Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk praises Chinese edit of the film which has a HAPPY ending because it is more 'aligned' with his original novel
- Version of the movie was made available in China on streaming platform Tencent
- But it had been radically edited so as to transform the anarchist, anti-capitalist message that made the film a global hit, to one in which the authorities win
- The movie was an adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 novel by the same name
- Reacting to China's change to movie, Palahniuk said 'This is SUPER wonderful'
- Speaking to TMZ, he said that he was no stranger to censorship, with his novel being banned in some prison libraries and schools around the country
The author of cult classic 'Fight Club' has praised a controversial change to the movie adaptation of his novel in China, which was altered to comply with the country's restrictive censorship rules.
Chuck Palahniuk praised China's 'happy ending' cut of David Fincher's 1999 movie, starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, which sees authorities foil the hero's anti-establishment plot to bring down capitalist civilisation.
Reacting to news of China's change to the movie, Palahniuk wrote: 'This is SUPER wonderful! Everyone gets a happy ending in China!'
A version of the movie was made available in China on streaming platform Tencent Video over the weekend.
But much to the dismay of fans in China, Fight Club had been radically edited so as to transform the anarchist, anti-capitalist message that made the film a global hit.
Instead of multiple buildings exploding, as in the original ending, the authorities win in the new censored version.
Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk (picture left) praised China's 'happy ending' cut of David Fincher's 1999 movie, starring Brad Pitt , Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, which sees authorities foil the hero's anti-establishment plot to bring down capitalist civilisation
However, Palahniuk told TMZ that given the message of his book, he was now accustomed to the story being changed, and that the Chinese ending was in fact more in-line with the original ending in his novel.
'The irony is that … 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,' Palahniuk told TMZ.
'So in a way, the Chinese brought the movie back to the book a little bit.' He added: 'I don't think that was their intention, but I think they definitely looked at the book and decided - what's the happy medium here?'
The author also spoke of how China's change is not the first time the story's ending has been changed, and that he is now grown accustomed to its censorship.
'My books are heavily banned throughout the US. The Texas prison system refuses to carry my books in its library, a lot of public schools and most private schools refuse to carry my books, but it's only an issue when China changes the end of a movie?' he told the TMX interviewers.
'I've been putting up with book banning for a long time,' he added with a smirk.
When the interviewers pointed out that he seemed relaxed about the changes, Palahniuk said: 'A lot of my overseas publishers have edited the novel itself, so the novel ends the way the movie ends. So I've been dealing with this kind of revision for 25 years.'
The author expanded on this in a Substack post, saying that foreign publishers would made such changes without his permission.
A version of Fight Club (pictured) was made available in China on streaming platform Tencent Video over the weekend. But much to the dismay of fans in China, it had been radically edited so as to transform the anarchist, anti-capitalist message that made the film a global hit
China has some of the world's most restrictive censorship rules, with CCP authorities only approving a handful of foreign movies for release each year - sometimes with major cuts.
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 with Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), suggesting his character's plan to bring down modern civilisation is underway.
In the censored version released in China, The Narrator still kills off Durden, but the exploding buildings scene is replaced with a written message on black screen: '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.
In the closing scenes of the 1999 film Fight Club, Norton's character watches multiple buildings explode with Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter)
But in the censored version released in China, the exploding buildings scene is replaced with a written message on black screen: 'The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding'
In Palahniuk's novel, The Narrator sets out to stop Durden's plot. However, Durden vanishes before he sets the bombs off, with the narrator realising he was his alter ego all-along. Taking control of his own destiny, The Narrator shoots himself in the head, but fails to kill himself - waking up in a mental hospital.
The movie's new ending in which the state triumphs sparked outrage among many Chinese viewers - many of whom would likely have seen pirated versions of the unadulterated version film.
'This is too outrageous,' one viewer commented on Tencent Video.
''Fight Club' on Tencent Video tells us that they don't just delete scenes, but add to the plot too,' a user wrote on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.
It is not currently clear if government censors ordered the alternative ending or if the original movie's producers made the changes.
Tencent did not comment on the matter.
Speaking to The Guardian, Dr How Wee Ng, a Chinese film and media teacher at the University of Westminster in London, explained the reasoning behind the change.
'The new Chinese version of 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,' he said.
'This treatment is commonplace in many Chinese television dramas and films which represent crime and violence,. 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.'
Hollywood studios often release alternative cuts in the hopes of clearing Beijing's censorship hurdles and getting lucrative access to millions of Chinese consumers.
In 2019, multiple scenes in the film 'Bohemian Rhapsody' referencing iconic musician Freddie Mercury's sexuality - a pivotal part of his biography - were dropped in its China release.
Under President Xi Jinping, Chinese authorities have pushed to purge society of elements deemed unhealthy, including within movies, television, computer games.
They have also launched sweeping state crackdowns on tax evasion and perceived immoral behaviour in the entertainment industry, a tightening that has already targeted some of the country's biggest celebrities.
On Tuesday, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced it was launching a month-long 'clean' web campaign to create a 'civilised and healthy' atmosphere online over the Lunar New Year holiday.
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