Taiwanese TV broadcasts often contain digitally animated re-stagings that summarize events from around the world. Are they attempting to gestate a new art form? Possibly. But more likely it's cheaper to have a computer geek create the images rather than shooting and/or editing actual footage from the scene, or paying for the feed of an international news service (China vs. that nagging intellectual property issue again!). Previous coverage has run the gamut from political demagogues (Sarah Palin) to celebrity culture (Lindsay Lohan), as well as British budget worries (the Queen sells her swans for meat) and the Philippine hostage crisis.
Here is their take on the "Ground Zero mosque" controversy, which combines certain clueless errors (is that REALLY where New York City is - right in the center of the state?) with weird cultural mash-ups conflating campy 1960s beach bunny films and fundamentalist Islamic dress codes for women ("Burkini Blanket Bingo"). The risibly expedient shop names - "Greg's Ground Zero Gay Bar", "Ground Zero Starbucks", "Ground Zero Deli" - lampoon (perhaps unintentionally) the reductive "hallowed ground" blinders of the anti-Muslim fear mongers.
