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China Movies

China Gives 'Fight Club' New Ending Where Authorities Win (bangkokpost.com) 156

Posted by msmash from the when-in-Beijing dept.
The first rule of Fight Club in China? Don't mention the original ending. The second rule of Fight Club in China? Change it so the police win. From a report: China has some of the world's most restrictive censorship rules with authorities only approving a handful of foreign films for release each year -- sometimes with major cuts. Among the latest movies to undergo such treatment is David Fincher's 1999 cult classic "Fight Club" starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Film fans in China noticed over the weekend that a version of the movie newly available on streaming platform Tencent Video was given a makeover that transforms the anarchist, anti-capitalist message that made the film a global hit.

In the closing scenes of the original, Norton's character The Narrator, kills off his imaginary alter ego Tyler Durden -- played by Pitt -- and then watches multiple buildings explode, suggesting his character's plan to bring down modern civilisation is underway. But the new version in China has a very different take. The Narrator still proceeds with killing off Durden, but the exploding building scene is replaced with a black screen and a coda: "The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding". It then adds that Tyler -- a figment of The Narrator's imagination -- was sent to a "lunatic asylum" for psychological treatment and was later discharged. The new ending in which the state triumphs sparked head scratching and outrage among many Chinese viewers -- many of whom would likely have seen pirated versions of the unadulterated version film.
UPDATE (2/6/2022): After a widespread outcry and coverage around the globe, Fight Club's original ending has been restored for streamers in China.
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China Gives 'Fight Club' New Ending Where Authorities Win More

China Gives 'Fight Club' New Ending Where Authorities Win

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  • Fuck the CCP ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by UnknownSoldier ( 67820 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @03:44PM (#62206735)

    ... and their:

    Communist
    Censorship
    Propaganda

    • They're not even a little communist (Score:5, Informative)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @05:17PM (#62207077)
      I mean for Pete's sake they make all the stuff for capitalist countries.

      I'm not defending communism, but at no point in time was China even a little in line with Communism. Communism requires a industrialized society and China was still agrarian when they had their little revolution. Never mind the fact that revolutions always end with a dictatorship because to win a revolution you have to put people in charge who are good at violence and those kind of people don't give up power after the revolution. The only exception is the American revolution which was less a revolution and more a tax and trade dispute between two aristocracies (seriously go look up how much wealth Washington had, or any of the founding fathers)

      It's important to recognize China isn't communist because if you keep just blaming communism on all their problems you're never going to understand the root of their issues and when people try to do the same thing here but dress it up with a different set of somebody's books (like say Ayn Rand) you're never going to see it coming.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Speaking of capitalism, who censored this?

        I mean obviously the government agency in charge of film classification said the ending was unacceptable, but who decided on the new ending? Fox owns it but might have sold the rights to a Chinese company.

      • Agrarianism is Maoism. But of course you knew that.

        It's funny, all the actual communists out there are full of praise for China, and love China's successful implantation of their ideas. [hexbear.net] But I'm sure random internet commenter can tell us what Real Socialism[tm] is and isn't.

      • Re:They're not even a little communist (Score:5, Insightful)

        by dypstick ( 125799 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2022 @09:46AM (#62208983)

        >(seriously go look up how much wealth Washington had, or any of the founding fathers)

        Having just finished a biography of Washington, I can tell you he wasn't what we would call wealthy. He came from nothing and married up, but since his wife was a widower with children, he didn't get her wealth. His wife's children inherited their father's wealth and he had to manage it for them. His personal finances were severely crippled from the time he spent away from his assets as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, and then as President. During his time as President of the United States, he had to chase down renters and get payment because he couldn't afford to let it slide due to being in debt himself.

        That being said, he put on the appearance of wealth with his home and furnishings, but he actually was not well off. He was extremely generous with the money he had and took in many relatives that had lost parents and paid for their expenses and schooling. Even after his presidency he was bombarded with visitors to his estate that he had to feed and house according to the customs of the times, which strained his finances also.

