A few days ago, China’s decision to change the ending of the movie Fight Club was severely criticized; today, the author of the original novel has given his verdict.
Released in 1999 and starring two youngsters Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, Fight Club became a cult movie that, to this day, enjoys a great reputation in the film industry. .
In short, Fight Club is about the story of a disenchanted office worker (Edward Norton) who finds a new meaning in his life when he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), who takes him to a fight club.
However, the ending, in which Norton causes a series of explosions in banks that end up restarting the economy, has not gone down well with the authorities in China, who have decided to censor that part and change it for another fine, giving it a new interpretation to the film itself.
And it is that, currently, in China, streaming platforms are subject to the designs of the authorities. So, according to a post by Vice, that mythical final scene was withdrawn in the version of that country and, in exchange, it has placed a text on the totally black screen that says:
“Thanks to the clues provided by Tyler, the police quickly discovered the entire plan and arrested all the criminals, successfully preventing the plan of mass destruction,” is what is read on the Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video, for then top it off with the information that Tyler was sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he received treatment and was released in 2012.
For fans of the film, China’s decision was not correct, alluding to an act of censorship in which the authorities seek, at all costs, to erase any incitement to insurrection.
Of course, once the alternate ending of the Chinese version leaked online, the criticism and ridicule did not stop.
However, as strange as it may seem, there was someone who, somehow, made a lot of sense of the new ending that was modified in China.
Chuck Palahniuk, author of the original novel on which David Fincher’s 1999 film ‘Fight Club’ was based, wrote on his Twitter account Twitter, ironically, the following:
“Have you seen this shit? This is super wonderful! Everyone has a happy ending in China. Tyler and the gang were arrested. He was tried and sentenced to an insane asylum. Incredible. I had no idea! Justice always wins. Nothing has exploded.”
Although Palahniuk’s words are submerged in irony, later, in an interview with TMZ, he delved a little more into his opinion about the Chinese version of Fight Club, noting that, in some way, it has been a positive thing. :
“The irony is that the way the Chinese have changed it is that they have aligned the ending almost exactly with the ending of the book, unlike Fincher’s ending, which was a more spectacular visual ending. So, in a way, the Chinese have put the movie back in the book a little bit.”, said the writer.
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