The Rise of Gru Ending Changed In China; Online Commentators Mock Censorship

In
China,
even
an
animated
antihero
could
not
be
allowed
to
get
away
with
his
dastardly
deeds
–
or
so
censors
want
moviegoers
to
believe.
They
have
altered
the
ending
of
the

Despicable
Me
franchise
animated
film

Minions:
The
Rise
of
Gru,
which
social
media
users
across
the
country
noticed
over
the
weekend.
In
the
international
version,
the
film
ends
with
Gru
and
his
mentor,
Wild
Knuckles,
riding
off
into
the
sunset
after
the
latter
faked
his
own
death
to
evade
capture.

But
not
in
mainland
China,
where
a
series
of
subtitled
still
images
inserted
into
the
credits
sequence
informed
cinemagoers
that
Wild
Knuckles
was
caught
and
locked
up
for
20
years.
He
then
puts
his
con
artist
skills
to
positive
use
in
prison,
where
he
follows
his
“love
of
acting” and
sets
up
a
theatrical
troupe.

As
for
Gru,
he
“eventually
became
one
of
the
good
guys,” devoted
to
raising
his
family,
the
Chinese
ending
says.

“It’s
only
us
who
need
special
guidance
and
care,
for
fear
that
a
cartoon
will
‘corrupt’
us,”
DuSir,
an
online
movie
review
publisher
with
14.4
million
followers
on
social
media
platform
Weibo,
wrote
on
Saturday,
August
20.
He
noted
that
the
Chinese
version
of
the
film
runs
one
minute
longer
than
the
international
version.

Other
online
commentators
mocked
the
addendum,
saying
it
resembled
a
PowerPoint
presentation.

Friends,
Lightyear
Censored
In
China

Western
films
often
have
certain
scenes
omitted
or
altered
in
China.
Last
year,
viewers
of

Fight
Club
had
a
very
different
ending
when
it
appeared
on
a
popular
Chinese
streaming
platform.
Viewers
were
told
police
foiled
a
plan
by
the
protagonist
and
his
alter
ego,
played
by
Edward
Norton
and
Brad
Pitt,
to
detonate
a
set
of
skyscrapers.
In
China,
Pitt’s
character,
Tyler
Durden,
was
also
not
just
a
figment
of
Norton’s
character’s
imagination
but
was
sent
to
an
asylum
and
later
discharged.

LGBTQ
plotlines
from
hit
US
sitcom

Friends
were
removed
before
it
was
streamed
earlier
this
year.

Disney’s
latest
animated
film,

Lightyear,
was
not
even
released
in
China,
as
the
company
refused
to
remove
a
scene
showing
two
female
characters
kissing.

lo/rt
(AFP,
Reuters)