        The state of Washington's finances just underscores how great a man he was. He could have become King of America after the war if he wanted, but all he wanted was to go back to his home and live in peace with his family. How many other people would have done the same? So many of the traditions surrounding the President of the US come from Washington, who realized that subsequent Presidents would be following his example. He was aware that the actions he took as President would set the tone for country and he acted accordingly. The character of George Washington is unparalleled and astonishing. We certainly don't have politicians with anywhere near his ethics today.

        To minimize the risk the founding fathers took is to misunderstand that they faced certain death if they lost the revolution. They were willing to potentially sacrifice their lives, and certainly sacrifice their finances in order to throw off an oppressive, unfair government.

        • By all historical accounts was north of 500 million in inflation adjusted dollars. That doesn't sound like a lot next to Jeff bezos but remember he had one small part of America while bezos has the entire world. Washington's wealth would have been on par with some Kings.

          I'm not minimizing their risk. If they had lost they would have all hung. What I'm saying is that is a matter of historical fact the common man in the American revolution didn't care one way or the other. The majority of people who fough

  • I don't see how changing the ending transforms the anti-capitalist message of the movie.

    That said, the ending of this movie is remarkable and it's a shame that they are changing it.

    • Re:Transforms the anti-capitalist message (Score:5, Informative)

      by fropenn ( 1116699 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @04:09PM (#62206835)
      The movie (and book) isn't anti-capitalist. It's anti-consumerist. There's a big difference. Being anti-consumerist is about opposing the message that you can purchase your way to happiness.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by trip23 ( 727132 )
        Spot on. And that's the funny thing: the Communist Party of China is all out "Consumerist", deviating from Marxism and pushing a nationalist agenda.
        • You can own property and businesses in China, they are quite capitalist and embrace consumerism. Probably 8 or 9 out of every 10 Americans can’t tell the difference between socialism, communism, and authoritarianism much less disambiguate economic policy from the structuring of a government.

          This has grave consequences as Americans are quick to blame boogeyman words without logical real world meaning while authoritarianism is close to toppling what little democracy is left.

      • I don't contest that. Just disputing the summary.

      • Re:Transforms the anti-capitalist message (Score:5, Interesting)

        by RazorSharp ( 1418697 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @04:37PM (#62206933)

        It's been a long time since I watched the movie or read the book, but I disagree with both of you. While consumerism plays a role in the book, I remember it as focusing primarily on masculinity and the effects of males searching for an outlet to express their masculinity in a world that has largely banished violence. Basically, the idea is that we have carried over several traditional concepts of masculinity from the past--such as aggression--but we have removed traditional outlets to unleash it. So men are placed in this contradictory space where they are expected to behave in an aggressive manner and display strength, but doing so is simultaneously considered socially unacceptable.

        Hence we find ways to express our strength and aggressiveness by other means. Strength is exhibited through objects (the consumerism), but the protagonist finds that ultimately unfulfilling in the beginning. Perhaps because the strength is completely abstracted and symbolized by the possessions. So then he turns to sport (the Fight Club) and then his fascist micro society it morphs into. Why could possibly be more aggressively masculine than a dictator?

        If I remember correctly, the anti-consumerism bit of destroying credit was added by Fincher, which muddles the theme. Fincher was thinking big-picture goals when, in reality, Jack/Tyler were really only seeking to find personal meaning. Their anarchism was an aggressive (and misguided) expression of strength, not an attempt to reshape the world according to any grand plan.

        Personally, I think the theme has a lot to do with Palahniuk (the author) being gay and in the closet. He's looking at the social pressures many men feel to prove their manliness and how they can be toxic and destructive. I think a common misinterpretation is that people look at the book as describing innate masculine drives. A better interpretation is that we allow an antiquated concept of masculinity to drive us toward irrational and ultimately unfulfilling behavior. And, it should be noted, that this behavior involves finding some sort of figure to follow/worship, whether it be the fascist dictator or an invisible man in the sky. Tyler Durden, as a figment of Jack's imagination, functioned as both.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Bingo. The consumerism is just a substitute for violence and dominating other men. Amass crap for your apartment instead of skulls for your collection.

