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[ManaByte]

Cult Classic ‘Fight Club’ Gets a Very Different Ending in China

Someone tried very hard to please Chinese movie censors.

www.vice.com

Fight Club is getting an entirely different ending in a new online release in China, where imported films are often altered to show that the law enforcement, on the side of justice, always trumps the villain.

The 1999 film by David Fincher originally ends with the Narrator (Edward Norton) killing his split personality Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). With the female lead Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), he then watches all the buildings explode outside the window and collapse, suggesting Tyler’s anarchist plan to destroy consumerism is in the works.

The exact opposite happens in the edit of the same film released in China. In the version on the Chinese streaming site Tencent Video, the explosion scene has been removed. Instead, viewers are told that the state successfully busted Tyler’s plan to destroy the world.

“Through the clue provided by Tyler, the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding,” a caption said. “After the trial, Tyler was sent to lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012.”

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

 

[eddie4]

 

[GymWolf]

Jesus china, can you stop being the worst for a single day?!

 

[IntentionalPun]

I just spit my Panda Express out.

 

[Alx]

Lol.
Actually they could have used the book ending that isn't too far from that IIRC
(book spoiler obviously)

Spoiler

Tyler gets sent to an asylum indeed, where he realizes that the nurses are part of his "project chaos" and intend to castrate him for whatever twisted logic, since they assume that's what he wants.

 

[Jennings]

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[AJUMP23]

compromising your art is simple when you can sell it to a billion oppressed people.

 

[Fbh]

Lol, would be fun to get a whole series of these:

Se7en
"Mills opens the box to find a congratulatory cake for his solid detective work. John Doe gets sent to prison where he spends the rest of his life."

 

[chromhound]

Fucking LOL. but that's what they do with their citizens lol

 

[strange headache]

Once again are our virtue signaling western companies selling their soul to authoritarian regimes for a quick buck.$
But hey, we get to hear about muh diversity and representation day in and day out.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Goddamn China is a nightmare.

 

[thefool]

Nice opportunity to tie it with 12 Monkeys.

 

[p_xavier]

Idiotic "intelligent" movie gets a also idiotic ending. What's the issue again?

 

[Pagusas]

Next they should edit the matrix. Have the cops arrest Trinity and Neo take the blue pill, living happily ever after.

 

[jshackles]

Lol, would be fun to get a whole series of these:

Blair Witch Project:
Thanks to the dutiful work of the local search and rescue team, all three student filmmakers are found in the woods and brought back to civilization before any harm could befall them.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

 

[levyjl1988]

Wow...China.

 

[12Goblins]

lunatic asylum lol

 

[Doom85]

Lol, would be fun to get a whole series of these:

Se7en
"Mills opens the box to find a congratulatory cake for his solid detective work. John Doe gets sent to prison where he spends the rest of his life."

Halloween

Upon arriving at the institution, Dr. Loomis and Nurse Marion are attacked by Michael. However, upon attempting to steal Marion’s car, Loomis yells at Michael that he doesn’t have a driver’s license due to being institutionalized his whole life and thus it would be illegal for Michael to drive the car. Michael nods in agreement and returns to his room. The entire rest of the movie is just Laurie, Tommy, and Lindsey having a nice, quiet Halloween night carving pumpkins and watching The Thing From Another World on TV.

Friday the 13th

Pamela Voorhees seeks proper legal action after her son drowns due to neglect from the counselors. She receives a massive settlement and is able to retire peacefully.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Surprised the Chinese had a problem with the ending. It's anti-capitalist

 

[greyshark]

Surprised the Chinese had a problem with the ending. It's anti-capitalist

I don’t think the Chinese are anti-capitalist, but they are very authoritarian. The idea that a rebel can take down “the system” by himself would sound offensive to an authoritarian regime.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Wait are you telling me that China is a carefully curated fascist fantasyland of abuse and terror that the rest of the world tolerates all in the name of individual power and economic stability????

 

[bender]

That's a better ending tbh.

