Fight Club

‘Fight Club’ Gets New Ending With China Release, And It Hilariously Unravels Our Reality

It’s been almost 23 years since Fight Club was originally released in theaters, but the film is still managing to stir up controversy. David Fincher’s 1999 film started as a cult classic but has now become part of the zeitgeist as a fascinating exploration of capitalism and toxic masculinity that is sometimes taken too literally. As it turns out, the Chinese government has taken the rules of Fight Club a little too seriously by censoring the ending of the film.

Tencent Video, a popular streaming service in China with over 900 million active users, is the country’s largest provider of imported films. But when Fight Club recently appeared on Tencent, many pointed out that the movie suddenly stops right before its iconic ending. Instead of seeing the buildings explode around Marla and the Narrator, the fictional action is instead replaced with an English-language title card explaining that Tyler’s plot was foiled by police.

The title card, which has also appeared on the internet, reads as such. “The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding. After the trial, Tyler was sent to lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012”.

Fight Club

Ironically enough, this form of censorship only reinforces the themes of Fight Club. Not only is it hilarious to think that the police (who are under the influence of Project Mayhem in the story) would “figure out the plan,” but also that Tyler Durden was Eventually released is out there running around right now. Which is more unbelievable, we’re not even sure. The Chinese government has been notoriously prudish over their censorship guidelines the last decade, so it’s only natural that they would undermine their own efforts with a movie that they clearly don’t understand. That’s Communism for ya.

Photos: 20th Century Studios/Tencent

TRENDING


X