          Once consumerism is rejected, those guys revert to doing violence.

      • How do you have capitalism without consumerism?

    • I don't see how changing the ending transforms the anti-capitalist message of the movie.

      Chinese Communists are (rhetorically) anti-capitalist. They don't have a problem with that kind of message.
      They have a problem with the anti-authority message.

  • Really hoping whoever was ordered to tack on that lame ending slipped in a few subliminal messages somewhere...

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      People aren't dumb. Just the mere act of editing the ending is all the subliminal message people need. They'll see the re-worked ending and know instantly in their heads that something is FU'ed about the world they live in.

  • Tyler Durden's Dead! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Merk42 ( 1906718 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @03:56PM (#62206783)
    Note: The Narrator died on the way back to his home planet
  • But I would still love to see the Chinese version of this one.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

  • Lots of movies could use this (Score:5, Funny)

    by Sloppy ( 14984 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @03:58PM (#62206789) Homepage Journal

    Han: "You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home!"

    [fade to black]

    The rebel fighters were destroyed and the criminals that had given them aid were arrested. The End.

    • The Death Star blowing up was the empires 9/11.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Wouldn't the CCP identify with the rebels? And the fascist government they defeated as the Empire? The Empire are pretty obviously space fascists.

      If you didn't know, the fascists fled to Taiwan, which eventually defeated them and became a democracy.

      Just to be clear, obviously the CCP are there baddies, I'm just saying that the propaganda is that they are the Rebels.

      • Except, for China, obeying the authorities is more important than anything. They wouldn't want "the Rebels" winning because that might give the population ideas about rebelling against THEIR authority. So in a theoretical "altered Fight Club style" ending for Star Wars, the Empire wins and those illegal Rebels see that it's pointless to go against the authority figures as they get carted off to prison.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by timotten ( 5411 )

      Juliet: "Yea, noise? then I'll be brief. O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die."

      [fade to black]

      Priest called emergency services to transport teenagers to Great National Hospital. Doctors sewed wounds, attached blood bag, and administered antitoxin. Teenagers enrolled at Great Social Camp, where they learned to love country. The End.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nugoo ( 1794744 )
      You can already see it. Someone has grafted the ending from Blood Debts [youtube.com] (which is pretty much exactly the ending that the CCP used for Fight club) onto Star Wars and a few others [youtube.com].

  • Who would have thought authoritanism could be so snarky?

  • Poo Bear is at it again (Score:5, Interesting)

    by allcoolnameswheretak ( 1102727 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @04:05PM (#62206819)

    This is getting ridiculous. Not only is China turning into a dystopian police state with absolute control over its citizens, it's even starting to turn into a parody of a dystopian police state.

    • a parody of a dystopian police state.

      There's actually no other type of police state. (Because it's impossible to truly control a large country in a top-down fashion.)

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I can't find any reference at all to this now, but I remember reading *way* back, that China substituted the intro to every episode with a message explaining that they'd escaped an insane asylum. Because apparently no women lived without men in 'proper' Chinese society.

    Or was it Japan? Sheesh this is gonna bug me until I find the reference now.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kackle ( 910159 )
      I seem to recall it was Japan. I don't remember the "insane asylum" part, but I thought the title was changed to 'Two Crazy Ladies' or similar.

  • The US does this too (Score:4, Funny)

    by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @04:11PM (#62206843)
    I was pissed when they re-made the Wicker Man with Nicholas Cage.

    • But it gave us the "not the bees" scene, so it was worth it.

    • I wonder how many people have seen the 1973 original. I saw a US preview version that might not have been the final cut, having somehow been roped into a screening that needed more audience. I liked it, as well as the general story line of an outsider encountering an insular community with strange behaviors.
  • For both the World and the China version.
  • Meatloaf would turn in his grave

  • I can't wait to see the Star Wars movies where the Empire wins every time.

