[imagesource: 20th Century Fox]
The first rule of Fight Club is, well, you know.
Perhaps the second rule should be to ignore the ending of the movie now available on Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video.
Should I do a spoiler alert for a movie that is now more than two decades old? No, that’s silly.
The 1999 cult classic ends with Edward Norton’s narrator character ‘killing off’ his imaginary alter ego Tyler Durden before a whole bunch of buildings explode.
Consumerism as we know it is collapsing, or so goes the message.
Let’s jog your memory:
It’s never a bad time to rock out to the Pixies.
As for the ending of the Chinese version, here’s GameSpot:
…the film cuts out the scene of the buildings exploding and adds on-screen text that reveals that Project Mayhem was successfully foiled by the cops, while Durden himself was captured and eventually sent to prison.
A quick look at that text with a handy translation:
FIGHT CLUB’s ending for the Chinese release (on Tencent Video) was changed to this and now I’m waiting for someone to fanfic a sequel based on this censored ending. pic.twitter.com/zYB0bY3Dlp
— Courtney Howard @ #Sundance (@Lulamaybelle) January 24, 2022
At least he was released in 2012.
Deleting scenes from films for the Chinese cut isn’t uncommon but this has changed the entire plot:
Tencent Video hasn’t commented on whether this alteration of Fight Club was made because of a government order to do so or was done preemptively so that it could be approved.
As for other films released in China, they need to submit a cut that avoids nudity, violence, and other intense material, to gain the right to be officially released on that side of the world.
Dr How Wee Ng, who teaches Chinese film and media at the University of Westminster, spoke with The Guardian:
“The new Chinese version of Fight Club puts power back into the hands of the police and implies an ideal closure in line with the Chinese state discourse in which the symbiotic relationship between the police and the state is a given.”
“This treatment is commonplace in many Chinese television dramas and films which represent crime and violence,” he added.
“Ironically, the force with which censorship is imposed stems from a Chinese historical fear of social instability and the presupposition of threat to the status quo.”
Users have complained on both the Tencent Video platform and Chinese social media site Weibo, arguing that this goes way beyond simply removing scenes due to nudity or violence.
I reckon if they removed the scenes of a shirtless Brad Pitt from the movie then China may have a riot on its hands.
