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For all the expectations I had about Netflix’s sci-fi epic 3 Body problemhere’s something I didn’t expect to see once the long-awaited alien invasion series of the game of Thrones The showrunners debuted on the streaming giant: conservatives, precisely, have rallied around it, specifically finding in its violent opening scene a warning about cancel culture.
Netflix’s star-studded eight-episode adaptation of Liu Cixin’s award-winning sci-fi novel of the same name is currently the No. 2 most-watched series in the U.S. The story, which moves back and forth in time, spans China , Europe and the United States, and focuses heavily on how humanity begins to plan an alien invasion.
The opening sequence, clips of which have appeared all over what I suppose you’d call conservative X/Twitter, takes place in 1966 during a so-called “fight session” at a Beijing university during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It shows a physics professor, kneeling and cowering before an angry crowd, as he is mocked and eventually beaten to death for refusing to give up ideas considered too Western, such as Einstein’s theory of relativity.
“We cannot allow history to repeat itself in the United States,” reads a tweet from the user. @GeekpreneurNYC including an opening clip 3 Body problem scene. “This scene from the Netflix series #3BodyProblem captures the chilling era of the Cultural Revolution, a time when communists took control in China. Let’s learn from the past. #historymatters #communismkills.”
That tweet has been viewed nearly 600,000 times as of this writing. Among other reactions to that opening scene, which is a pivotal moment in the story and sets the professor’s daughter on an important path:
- From X user @newodec: “To understand what the left is doing, I suggest watching the premiere of the Netflix series 3 Body problem. The scenario of the Cultural Revolution demonstrates what is happening. Learn history or you will be doomed.”
- From X user @ChrissySense: “I just watched the opening scene on Netflix. 3 Body problem “It represents a lynching of the Chinese cultural revolution, and is a frightening reminder of where Woke is taking us: no freedom of speech or thought, follow the party line or be eliminated, don’t even think about the counter-revolution.”
- and, from user opening scene “It perfectly represents our current ant-human cult.”
All that said, there is a kind of irony here; The deeper you get into the series, it becomes impossible to view the show through that kind of anti-collectivist lens. Without spoiling too much, there’s more of a live together and die alone philosophy at the heart of this story, which involves an alien race whose technology is far superior to ours and who decide to come to Earth to conquer it. Some humans want to resist. Others basically say to hell with it; We have fucked up the planet and committed the worst atrocities against other humans, aliens can only make the planet better at this point.
Honestly, the show feels like an elaborate allegory about climate change, something I don’t think those conservative X users are big fans of.
“This is not a commentary on cancel culture,” co-showrunner David Benioff told The Hollywood Reporter about 3 Body problem. “But we tend to move in cycles in terms of human history, and we are going through a certain period of the cycle right now.
“There are many very significant differences between the current era and the Cultural Revolution. But there are also some similarities. It was never something where we thought, ‘We should do this show because we want to make a comment on that.’ But it is interesting that the parallels exist and are difficult to ignore.”