  • Talk to a Chinese today... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mi ( 197448 ) <slashdot-2017q4@virtual-estates.net> on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @04:37PM (#62206931) Homepage Journal

    Talk to a Chinese person today — in the West, where they aren't (or shouldn't be) afraid of speaking their mind sincerely...

    Chances are good, they'll be defending that system of theirs. With something like "oh, yes, but different peoples want different governments, thats Ok."

    As if North and South Koreas have different tribes, or Hong Kong is populated by some other — genetically-modified — Chinese...

    Immigrants from USSR weren't like that — they hated "their" country, and were glad to come here, even if they found some things disappointing or not entirely to their expectations.

    But modern Russians and Chinese — and I'm talking about rank-and-file citizens, not regime flunkies — will defend their country's abuses. That's how good the propaganda has become, USSR never had that level of command of the citizens' hearts and minds...

    • ... citizens' hearts and minds ...

      You don't understand propaganda. If the citizens don't know what's there, they can't complain when it is taken away.

      This is 1984-style propaganda both, in the truth doesn't change the people and the government can delete facts that people already know exist.

      With widespread movie piracy, I doubt the Chinese version of the US Hayes Code (where the original ending would be banned too) will have much effect, at least in the short-term.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by mi ( 197448 )

        If the citizens don't know what's there, they can't complain when it is taken away.

        I'm talking about Chinese — and Russians — you encounter in the West today. Not in Beijing, in New York! They do know...

        And yet, they defend their regimes with sincere vigor...

    • Russians always seemed to have a thing for abusive leaders. IIRC it was Solzhenitsyn who called them “political masochists”.
    • I have never met these Russians. In fact, I see the opposite. Communism is a boogeyman that scares them. The Russians I know talk about not being able to even buy a pair of boots or waiting in line for days to buy a pair of shoes for their mom and, even though the shoes didn't fit well, making the purchase anyway as their might not be another chance. That's not to say that there aren't some fond memories.

      I'm not saying you haven't met such people but it isn't universal. I have met Chinese immigrants

    • Immigrants from USSR weren't like that — they hated "their" country, and were glad to come here

      That's because it was hard to leave the USSR, and only the people who really wanted to leave, left.

      If you talked to the Russians who had stayed in the USSR, they would have liked their country. Even today, you will find people in Russia who miss the USSR. It was nice, it took care of you (if it took care of you).

    • I know several Chinese, I dated one. Now that my ex has gotten her US citizenship:
      1) She says that her country lies all the time.
      2) She has had her social media accounts blocked by the Chinese Government.
      3) Her mother has asked her to not speak out because they get punished.

      Most Chinese that are still Chinese nationals can NOT speak out for fear of massive punishment. Do not believe that they believe what they say.

      Most Chinese that have taken other citizenship still have relatives back in the prison-lan

    • Talk to a Chinese person today — in the West, where they aren't (or shouldn't be) afraid of speaking their mind sincerely...

      Chances are good, they'll be defending that system of theirs. With something like "oh, yes, but different peoples want different governments, thats Ok."

      As if North and South Koreas have different tribes, or Hong Kong is populated by some other — genetically-modified — Chinese...

      Immigrants from USSR weren't like that — they hated "their" country, and were glad to come here, even if they found some things disappointing or not entirely to their expectations.

      But modern Russians and Chinese — and I'm talking about rank-and-file citizens, not regime flunkies — will defend their country's abuses. That's how good the propaganda has become, USSR never had that level of command of the citizens' hearts and minds...

      Are they passionate defenders or did you make stupid points or push American propaganda? I know a fuck ton of Russian and Chinese immigrants of all ages. It's part of being a software engineer. I haven't really noticed them being too passionate defenders. I know that if I said something stupid, they'll not hesitate to correct me. One example was about Vietnam. I was taught in school it was a draw. A Chinese coworker said "nope, you lost that proxy war. It's OK, it happens to everyone."

