China replaced the ending to the 1999 cult classic film “Fight Club” with a message saying the authorities won, BBC News reported.
The true ending of the film depicts the narrator, portrayed by Edward Norton, killing his imaginary alter ego, played by Brad Pitt, before bombs exploded, destroying buildings in the climax of a plot to change society.
The Chinese version of the film instead portrays a message before the explosion stating that police foiled the plot and arrested Tyler Durden, Pitt’s character, who ends up in a “lunatic asylum,” BBC News reported. The changes were made when the movie was uploaded to the Chinese streaming website Tencent Video.
“Through the clue provided by Tyler, the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding,” the message reads. “After the trial, Tyler was sent to lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012.”
Dystopian.
“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.” https://t.co/mxaoKwhmvy pic.twitter.com/kMzFTbv4nQ
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) January 25, 2022
Human Rights Watch called the move “dystopian,” while Chuck Palahniuk, the author of the 1996 book the movie is based on, sarcastically tweeted “this is SUPER wonderful! Everyone gets a happy ending in China!” The author later joked in a blog post that the changes were was “amazing. I’d no idea! Justice always wins. Nothing ever exploded. Fini.”
Censorship in China is common, with CNN calling out the regime in November 2021 for substituting its coverage of tennis star Peng Shuai, who went missing after accusing a former top Chinese official of sexual assault, with colored bars. A number of U.S. companies have been caught censoring content for China.
“The second rule of Fight Club is ‘we will do and say whatever the Chinese communist censors tell us to do and say,'” Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas tweeted.
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