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China censors film Fight Club with a 'dystopian' ending of its own making

China censors film Fight Club with a 'dystopian' ending of its own making

The authorities are the big winners at the end of the film in China's version.
27 Jan, 2022

Looks like China wasn't all that happy with how the 1999 film Fight Club ends — it has removed the original ending for viewers in the country, replacing it with a message about how the authorities ultimately win.

According to the BBC, Fight Club has recently been added to the Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video with changes made to the ending. In the original ending, Edward Norton's character kills his imaginary alter-ego Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, and witnesses multiple buildings being bombed as society is reordered through Project Mayhem. In China's version of the ending, a screen message appears before the bombings occur, telling viewers how "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," the message concludes.

Netizens took to social media to share screenshots of the message in the censored version of the movie.

The news has since gone viral on social media, with various public figures commenting on the censorship move. Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote the book Fight Club which was adapted into the movie, tweeted about the changed ending.

US senator and Republican Ted Cruz also tweeted on the matter. "The second rule of Fight Club is 'we will do and say whatever the Chinese communist censors tell us to do and say',” he posted.

The Human Rights Watch described the new ending as "dystopian".

According to the BBC, while it's common for Chinese censor to make cuts to Western films, changing an entire ending is a rare occurrence.

Comments

ABE Jan 27, 2022 06:15pm
And this is the shape of things to come, when China surpasses the US as the biggest global economy with clout and influence. I say to everyone, start learning Chinese. You may need to go East young men and women!
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NYS Jan 27, 2022 06:45pm
Chinese products do game without burning hole on pocket then how could they compromise on Western films that happened in beloved Pakistan when through novel based story on screen changed the concluding formula
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M khan Jan 27, 2022 07:21pm
@ABE it’s precisely this kind of behavior that’s holding China back.
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dude Jan 27, 2022 07:28pm
This is beyond stupid. Fight Club was released in 1999 and EVERYBODY knows the plot and the ending.
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shubs Jan 27, 2022 10:41pm
Chronic insecurity - a trait shared by China and its client states.
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Ahsan Gul Jan 27, 2022 10:59pm
Why and who dare to talk about China and her policies? Nothing is wrong how China wants to develop her population!
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Faisal Jan 27, 2022 11:32pm
@shubs and neighbours it doesn't get along with ;)
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Imran Jan 28, 2022 12:15am
@ABE China likes no one hence no one likes China.
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White Noise Jan 28, 2022 03:49am
This is how authoritarian regimes operate, their biggest fear is uprising of the people its trying to control. This never worked with the regimes in the past and it will not work now or moving forward. CCP is high on power but every rise has a fall.
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Saira Khan Jan 28, 2022 03:59am
Sounds like they would want this in Indian Occupied Kashmir too
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Yasir Babar Jan 28, 2022 06:11am
This is not a new movie. Whats the purpose of changing the ending now? What a joke.
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Mehboob Jan 28, 2022 10:03am
Soon the Chinese government will graphically edit Hollywood movies to have heroes and heroines with slit eyes !
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