      Being an Ameri

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by quenda ( 644621 )

      Chances are good, they'll be defending that system of theirs. With something like "oh, yes, but different peoples want different governments, thats Ok."

      You can find analogies with Americans, or anyone else. I'll not mention present-day politics to avoid a flame-war. But the average American will defend past violence without questioning that the goals could have been achieved peacefully. e.g. the rebellion of 1775, or especially the US civil war. Victors are always heroes in the US. Only losers face scrutiny.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Their parents were probably farmers or labourers. Under the CCP their quality of life increased rapidly. Crime is very low in China, much lower than in the Western country they are now living in.

      When you tell them how horrible the CCP is, they look at their own experience of it and see that what you are saying doesn't match that. When you talk about oppression, they see that their freedoms have increased because they aren't struggling not to starve anymore. Meanwhile, our democracies have not been looking p

    • As a mental excercise, let's turn the tables here. Let's assume I'm the guy that's from outside US and you are the rank-and-file citizen from the US.

      I start by pointing out Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, or the torture of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning... Or maybe I say something about the false WMD pretext of the Iraqi war or the civilian catastrophe that is the Obama war in Yemen. Modern americans - and I'm talking about rank-and-file citizens, not regime flunkies - will defend their country's abuses

      • Re:Talk to a Chinese today... (Score:5, Informative)

        by mi ( 197448 ) <slashdot-2017q4@virtual-estates.net> on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @09:05PM (#62207799) Homepage Journal

        I'll point out, that you're as full of shit as all anti-Americans are, world-wide, both in here and outside:

        Guantanamo Bay
        Nothing automatically wrong about Guantanamo Bay. We had to keep such detainees — who weren't POWs — somewhere... The only alternative was to kill such people (which Obama started doing [theguardian.com]), would you — my hypothetical foreign opponent really prefer that?
        Abu Ghraib
        Once we learned of the abuses there, we punished the abusers... Who was punished in Vietnam for (repeatedly) breaking hands of John McCain and other POWs?
        torture of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning
        Neither of the two men were tortured. Assange in particular have not even been in the US custody... His current harsh treatment by the UK (not America) is due simply to his earlier jumping bail. You could've mentioned — the non-violent protesters locked up over the bogus "insurrection" [msn.com] — but you didn't...
        WMD pretext of the Iraqi war
        Though American media lied to us for years, thanks to Assange's Wikileaks, we learned, that plenty of WMDs were really found in Iraq [wired.com]... Saddam Hussein really did have them.

        believing that the US has no propaganda, boy do I have a bridge to sell you

        Of course, the US has propaganda — since Obama's times it is quite official [foreignpolicy.com]. And it is bad too, this item I'm perfectly willing to concede to any critic of America.

        But it is surprisingly one-sided: pro-government, when the President is a Democrat, and anti-government, when the President is a Republican. A very curious case indeed — and very different from China or Russia, where nothing anti-government survives for very long, not even movie-endings.

        The outcome of your table-turning thought-experiment will be, yes, America has problems, but it is still much better, than China or Russia. Or even Canada and Australia.

        • What I take from this is that you prove my point.

          Nothing bad about Guantanamo? How about the fact that the US abducted these people, tortured them in CIA black sites in Europe, could not find anything to stick them with in a court, got embarrassed and hid them away in Guantanamo for more torture in hopes to forget them there? Seriously?

          The soldiers in Abu Ghraib were not punished for doing the bad, they were punished for getting caught and being an embarrassement. And pointing your finger at Vietnam does

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Tom ( 822 )

      Talk to an American today ... Chances are good, they'll be defending that system of theirs. With something like "oh, yes, if healthcare costs don't do you in, student loans will, but we are THE LAND OF THE FREE (terms and conditions apply, not valid while you are at your Amazon warehouse workplace, may include traces of police brutality, comes with the occasional mass shooting)"

      There's much bad that can be said about Russia, China, etc. - absolutely, agree. I probably wouldn't be happy there, I don't fit in

    • They're not wrong.
      Different people for different governments.

