The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on January 25 announced a one-month campaign to stop the online spread of illegal information and chaotic scenes in visual media during the country’s Spring Festival.
The Bangkok Post has reported that David Fincher’s 1999 movie Fight Club, now streaming in China on the streaming platform Tencent Video, might be the first casualty of the campaign, as the ending of the movie has been altered drastically from its original conclusion.
(If you somehow still have not seen Fight Club, please consider this parenthetical message to be your courtesy spoiler alert.)
The movie Fight Club, starring Ed Norton (Narrator) and Brad Pitt (Tyler Durden), culminates in a scene in which the Narrator shoots Durden, only to realize that Durden is his alter-ego and that he has, in fact, shot himself. From there, Narrator/Durden detonates bombs across the city, apparently achieving his anti-capitalism goal.
According to the Bangkok Post, China has some of the strictest censorship laws in the world, with authorities approving only a few foreign films for release each year, often with significant cuts.
The Council on Foreign Relations states, “China’s constitution affords its citizens freedom of speech and press, but the opacity of Chinese media regulations allows authorities to crack down on news stories by claiming that they expose state secrets and endanger the country. The definition of state secrets in China remains vague, facilitating censorship of any information that authorities deem harmful to their political or economic interests.”
Therefore, the Chinese version of Fight Club ends with a different message, according to MSN News. Norton still kills Pitt, but instead of an exploding building, a black screen appears with the English-language message:
“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 [sic] receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012.”
Looper reports that American filmmakers often change movies to align with the Chinese audiences and notes that several films, including 2006’s Casino Royale featuring Daniel Craig as 007 James Bond, had an alternative version for the Chinese release. Dame Judy Dench, who plays the character of M in the film, confirmed that the movie was edited.
Dench said her original movie line was, “(Expletive), I miss the Cold War,” according to CTVNews.
“I wasn’t allowed to say that for China,” she said. “I had to re-dub it. It was: ‘God, I miss the old times.’ Not quite the same thing.”
According to Insider, the copyright owner altered the movie and then obtained government approval before selling the film to streaming sites.