{"id":940104,"date":"2021-10-30T02:58:49","date_gmt":"2021-10-30T06:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=940104"},"modified":"2021-10-30T02:58:51","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T06:58:51","slug":"china-replaces-humans-with-v-r-puppets-on-reality-tv-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-replaces-humans-with-v-r-puppets-on-reality-tv-show\/","title":{"rendered":"China Replaces Humans with V.R. Puppets on Reality TV Show"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchina-replaces-humans-with-v-r-puppets-on-reality-tv-show%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=940104&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\"><span>China\u2019s state-owned Jiangsu Satellite TV has a new talent competition called \u201c2060\u201d in which the competitors are computer-generated avatars controlled by virtual-reality (VR) headsets. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The producers hope the show is successful enough to buy VR gear for all 200 members of the live audience, so they can experience the entire performance in virtual reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>This raises the question of why a \u201clive\u201d audience should be there at all, or why such a program should be broadcast on television instead of streamed into VR goggles for the folks at home, but that could be the next step in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The producers of \u201c2060\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202110\/1237554.shtml\">explained<\/a> to the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s (CCP) <\/span><i><span>Global Times<\/span><\/i> <span>newspaper that while they want to push the boundaries of technology and attract tech-crazy young viewers, the show\u2019s most important goal is to \u201cpopularize China\u2019s outstanding original animated imagery so that they can be exposed to more people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt is a platform to expose and popularize these images on a large scale. Next we have the Chinese animators, who have mastered top techniques and ideas, equal to top animators overseas in terms of artistry and technology,\u201d said producer Wang Xi.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_18523378\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" readability=\"32\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/7c1a46a0-753f-4ca7-b525-235b347f5216.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18523378\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/7c1a46a0-753f-4ca7-b525-235b347f5216.jpeg\" alt=\"Promotional material for 2060 Photos: Courtesy of Gao Songxin\" width=\"640\" height=\"384\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Promotional material for 2060 Photos: Courtesy of Gao Songxin<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>The <\/span><i><span>Global Times <\/span><\/i><span>noted many of the \u201cV-LIfe\u201d virtual reality characters feature \u201cChinese elements\u201d like \u201cthe color red, or a lion\u2019s head from the traditional lion dance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Most of them have the doll-like features and huge eyes typical of characters from Japanese animation, the market China would clearly like to break into \u2013 but then there\u2019s TV Chicken, a character that looks like a chicken with a television set embedded in its body. TV Chicken raps. Japan\u2019s anime studios can probably rest easy for a while longer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>China has been building its animation industry over the past decade, including some partnerships with American studios like <\/span><i><span>Abominable \u2013<\/span><\/i><span>&nbsp;a children\u2019s film about yetis (the \u201cabominable snowman\u201d of Western yore) that wound up <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/oct\/18\/abominable-anger-grows-over-controversial-map-in-chinese-childrens-film\"><span>mired in controversy<\/span><\/a><span> because it included communist propaganda about Beijing controlling the entire South China Sea.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>ScreenDaily<\/span><span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.screendaily.com\/features\/how-chinas-animation-industry-is-evolving-to-appeal-to-global-markets\/5140298.article\">noted<\/a> in 2019 that Chinese animation lags behind because it is a tough sell to local audiences. Unlike the Japanese, who long ago embraced anime as a medium for telling stories to all age groups, Chinese audiences tend to see animation as primarily for children \u2013 and the children are too busy in school to see a lot of movies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The producers of \u201c2060\u201d touted their show to the <\/span><i><span>Global Times <\/span><\/i><span>as a targeted effort to get the coveted 18-24 audience interested in animation. Hollywood has produced some huge animated blockbusters, from Disney\u2019s animation renaissance in the 90s to the modern classics from Pixar, which Disney now owns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Nine animated films from the 2010s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-numbers.com\/box-office-records\/worldwide\/all-movies\/cumulative\/all-time-animated\"><span>made<\/span><\/a><span> over a billion dollars worldwide, and nine more have come pretty close to a billion. Even in the gloomy box-office doldrums of the pandemic era, three of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/movies\/highest-grossing-movies-pandemic-box-office\/\"><span>top 10 movies<\/span><\/a><span> were animated, and the main characters in two of the others were animations mixed with live actors. Computer animation is obviously a huge element of big-budget \u201clive action\u201d films, and occasionally computer-generated avatars of long-lost actors <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/rogue-one-how-grand-moff-tarkin-peter-cushing-returned-957258\/\"><span>pop up<\/span><\/a><span> in modern movies.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The CCP is eager to demonstrate that it can match or beat Hollywood for big movies, perhaps to put American producers on notice that they need China more than China needs them \u2013 so they had better think long and hard before making films that violate the CCP\u2019s speech codes. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Animation is one genre where China is not a heavyweight competitor yet. V.R. puppets on a talent show might not be bad training to compete in an arena where actors can land plum supporting roles in major motion pictures years after they die, and one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/now\/highest-grossing-actors-time-100057140.html\">highest-grossing actors<\/a> of all time hardly ever appears in his own movies. Also, the CCP has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/08\/02\/brands-seek-replace-celebrities-holograms-avoid-human-scandals-china\/\">noticed<\/a> that virtual-reality puppets are easier to control than human actors, and easier to delete if they become troublesome.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China\u2019s state-owned Jiangsu Satellite TV has a new talent competition called \u201c2060\u201d in which the competitors are computer-generated avatars controlled by virtual-reality (VR) headsets. The producers hope the show &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-940104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}