Number 1 on Netflix, “The 3-Body Problem” seems to be another small success for the creators of “Game of Thrones”. But the series does not escape criticism.
Number 1 on Netflix, The 3-Body Problem is the new series from David Benioff and DB Weiss, the showrunners of Game of Thrones, in collaboration with screenwriter and producer Alexander Woo (True Blood).
This ambitious fiction which describes humanity’s first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization is the adaptation of the famous work The 3-body problem by Liu Cixin, a masterpiece in science fiction literature.
What is the 3-Body Problem?
Rated 4 out of 5 by AlloCiné spectators, The 3-Body Problem follows the research of a group of scientists, associated with the government, to prevent the invasion of an extra-terrestrial civilization, called the San-Ti, which a Chinese astrophysicist contacted in the 1960s.
The cast includes Eiza González (Baby Driver), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), John Bradley, Liam Cunningham and Jonathan Pryce, all three seen in Game of Thrones, Rosalind Chao (Mulan), Ben Schnetzer (Y: The Last Man) and Eve Ridley (Casualty).
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We also find Jovan Adepo (Babylon), Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly (Dare Me), Alex Sharp (The Chicago Seven), Sea Shimooka (Arrow), Zine Tseng and Saamer Usmani (Inventing Anna).
The eight episodes of the first season of The 3-Body Problem, directed by Derek Tsang, Andrew Stanton, Minkie Spiro and Jeremy Podeswa and enhanced by the music of Ramin Djawadi (Game of Thrones, Westworld), are carried by an exceptional cast .
China didn’t like The 3-Body Problem
The 3-Body Problem trilogy is a major literary work in China for which its author Liu Cixin, a former computer engineer turned writer, was awarded the Hugo Prize (American award given to the best works of science fiction and fantasy).
And it has already been adapted in China as a series of 30 episodes, available for free on a streaming site, but also an unpublished feature film which has never been released despite Prime Video’s unsuccessful desire to acquire the rights.
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If the Chinese population has already been entitled to a series adaptation deemed faithful to the books, they cannot legally discover the version of the creators of Game of Thrones. Indeed, Netflix is not available in China due to foreign media regulatory policies imposed by the Chinese government.
But that hasn’t stopped some Chinese from illegally watching the American version of The 3-Body Problem and opinions are very clear, according to Reuters. As soon as the series was released on Netflix, some Chinese Internet users watched its debut and shared their impressions on the social network Weibo, where the series was trending.
And the very first scene of The 3-Body Problem was highly commented on – with over 21 million views! – and even triggered a “nationalist anger” according to CNN. “The first scene left me speechless”wrote a Weibo user, “Even though I had expected this, the scene still surprised me.”
As a reminder, the first sequence of the first episode of the 3-Body Problem plunges us into the middle of the Cultural Revolution in China in the 1960s where astrophysicist Ye Wenjie helplessly witnesses the humiliation, torture and killing of her scientist father by the “Red Guards”, before being taken to a forced labor camp.
This movement launched by Mao Zedong and supported by the country’s youth allowed the dictator to consolidate his power and take control of the Chinese Communist Party. During this “cultural”, but above all ideological and military, revolution, which brought China to the brink of civil war, tens of millions of people were persecuted and killed.
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This transcription of this period of Chinese history, always subject to controversy and controversy, was poorly received by Chinese spectators, who also did not appreciate the Westernization of the characters. The Netflix version features a more diverse international cast and transposes part of the story to London, while the novel takes place entirely in China.
The verdict of the many Chinese who watched the American version of the 3-Body Problem is clear: “The Chinese version wins”was a phrase that could be found trending on the social network Weibo.
“This is not a comment on cancel culture”
While part of the Chinese population who watched this episode of The 3-Body Problem did not appreciate this staging, The Hollywood Reporter reported comments from American conservatives and the right-wing political fringe across the Atlantic who understood this scene backwards and saw it as a demonstration of “the influence of woke culture”.
This term, used in a pejorative manner by its detractors, designates the state of “awakening” in the face of social, political and racial injustice. Some other conservative comments also see in the introductory scene of the 3-Body Problem a parallel with “cancel culture”, which consists of publicly denouncing individuals, groups or institutions responsible for acts, behaviors or comments seen as unacceptable.
David Benioff, the co-showrunner of the series with DB Weiss and Alexander Woo, had already raised the subject and answered this question to the Hollywood Reporter who visited the filming of The 3-Body Problem in 2022.
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And for him, The 3-body Problem “is not a comment on cancel culture”. But he recognizes that parallels can be drawn between Liu Cixin’s work and human history “which tends to evolve in cycles” :
“We’re going through a certain period in the cycle right now. There are a lot of very significant differences between the current era and the Cultural Revolution. But there are also some similarities. But we never said to ourselves that we had to do this series to bring up the subject. But it’s interesting to note that the parallels are there and difficult to ignore.”
For her part, Rosalind Chao, who plays the adult version of Ye Wenjie in the series, believes that this sequence on the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the Western changes between the book and the series is important to open the minds of the spectators:
“I appreciate that the series is being adapted internationally for a wider audience. I’m probably going to be blacklisted in China for saying this, but I have a cousin who was isolated and lived with pigs for 10 years [en Chine]. He’s in America now, and I only found out about him at Thanksgiving, when he wouldn’t eat ham. They do not speak [de la Révolution].
It’s so ingrained not to discuss it, when it’s a big part of the story and the fact that it can be told here in a way that also embraces the genre of science- fiction, it’s pretty exciting. It’s important for people to understand the history of the world and what makes people the way they are.”
The series The 3-Body Problem is available on Netflix.