It’s one of the most anticipated series of 2023. And not just because it’s produced by the co-creators of the hit saga Game Of ThronesDavid Benioff and Dan Weiss, whose services Netflix offered for $200 million. The three-body problem, a virtuoso account of humanity’s confrontation with an extraterrestrial civilization, has already been a triumph in bookstores, with more than eight million copies sold. First in China, where the author of the trilogy, Liu Cixin lives, before receiving in 2015 the most prestigious award in science fiction literature, the Hugo Prize, and being translated all over the world – Actes Sud is its French publisher.
This success of three body problem, paved the way for an entire Chinese science fiction literary scene, now recognized across borders. In the 1980s, the power had banished him, accusing him of “contaminating the minds of young people”. Now Beijing sees the benefits of a cultural phenomenon capable of nurturing its soft power. Questioning the future, progress, science fiction addresses themes that resonate with the ambitions of the leaders of the Communist Party, determined to make China a great technological power.
“They feel that they have a treasure in their hands to grow,” notes Paul Charon, China specialist and director of the Intelligence, Anticipation and Hybrid Threats domain at IRSEM. Li Yuanchao, who was vice-president at the time, explained to an audience of “SF” authors in 2015 that they had to “nurture their faith and that of young Chinese in the realization of the ‘Chinese dream ‘” – a key slogan of leader Xi Jinping. The leader also encouraged the establishment, by the Association of Science and Technology, of prizes and funding to ensure the reputation of science fiction.
Netflix embarrassed by Liu Cixin
But more than the written works, some of which retain a critical message, it is their screen adaptations that serve Beijing’s propaganda, as with the blockbuster, released in 2017, The Wandering Earth (“The Wandering Earth”), adapted from a short story by Liu Cixin. In this film, humanity unites to find a new star on the planet, threatened by a sun at the end of its life. Unsurprisingly, Chinese heroes play a decisive role. “It shows a China which, unlike the United States, does not seek to derive individual benefit from its power but puts it at the service of humanity, a typical message from the Communist Party”, notes Paul Charon.
As it concerns The Three to Body Problem, the adaptation of Netflix will be preceded by that of the Chinese web giant Tencent for its platform and whose productions are controlled by power. American society should, for its part, do its utmost not to be accused of playing into the regime’s hands, at a time when Washington insists on the threat posed by the rise of a hegemonic and authoritarian China, in particular vis-à-vis opposite the island of Taiwan.
As early as 2020, the announcement of the choice to adapt Liu Cixin’s masterpiece, the content of which cannot be qualified as advertising for the Chinese regime, earned Netflix criticism from Republican senators. They reproached him for the comments made by the author, in the New Yorker, on the persecution of the Uighurs – “the government is helping their economy and trying to lift them out of poverty”. The platform defended itself by recalling that it did not participate in the production of the series, dissociating itself from its positions. But the release of the first season of three body problems could well revive the controversy.