BEIJING - More than 80 percent of respondents to a survey reported concerns that unwholesome TV dramas could negatively affect and mislead teenagers, according to results released Thursday.
The online survey, conducted among 1,210 people by the China Youth Daily Social Investigation Center, showed that 60 percent of the participants believed that TV dramas have had negative effects on teens, with only four percent of respondents saying the dramas have had positive effects.
Song Jun, a senior middle school student in east China's Jiangsu province, said that she has many classmates who are addicted to such TV dramas.
"Some of my female classmates dream every day of marrying a guy as handsome as the TV stars and dressing like the girls in the dramas," Song said, adding that some of them have even developed eating disorders in hopes of achieving extreme weight loss.
Among the negative effects, the survey found that respondents believed that puppy love, material worship and unrealistic fantasies were the three worst effects, followed by laziness, irresponsibility, eroticism, violence and drug use.
Sun Hongyan, a researcher with the China Youth and Children Research Center, said that teenagers are easily attracted to TV dramas for the unrealistic fantasies they depict, including extravagant foods, beautiful clothes and easy lives with no responsibilities.
"Some of the TV dramas are not in line with mainstream values, and may impose negative effects on teenagers as they are too young to judge right from wrong," Sun added.
There are no regulations restricting these unhealthy dramas from entering the current TV industry, said Liang Ming, a well-known director as well as a professor with Communication University of China.
"Some works which are good for teenagers are not as attractive as those catering to vulgar tastes, and some producers even have trouble covering costs (for wholesome dramas)," he said. "Thus, fewer people like to create good dramas."
The survey showed that 73 percent of respondents hoped for more positive works for teens, and 63.7 percent suggested that supervision departments should impose stricter rules on TV dramas.
Poster Comment:
A state of affairs similar to that in North America but apparently of no concern here.