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I am Jack's Chinese censorship.

Started by Glebe, January 25, 2022, 09:43:19 AM

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Theremin

Obviously hilarious, but also not a million miles off from the original book ending.

Glebe

Quote from: Theremin on January 25, 2022, 11:07:23 AMObviously hilarious, but also not a million miles off from the original book ending.

Really? Remember reading a friend's copy of their book some years ago but didn't get past the first few chapters.

Blumf


bgmnts

Quote from: Theremin on January 25, 2022, 11:07:23 AMObviously hilarious, but also not a million miles off from the original book ending.

Yeah! If memory serves
Spoiler alert
he fucks up and uses the wrong chemicals and ends up paralytic in a care home being cared for by members of project mayhem.
[close]

I much prefer the pure fantasy ending of the film as it fits the story much better.

Why they'd do this shitty edit is anyone's guess as the police are shown to be corrupt within the film.

Glebe

Quote from: Blumf on January 25, 2022, 01:28:46 PMWhich clue?

The Narrator warns the police although (I forgot about this but a quick glance at the plot on Wiki reminded me) the officers he speaks to just happen to be members of Fight Club under instruction from 'Tyler'. Maybe going to the cops then just disappearing raised suspicion around the police station and didn't he bring evidence of Tyler's plan with him too? I dunno, something like that!

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

I rewatched it recently so I remember:

The narrator goes to the police station to give himself up and gets interviewed by three cops. One cop, who isn't a member of Project Mayhem, goes off to double check the narrator's account of what's happened. While he's away, the other two cops (who are PM members) hold down the narrator and attempt to cut off his balls, leading him to grab one of their guns and escape. Presumably it's the cop who goes off to fact check who foils the plot for the glory of the Chinese American nation.


Glebe

Quote from: Elderly Sumo Prophecy on January 25, 2022, 02:56:47 PMOne cop, who isn't a member of Project Mayhem, goes off to double check the narrator's account of what's happened.

Ahhh, right! Nerd fact: The three cops are named Andrew, Kevin and Walker after Se7en's screenwriter (who also actually appears as a sleepy neighbour in Panic Room).

Mister Six

Quote from: bgmnts on January 25, 2022, 01:37:19 PMWhy they'd do this shitty edit is anyone's guess as the police are shown to be corrupt within the film.

China's been cracking down on media that doesn't have "positive energy" (following much usage of the phrase by Xi), and I'm guessing this was demanded either by censors or by Tencent itself due to a chilling effect. Beijing is also very leery about depictions of people rising up against the state (any state) in modern times, due to brouhahas about Xinjiang, Hong Kong etc.

Not that Fight Club has massive positive energy, but I guess you could view the critique of hollow American capitalism as a good thing, provided you scrape off the bit where society actually does completely crumble, and reinforce the notion that the authorities are mostly good and will quell dissent.

Noodle Lizard

Why was he released in 2012? Leaving it open for a sequel?

Glebe

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on January 25, 2022, 06:08:53 PMWhy was he released in 2012? Leaving it open for a sequel?

There is an actual comic book sequel written by Chuck Palahniuk, not read it mind (as I said I didn't even finish the book).

imitationleather

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on January 25, 2022, 06:08:53 PMWhy was he released in 2012? Leaving it open for a sequel?

So he could watch the Queen jump out of that plane at the Olympics.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Glebe on January 25, 2022, 06:20:31 PMThere is an actual comic book sequel written by Chuck Palahniuk, not read it mind (as I said I didn't even finish the book).

I didn't know this until just now, but after reading your post I looked it up online and discovered he's made it in to a trilogy with a second 12 issue comics mini-series published in 2019, though after reading the first issue I've no urge to finish it.

Noodle Lizard

Chuck Palahniuk, there's a topic of conversation. If you'd chatted with me when I was 14-15, I couldn't comprehend a more innovative and brilliant writer. I'd read Shakespeare, I'd read Hemingway, I'd even pretended to read Infinite Jest, but no. Chuck Palahniuk, and maybe a side order of Bret Easton Ellis please.

