What’s trending?
There has been a public outcry online recently over allegations of animal cruelty leveled at the production company behind popular drama “Marvelous Women” (当家主母). The claims are over an explicit scene in which a real cat is apparently shown dying. The realism of the depiction had netizens on Weibo demanding that the crew release on-set footage to prove the cat was still alive and unharmed.
As of Thursday, related hashtags, including“#Marvelous Women producers respond by saying the white cat was injected with unknown liquids # and another saying #The clip of the poisoned cat was deleted# have received hundreds of millions of views.
What’s the story?
In a scene during the 32nd episode of the drama broadcast on the evening of Nov. 25, a white cat is shown licking toxic food on a table, after which it falls about a meter to the ground onto its back before apparently dying, with what appeared to be blood coming from its mouth. The graphic nature and realism of the scene sparked widespread controversy online, with netizens questioning whether the crew had in fact killed the cat by feeding it actual poison.
The show’s production team posted a statement on its official Weibo account on Friday responding to netizens’ questions, saying the blood from the cat’s mouth was an edible fluid given to the animal and its struggling was simulated by pulling its legs with string, according to the statement (link in Chinese).
They also posted a 40-second video of what appeared to be the same cat, which has been viewed more than 18 million times, saying it proved the animal was alive and well.
Although the TV production team continued to post video of the cat being returned to its owner and opening Weibo and Douyin accounts for the animal to prove it was unharmed, netizens remained unconvinced.
They questioned whether the cat in the video was even the same as the animal seen in the TV series and insisted the producer release video outtakes during filming of the poisoning scene to prove it was unharmed after shooting was completed.
An actor from the “Marvelous Women” cast told media Tuesday that he was on set when the scene with the white cat was shot and saw the animal being injected with an unknown liquid four or five times.
When asked if this actor was telling the truth, the production company responded by saying “it is not convenient to answer this question.”
Clips of the poisoning scene have been deleted on the iQiyi and Youku video platforms. And as of Thursday, ratings for “Marvelous Women” had plummeted to 2.8 from 6 on Douban, a popular Chinese rating platform.
This incident cast people’s minds back to the gruesome case of animal cruelty during the making of the 1993 film “Dog King,” in which a retired military dog was intentionally killed in a bomb blast by the production crew just to make the scene more realistic.
What are people saying online?
Many commentators expressed their indignation online and questioned the necessity of hurting animals in the pursuit of realism onscreen. “Animal actors should not be bloody props,” a Weibo reader said.
In response to the online blowback, producers deleted the poisoning scene from the episode, which further infuriated netizens on Weibo, with readers saying they were deluding themselves if they thought that would convince viewers that it hadn’t happened. “‘Marvelous Women’ should be removed from all video platforms,” some Weibo readers commented.
“How ironic. Actors can use stand-ins when filming, but when it comes to animals, they must be real,” a netizen said on Weibo.
Contact reporter Li Hang (hangli@caixin.com)
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