China changes Fight Club film ending so the authorities win

[aziqbal]

China changes Fight Club film ending so the authorities win​

Published2 days ago
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IMAGE SOURCE, AF ARCHIVE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
Image caption,
Brad Pitt played the anarchic Tyler Durden in Fight Club
The ending to cult 1999 US film Fight Club has been removed for viewers in China, and replaced by a screen with a message saying the authorities won.
The original ending saw Edward Norton's narrator killing his imaginary alter-ego Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, before bombs destroyed buildings in the climax to a subversive plot to reorder society, dubbed Project Mayhem.
In China, before the explosions, a message now says the police foiled the plot, arrested the criminals and sent Durden to a "lunatic asylum".
The new finale tells viewers: "Through the clue provided by Tyler, the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding.
"After the trial, Tyler was sent to lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012."
Director David Fincher's film has recently been added to streaming platform Tencent Video, and Human Rights Watch described the changes as "dystopian".
Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote the 1996 novel that Fight Club was adapted from, wrote sarcastically on Twitter: "This is SUPER wonderful! Everyone gets a happy ending in China!"

IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Fight Club director David Fincher pictured with actors Brad Pitt and Edward Norton at a 2009 awards ceremony
The author added on Substack: "How amazing. I'd no idea! Justice always wins. Nothing ever exploded. Fini."
Dissident artist Ai Weiwei also posted a link to a story about the changes, with the question: "What Would Tyler Durden Say?"
US senator Ted Cruz, a Republican representing Texas, wrote: "The second rule of Fight Club is 'we will do and say whatever the Chinese communist censors tell us to do and say.'"

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The changes were flagged up on social media by outraged viewers who had previously seen pirated copies of the original.
It's not uncommon for Chinese censor to make cuts to Western films, but it's more rare for them to change an ending.
Some social media users made light of the new Fight Club ending.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter
Others took the opportunity to suggest their own alternative endings.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

China changes Fight Club film ending so the authorities win

In China, the final scene of the 1999 film says the subversive plot fails and the authorities win.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[S10]

It was actually the filmmaker that changed the ending. They do get arrested in the book.

 

[Nan Yang]

It was actually the filmmaker that changed the ending. They do get arrested in the book.

Another failed thread by a Think Tank Analyst.

Quote
While some film fans were outraged by the edit, blasting China’s heavy hand, Chuck Palahniuk, on whose 1996 novel the movie was based, shrugged it off.

“The irony is that the way the Chinese have changed it, they have aligned the ending almost exactly with the ending of the book, as opposed to Fincher’s ending, which was the more spectacular visual ending,” Palahniuk told the TMZ website.

“So in a way, the Chinese brought the movie back to the book a little bit.”
End Quote

 

[Beast]

Another smearing by BBC. Poor attempt and prove this media has no dignity and is just running a scam.

 

[patero]

I wonder what's next from everybodies favorite dystopian authoritarian government. Change the ending of Return of the Jedi so that the rebel alliance is defeated by the virtuous Galactic Empire?