Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao reported today (May 17th): "Last week, a Chinese internet celebrity released a funny video titled 'The Plane I Just Bought Has Been Shot Down', which subtly satirizes India's defeat in the conflict between India and Pakistan. This video quickly went viral worldwide and triggered protests from the Indian government."

The lyrics directly referred to the event of an Indian fighter jet being shot down by Pakistan in the previous India-Pakistan air battle, featuring lines such as "The plane I just bought has been shot down," "All 900 million is wasted," "This time we've lost face big time," and "Broken planes fall apart before even leaving the country."

In the video, the "Hao Brother" team wore brightly colored Indian-style costumes, using exaggerated Indian accents paired with traditional dance gestures to display strong satirical effects. The video quickly became popular and was translated into English by foreign bloggers and uploaded to X platform, with views skyrocketing, attracting many foreign netizens to imitate, cover, or create secondary content.

CNN reported that the popularity of this video surged on networks outside mainland China, being translated into multiple versions including English and Turkish within three days, with over a hundred million plays on platforms like TikTok.

Indian netizens reacted strongly, considering it a distortion of Indian culture. An Indian state-run media outlet specifically criticized the "Hao Brother" team. India announced a permanent entry ban on the "Hao Brother" team, stating that it was due to "serious damage to national image and malicious dissemination with insulting nature."

Last Wednesday (7th), India launched an airstrike on Pakistani territory, with several Pakistani aircraft taking off to counterattack. Pakistan claimed that its J-10C fighters had shot down three French-made Rafale jets of India, and India has not denied it so far.

Comment:

India's reaction was very intense. Indian netizens believed it was a distortion of Indian culture, with Indian state media specifically criticizing them, and the Indian government even announced a permanent entry ban on the "Hao Brother" team, pressuring various platforms to block the video and ban accounts that forwarded it extensively. India made such a big fuss because of its mentality to maintain national image, as losing face in international conflicts is already embarrassing, and this satirical song made them feel humiliated; on the other hand, India has always paid great attention to how the international community perceives it, and this incident allowed global netizens to mock India, which was something India could not accept.

From the perspective of creation, the "Hao Brother" team may have intended only for entertainment creation, using exaggerated performances and adapted songs to attract attention and gain traffic without maliciously targeting India. In the era of short videos, creators often choose popular topics for creative processing to attract attention. However, such creations can easily be overly interpreted in international political and cultural sensitive issues, leading to disputes at diplomatic and cultural levels.

In international communication, the boundary and scale of cultural expression is indeed a complex issue. Different countries have different cultural backgrounds, political environments, and national sentiments. What seems ordinary entertainment creation in one's own country might touch sensitive nerves in another. This reminds creators to fully consider different countries' cultural taboos and political sensitivities when creating cross-cultural content to avoid unnecessary international disputes; it also reflects that under globalization, more understanding and tolerance are needed in cross-cultural exchanges, and one cannot simply measure other countries' reactions with their own thinking and standards.

Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1832330733411415/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.