I am Jack’s endless film bro discourse. Fight Club, second only to The Matrix as film internet’s most debated and dissected movie, is back in the marketplace of ideas. This time, the movie is being championed by anti-Chinese censorship folks. Apparently, the version of the David Fincher film available in China has a tacked on title card ending, with a decidedly more pro-government twist. The unedited version of the film ends with Unnamed Narrator Boy (Edward Norton) and Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) holding hands while a credit card company’s HQ explodes in the distance. It is implied that Project Mayhem was successful in wiping out all credit card debt, and we get one last hog spliced in before credits roll. The censored version is…not that.
“Through the clue provided by Tyler, the police figured out the whole plan and arrested all the criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding,†a translation of the new ending title card circulating on Twitter reads. “After the trial, Tyler was sent to lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012.†First of all, it names the Unnamed Protagonist! But perhaps more importantly, it completely changes Fincher’s ending to be pro-police, pro-credit card debt. You know who’s not miffed at this new ending, Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk. Speaking to TMZ, Palahniuk said the censorship the film experienced in China is paltry compared to how many of his books have been banned in America. “The irony of the story, the way the Chinese have changed it, they’ve aligned it almost exactly with the ending for the book,†he said.