 

[MrA]

 

[GeorgioCostanzaX]

The cops needing to be the hero censorship is pretty damn comical. My wife’s Chinese and so I routinely watch some Chinese films subbed. There was this one decent thriller movie I saw recently that seemed to be designed to scare urban college educated women into not living alone in the big city. It ended up turning into a slasher film by the end where the lead female protagonist finally gets the upper hand after the villain seemingly killed the cops and she beats the villain like two inches away from a firey pit but then a cop who previously took a shotgun blast to chest suddenly comes back to life and shoots the guy instead of letting her finish the job. I just about died laughing.

 

[Sosokrates]

They should of made a dream sequence explaining this made with CGi and A.i

 

[Yoboman]

Note: Tyler Durden died on the way back to his home planet

 

[Fuz]

Don't think this won't impact us all.

 

[Punished Miku]

I almost want to import this version now lol. That's hilarious.

 

[Wildebeest]

At least they haven't tampered with a good film of significant cultural value.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

‘Fight Club’ Author Chuck Palahniuk Says China’s Censored Ending Is Actually Truer to His Vision

Before the cult 1999 film began streaming in China, censors drastically changed the ending so that the anarchist narrator is caught and punished for his crimes.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

“The irony is that the way the Chinese have changed it is they’ve aligned the ending almost exactly with the ending of the book, as opposed to Fincher’s ending, which was the more spectacular visual ending,” he said. “So in a way, the Chinese brought the movie back to the book a little bit.”

The author also said that he saw the irony in many Americans’ angry response to China’s actions, given that his books are banned in many locations across the U.S.

“What I find really interesting is that my books are heavily banned throughout the U.S.,” he said. “The Texas prison system refuses to carry my books in their libraries. A lot of public schools and most private schools refuse to carry my books. But it’s only an issue once China changes the end of a movie? I’ve been putting up with book banning for a long time.”

He also said that having his work revised in ways he can’t control is nothing new to him.

“A lot of my overseas publishers have edited the novel so the novel ends the way the movie ends,” he said. “So I’ve been dealing with this kind of revision for like 25 years.”

 

[Unk Adams]

Keep in mind we have a significant portion of the U.S. population today that also wants strict censorship and literally mocks freedom of speech.

 

[Mistake]

China's Tencent restores Fight Club ending after backlash

In a rare reversal, Chinese streaming giant Tencent undid massive cuts it had made to the original.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[synchronicity]

Everyone blend in and BEHAVE! ...There, that's better. /s

 

[Halo is Back]

‘Fight Club’ Author Chuck Palahniuk Says China’s Censored Ending Is Actually Truer to His Vision

Before the cult 1999 film began streaming in China, censors drastically changed the ending so that the anarchist narrator is caught and punished for his crimes.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

I didn't even know there was a book. Maybe people just don't care about the book or never heard of it.

 

[strange headache]

‘Fight Club’ Author Chuck Palahniuk Says China’s Censored Ending Is Actually Truer to His Vision

Before the cult 1999 film began streaming in China, censors drastically changed the ending so that the anarchist narrator is caught and punished for his crimes.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

I've read many of Palahniuk's books, from Rant to Beautiful You. I love them for their transgressive nature and Chuck's gutsy writing style. Unfortunately his stories almost always fall short of greatness for missing the greater point behind his stories. It's almost as if he's on to something, but is unable to fully grasp it himself. Fortunately for Fight Club the great Fincher stepped in and fixed his story for the big screen.

While Chuck has a point, I think it's pretty unfair to compare his situation with China's authoritarian censorship. He found a massive audience and has a lot of success for writing stuff that would certainly not fly in China. If you don't want publishers to chime in, then go independent. You certainly don't have that option in China.

While I appreciate many of his books, I kinda doubt that the vivid multi-page description of a rabies infected killer with heightened senses sniffing out the period of his female counterpart through her clothes would make for compelling school lecture. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille did it better anyway.

 

[Stitch]

They now have the original ending, but still some censorship (sex scenes and probably the penis scenes)

'Fight Club' Original Ending Restored in China After Much Controversy

The ending was initially edited out and replaced with new text when released on the Chinese streaming service Tencent Video.

collider.com

 

[Doom85]

They now have the original ending, but still some censorship (sex scenes and probably the penis scenes)

'Fight Club' Original Ending Restored in China After Much Controversy

The ending was initially edited out and replaced with new text when released on the Chinese streaming service Tencent Video.

collider.com

Chinese government be all: