New Year's gala chooses the wrong targets for mockery

China Central Television's lunar year-end gala, a most-watched TV show, is supposed to bring the old year to a happy ending. But this year's program was accused of discriminating on "at least 44 occasions" according to a complaint letter filed by 25 people on China's Sina Weibo.

The protest targeted skits during the show that, to various extents, mocked a number of groups of people, including single women of marriageable age, women with masculine mannerisms, overweight people, short people, full-time mothers and domestic migrant workers. These groups of people become the targets of satire simply because they don't have the attractive appearance or high social status of other groups.

However, this is not what satire is supposed to be. By using means such as irony, humor and exaggeration, satiric skits are created to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, especially in the context of political and social issues. It is a disappointment to see obesity, bachelordom and shortness have become targets.

The reason why such a show for general audiences permits discrimination against certain groups is simple - a lot of people like it.

Such a fondness of ridiculing "disadvantaged" people is a reflection of China's distorted humor culture, which is based on morbid tastes and lack of respect for people's dignity.

So when 25 people demanded that the gala director and CCTV stop reruns of the gala and apologize for the discrimination, a lot of people, including media professionals who are supposed to work for social justice, just shrugged. A commentary in the Beijing Times called the joint appeal an "overreaction" and "unnecessary fuss."

But it's a comfort to know that although the 25 people only account for a mere fraction of the 690 million viewers of the gala, their protest received responses from over 1,000 netizens in only four hours before it was forcibly removed by Sina.

At any rate, the gala is moving away from its role as pure entertainment. It now has a more important mission: to laud the prosperity of the nation and the well-being of its people. However, it's a shame that the result is acceptance of discrimination.

Political pressures have perverted the original nature of traditional Chinese comedy, making writers and performers feel unsafe in criticizing society's dark side. Instead, they have to cater to the lowest common denominator, making laughingstocks of people with disabilities, unexceptional physical appearance and lower social status.

The gala is censoring its own wit, which should have been used to bring real laughter into its viewers' life, and more importantly, make them think. Now all it can do is use boring, vulgar jokes, and propaganda song and dance to fill up five long hours.

The gala has already become an awkward feature of the Spring Festival. Many Chinese people continue watching it more out of habit than interest.

The gala's creators need to know that blindly pursuing political correctness and pandering to the lowest common denominator are not the right way to sustain a popular and high-profile show. Otherwise, we'll start to see more people becoming tired of the show.