6. The Back To The Future Trilogy China
OK, to clarify, its not just Back To The Future which felt the wrath of the worlds most populous nation its actually any film with any sort of time travel at all. Beijing doesnt want you watching Doc Brown any time soon, an ignominious fate the good doctor shares with other film stars such as Ashton Kutcher in The Butterfly Effect and Guy Pearce in The Time Machine. Now, we all know that China isnt particularly shy about what it chooses to censor we hear about it in the news all the time. And in many cases, while you may not agree with what they do, you could probably see some logic behind it. But time-travelling films? Really? Well, apparently, the use of time-travel offends the Chinese government because its very existence implies you can somehow re-write history. This is something the censors are not particularly keen on, stating that too many filmmakers these days treat serious history in a frivolous way. Theyre a pretty serious bunch of people in Beijing, and have taken steps to ban any film featuring (deep breath): 'fantasy, time-travel, random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques, even propagating feudal superstitions, fatalism and reincarnation, ambiguous moral lessons, and even a lack of positive thinking.' Thats a quote from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. So next time Doc Brown may come knocking on Marty McFlys door and tell him that its time to go Back to Future, he just might have to ask the Politburo first. Because apparently, Back To The Future is frivolous. Who knew?