Hobbyists from Hong Kong especially observers sighted in rick and morty indirect references to the pro-democracy movement during the broadcast of an episode of this animated series for young people.
“Final DeSmithation,” the fifth episode of the sixth season that aired on Sunday, told the story of an alien who, while in custody, made fortune cookies — fortune cookies containing short messages.
As the plot unfolded, a series of numbers and letters appeared on the screen that, to uninitiated viewers, seemed random. But these codes – GFHG19SDGM, 721DLLM and 19HK831 – were quickly noticed by Hong Kongers, who explained their meaning this week on the Reddit social network and the local LIHKG forum.
Significant abbreviations
The former is commonly used as an abbreviation for the famous slogan “Free Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Time”, born during the massive pro-democracy protests of 2019 and now illegal in the financial hub.
The other two significant references to this movement evoke July 21, 2019, the day government supporters attacked protesters, and August 31 of the same year, when police beat pro-democracy activists in a subway station.
DLLM is also an acronym for the most popular insult in Hong Kong and is frequently exchanged between police and protesters.
“Thanks to the producers of Rick and Morty,” one netizen wrote in a LIHKG post that received nearly 5,000 thumbs-up votes.
Others fear the episode will be removed in Hong Kong, which has embraced heightened censorship since the 2019 protests.
Stricter censorship laws
Created by the young adult channel Adult Swim, rick and morty it became a worldwide hit. The series tells the story of a selfish, alcoholic grandfather who takes his grandson on strange interdimensional adventures. It is distributed internationally by Warner Brothers and can currently be seen in Hong Kong on the HBO Go platform.
Asked by AFP, Adult Swim and Warner Brothers did not respond.
Huge, often violent pro-democracy protests rocked Hong Kong for months in 2019, to which China responded with a widespread crackdown that transformed the city once seen as a bastion of freedoms.
Censorship laws have been tightened and permits have not been granted for multiple films and documentaries, even though the city does not currently experience the same level of restrictions as mainland China.
Source: BFM TV
