unethical standards of procedures, where characters can be seen working without masks or proper gear, they have criticised the show for its skewed depiction of the actual ‘touching stories’ of the pandemic. One student also commented on the matter and rightfully said, “Setting up contrasts was a tactic to highlight the virtues of the main characters. But the production team did it in a very clumsy way and nobody who lived through the epidemic would say it was a good retelling of those touching stories.”
.Heroes in Harm’s Way has received a 2.4 out of 10 rating on the Chinese review platform Douban, as many ended up giving it just one star.
