(Spoilers) In Fincher’s original film, the narrator character of Edward Norton kills his alter ego Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) before seeing the buildings go up in flames in an apparent confirmation that his plan to destroy modern civilization is being executed.
The version that started playing on China’s largest video transmitter was stopped before the buildings exploded. Instead, the final action was replaced with a banner in English and Chinese explaining that the authorities foiled the anarchic plot.
“The police quickly discovered the entire plan and arrested all the criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding. After the trial, Tyler was sent to an insane asylum. [sic] where he received psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012,” the poster read.
The question of who changed the film and why remains unclear. The changes were not simply an omission. They were an addition that required some post-production work and may have been done by the film’s licensor.
Tencent did not comment at the time or since. Sources at Disney, the current owner of the 20th Century Fox studio distributor behind the 1999 film, denied being the supplier of the film.
China is not alone in enforcing censorship, says Chuck Palahniuk, author of the book on which Fincher’s film is based. “What I find really interesting is that my books are severely banned throughout the United States. [..] The Texas prison system refuses to have my books in their libraries. Many public schools and most private schools refuse to take my books. But it’s only a problem once China changes the ending of a movie?” he said in an interview with TMZ.
“The irony is that the way the Chinese have changed it is that they’ve aligned the ending almost exactly with the ending of the book, unlike Fincher’s ending, which was the most spectacular visual ending,” Palahniuk said. “So, in a way, the Chinese brought the film back to the book a little bit.”
Source: Ambito
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