“”Death Note” stories contain elements of mystery, death and revenge, and are harmful to children’s psychological development.” - From a statement by the Chinese government on illicit horror material.

It’s easy to get lost in the minutae of North American horror cinema and neglect the big picture. While most bloggers, myself included, are pondering the fate of R-rated horror, half a world away there’s a genuine War on Horror.

It all started with Death Note, a hugely popular horror manga which tells the story of a boy who comes into possession of a notebook which has the power to kill anyone whose name is written within. With the help of the internet, Death Note and other horror publications have fallen into the hands of eager students in China, who find the stories to be a great way to deal with stress and anxiety. Some students were so taken with the story that they created their own Death Note binders, which they used to catalogue the names of people they were angry with. These people included their own parents and teachers, who did not take kindly to being marked for death.

The result has been a nationwide crackdown on all horror material. According to the agency in charge of dealing with pornography and other harmful materials, they have confiscated 5,912 “Death Note” books, 11,930 other illegal horror books, and 1,364 horror CDs and DVDs, most of which are likely bootlegs to begin with. The government also intends on clamping down on horror content on the internet.

The ban has even resulted in actual death threats from students directed at teachers, which has only strengthened the government’s stance.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 at 9:54 am and is filed under Comics, Remakes, Foreign. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.