There's a very good reason I haven't gone back to read any of his stuff. I like remembering that "Choke" is a really good book, that "Fight Club" had a better ending than the film version (manifestly untrue), that "Snuff" is a brilliant satire. I know it's not, but are you also going to tell me that my girlfriend at 16 wasn't the most beautiful girl in the world?

Everything up until today has been an embarrassment, and even today will embarrass me tomorrow.

Glebe

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on January 25, 2022, 08:06:07 PMI didn't know this until just now, but after reading your post I looked it up online and discovered he's made it in to a trilogy with a second 12 issue comics mini-series published in 2019, though after reading the first issue I've no urge to finish it.

Crikey, didn't know it went on for that long.

PammySpacek

This reminds me of an unconfirmed urban myth:

QuoteThe story goes that when the sitcom Laverne & Shirley first aired in Thailand, in the late 1970s, it was considered very scandalous because it featured two unmarried young women living away from their parents. So to make it more acceptable to viewers, the station ran a blurb before the show saying, "These two women are from an insane asylum."

Glebe

Quote from: PammySpacek on January 25, 2022, 08:23:46 PMThis reminds me of an unconfirmed urban myth:

QuoteThe story goes that when the sitcom Laverne & Shirley first aired in Thailand, in the late 1970s, it was considered very scandalous because it featured two unmarried young women living away from their parents. So to make it more acceptable to viewers, the station ran a blurb before the show saying, "These two women are from an insane asylum."


Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on January 25, 2022, 08:10:43 PMThere's a very good reason I haven't gone back to read any of his stuff. I like remembering that "Choke" is a really good book, that "Fight Club" had a better ending than the film version (manifestly untrue), that "Snuff" is a brilliant satire. I know it's not, but are you also going to tell me that my girlfriend at 16 wasn't the most beautiful girl in the world?

I read Choke in my mid-late 20's and it was alright I thought, the only other thing of his I've read is Guts though, just like everyone else on the internet.

I think I preferred the film though, but that's cos Sam Rockwell and Kelly MacDonald are both very likeable.

Sebastian Cobb

I quite like the idea of some law-abiding Chinese citizen sat in discomfort throughout most of the film, seeing the card at the end and thinking "bloody hell, that's a relief!".

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth


Much crazier than the United States, where the CIA literally gets final script approval for certain TV shows/movies, and where a movie produced by a mainland Chinese studio airing on broadcast television would probably spark a congressional inquiry and threats of war from Republicans.

Ferris

Nic Cage guns-a-go-go flick Lord of War suffered a similar fate:


Ferris

Quote from: Ferris on January 26, 2022, 02:54:25 AMNic Cage guns-a-go-go flick Lord of War suffered a similar fate:



Rather than the original ending which was pointing out military hypocrisy but not exactly hard hitting.

QuoteThe American crime film Lord of War ends with its protagonist, an arms dealer played by Nicolas Cage, evading jail time and returning to arms trafficking. It also states that the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, including the U.S. and China, are the biggest arms suppliers.

bgmnts

Fuck Lord of War is a good film.

I find it quite telling that an American big studio film that explicitly states how warmongering and abhorrent it is can be released as is because the American government knows most of the people dont care or would even celebrate that fact.

Unsure if Chinese officials are paranoid or if it's just overkill. What do they think will happen if a film comes out and shows an insurrection or how officials are corrupt, are they going to immediately rise up and riot? They already know how shit and violent and oppressive their government is surely?

greenman

Indeed seems a bit strange as the ending is really mostly critical of the US but seems like more Code era Hollywood were an criminal getting away with it in any fashion is looked down on even if its in a rival state.

Pink Gregory

Love the idea that Xi is a positive thoughts wellness guy.

If this tracks the next president of the PRC will be a rise and grind influencer.

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

Tylers not even the main character's name anyway. Tyler is just the man who lives inside his head. Have they even understood this film or what?

Icehaven

How bizarre to do this now, when the internet exists and the film's been around for 23 years. And surely every time they use a text explanation like that it only encourages people to seek out the original ending? Might as well just say "This has been censored."

phantom_power

I am not sure "the internet" means the same thing in China as it does in the UK. Aren't lots of parts of the internet blocked there?

Glebe

The Internet was arrested and ended up in a lunatic asylum until 2012.