      Different societies do value different things.Some value religion. Some value material wealth. Some value being warriors. Every wonder why things like honor killings exist? Because that society values honor above many other values. You are more than free to call those values stupid, but it's ignorant to deny they exist. Just as people in those societies are free to call your values stupid, but it's ignorant to deny they exist.

      Where it becomes an i

  • This is more similar to the book's ending — though in the book, an asylum attendant says to the narrator something along the lines of 'Everything's under control, sir', implying the network he created still exists.

  • On the Bright Side (Score:3)

    by crow ( 16139 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @04:51PM (#62206989) Homepage Journal

    On the bright side, it sounds like this is so obviously censored that it's really an in-your-face message that the government is censoring things. The first step towards change is making people aware of the problem, and this is one more small step in that direction.

  • An act worthy of Tyler... (Score:3)

    by angryflute ( 206793 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @04:55PM (#62207003) Homepage

    This is kind of meta. As if Tyler Durden himself censored the movie in order to prevent the Narrator from getting rid of him.

  • they fucked up top gun 2 so we should let it show to NO ticket sales

  • On the way back to his home planet

  • The third rule of Fight Club... (Score:3)

    by wertigon ( 1204486 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @05:17PM (#62207079)

    The movie got it all wrong.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

  • sellouts (Score:4, Interesting)

    by PhantomHarlock ( 189617 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @05:28PM (#62207133)

    Why does Hollywood (and just about everyone else) continue to kowtow to China, in light of ever worsening human rights records every year? Everyone is so addicted to the money that comes with accessing the chinese market that no one will take a moral stand.

    Can you imagine any studio making '7 Years in Tibet' today?

    In a few years ago took a trip to China as I had done a small amount of business with a company there and was looking at doing more. It was fascinating, but since then I completely swore it off due to their worsening human rights record and censorship. It didn't affect anything that I was doing there, but I don't want to be a part of directly doing business with China in any way. And yes I know most of the personal electronics and consumer products I own come from China. That's not easily avoided at this point.

    Visiting China is a bit like being in Silicon Valley in the 90s...everyone running around non-stop all the time in a booming economy. The combination of a communist government and a capitalist economy is scary. It gives them much more clout with which to throw around their weight and the reality distortion field under which they operate. The only reason they get away with the stuff that they do is that no one will take a unified stand against them. Many countries have too much to lose. The devil's bargain of China being the world's workshop - everyone relies on them too much at this point.

    • :this: ^^^
      They operate more like a single company with a CEO then a country bound by politics or worse populous democracy. If they can maintain that thin sanity ballance, they will be golden. But it's so so easy for H.Sapience to mess it up.

  • "I love Big Brother!"

  • In many Amazon-produced TV series, you may notice a pattern where characters treat the growth of corporate power like an unstoppable force of nature that they can at most work around, but hardly oppose and never stop. Prime examples being Upload and Electric Dreams.

  • The new ending in which the state triumphs sparked head scratching and outrage among many Chinese viewers -- many of whom would likely have seen pirated versions of the unadulterated version film.

    Its Chinese Capitalism. The viewers are not citizens, they are the product. And they're criminals anyway.

  • Infernal Affairs (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kyoko21 ( 198413 ) on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @07:13PM (#62207479)

    Something similar happened with Infernal Affairs. For it to be released in China, they had to create an ending where the bad guy was caught at the end, which is completely different from the original ending.

  • ... instead of dropping paper pamphlets over populated areas of China, the US drops original versions of movies.

  • The First rule of fight club: ( badly dubbed English) "All citizens must support Comrade XI!"

    The Second rule of fight club: (Badly dubbed, different voice) "You are happy with your life".

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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