Critics: 'Wolf Totem' distorts Mongolian culture
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E-mail China Daily, March 11, 2015
Critics have described the film Wolf Totem as a distortion of Mongolian culture.
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A poster of the film Wolf Totem. The film and the book of the same name have aroused controversy. [Photo/China Daily] |
A prominent ethnically Mongolian Chinese writer has slammed the movie Wolf Totem, directed by Jean Jacques Annaud from France, as being inaccurate and a "distortion of our Mongolian culture".
"The wolf has never been a totem of the Mongolian people," Guo Xuebo, an ethnic Mongolian novelist and a member of China Writer's Association, wrote on his microblog on Feb 18, the day before the movie, which is based on a book of the same name, was released.
"The 'wolf totem' in both the novel and the movie is a distortion of our Mongolian culture."
Guo's post has since been shared more than 9,000 times.
The film was adapted from the semi-autobiographical novel published in 2004 by Jiang Rong, the pen name of Lyu Jiamin. It tells the story of a young Han Chinese student who was sent to work and live with the Mongolian herdsmen in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). The student gradually learns about the nomadic culture and their bond with wolves.
The vivid descriptions of the nomads and the wolves made the novel a best-seller in China. According to the Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, the novel has sold more than 5 million copies and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Its English version was published by Penguin Books in 2008. Penguin paid a record advance of $100,000.
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