Horror Film's Wedding Scene Digitally Altered for Chinese Audiences (theguardian.com) 46
Australian horror film Together, starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie, underwent digital alterations for its mainland China release on September 12. Chinese cinemagoers discovered that a wedding scene between two men had been modified using face-swapping technology to transform one male character into a female appearance. The change only became apparent after side-by-side screenshots from the original and altered versions circulated on social media platforms.
Chinese viewers are expressing outrage over the AI-powered modification, The Guardian reports, citing concerns about creative integrity and the difficulty of detecting such alterations compared to traditional scene cuts. The film's distributor halted the scheduled September 19 general release following the backlash. China's censorship authorities require all imported films to undergo approval before release.
Chinese viewers are expressing outrage over the AI-powered modification, The Guardian reports, citing concerns about creative integrity and the difficulty of detecting such alterations compared to traditional scene cuts. The film's distributor halted the scheduled September 19 general release following the backlash. China's censorship authorities require all imported films to undergo approval before release.
"What about people who are just skin?" (Score:5, Interesting)
So the summary is dumb and weirdly evasive, so I skimmed the article. There's a shot of two dudes getting married to each other and whoever the censors are used AI to make one of the dudes a woman. Chinese viewers are, according to the article, actually increasingly tolerant of same-sex relationships, and so they are insulted by the switcheroo.
When I read "horror movie edited for Chinese audiences", I thought maybe they had put some skin back on a skeleton, because (and this may be outdated by now) skeletons are tantamount to blasphemy in mainstream Chinese culture.
Re: me chinese me make you centroship (Score:1, Troll)
Americans force way more censorship upon Hollywood than China.
For example, look at all the PG-13 adaptations of original works that should be rated R. Americans forced Hollywood to censor movies "for the children".
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This is someplace that the great melting pot of the USA could beat China. Particularly in places like Africa. If we were smart. Which, evidently we are not.
Re: (Score:2)
This is someplace that the great melting pot of the USA could beat China. Particularly in places like Africa. If we were smart. Which, evidently we are not.
It turns our (US-ians) our diversity of morality causes some internal strife as well. China's iron fist over cultural issues isn't very helpful either.
Skeletons (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know the details, but I recall it being an issue for the Chinese WoW client. Normally the spot you'd died and then resurrected from would get a skeleton of the appropriate race, but in the Chinese client it was a tombstone instead.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
When Hu Jintao was president, they objected to depictions of skeletons. That was when WoW was trying to get into the Chinese market.
Re: (Score:2)
...or that 'promoted superstition'
I find that hilarious, since China is rife with superstition: pointing furniture in certain directions, mirror phobias, fortune tellers consulted before deciding on business transactions, etc. Not that the rest of the world is any better. Our world has a long way to go to eliminate ridiculous superstition.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't forget avoiding the number 4, to the point of not using it on license plates, room numbers, even skipping whole floors of buildings!
Re: (Score:3)
whoever the censors are used AI to make one of the dudes a woman
I don't think the article specified who altered the film. Was it the Chinese censors - panty-twisting apparatchiks who declare yes or no, often for specious or capricious reasons? Or was it the studio, who have the masters and a host of VFX people at their disposal, hoping to score some Chinese box office returns? And who should we be more mad at?
Re: (Score:2)
Probably the company that bought distribution rights for China.
Re: (Score:2)
Was it the Chinese censors - panty-twisting apparatchiks
Yes, I believe this is where it's coming from, regardless of who actually did it.
My understanding is that this generally accounts for the diversity/representation gap between movies and TV shows. In movies, representation is either absent or very contained (like a throw away sentence that can be easily cut out in international release). Movies have to cater to many countries, including China. TV shows have nothing but representation because they are mostly targeting USA or maybe Europe and don't have to de
Re: (Score:2)
It was the studio. It's also something that has been going on for years. Cuts and edits are often made to suit local laws, e.g. the UK release of Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones was censored in the UK to remove a head butt, which would have bumped its classification up from PG and limited its audience.
Japan is another market where it happens frequently. As well as laws around censorship of genitals, there are some about showing drug use. Sometimes movies just don't get released or are heavily dela
Made it too Progressive (Score:2)
There's a shot of two dudes getting married to each other and whoever the censors are used AI to make one of the dudes a woman.
Well there's the problem: they turned it from a gay wedding into a trans wedding and I'm guessing Chinese audiences are just not ready for that yet.
Ah Chi Bun Kah (Score:1)
Being there is a shortage of women in China due to cultural habits, the Chinese gov't should embrace homosexuality to reduce the chance of riots. People who "get some" tend to be calmer*.
But there has been an anti-LGBTQ+ push by the Chinese gov't in the last few years. Seems some "Archie Bunker" in the brass got triggered by overly fem boy bands. [hollywoodreporter.com]
* There is a theory mid-east violence is caused by polygamy, which leaves many men without mates.
Re: (Score:1)
and slashdot neckbeards
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Franco and Brie. Did you not read the summary?
Re: (Score:2)
These are the same people who whined about Netflix's Alexander: The Making of a God [reddit.com] devoting so much time, effort, and money to Alexander burying his "friend".
Rename it: Attack of the Alphabet People /s (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
People make fun of "too many letters", so some propose calling it just "gender liberty" (GL), meaning old fashioned mores about romantic partner and fashion choices related to gender are dropped per regular public settings.
Thus "a GL person" would be equivalent to "an LGBTQ+ person".
Lol (Score:3)
This is going to happen in red states soon enough.
The more oppressive a government gets (Score:1)
So if you're a dictator looking for a minority to oppress in order to distract from your incompetent leadership there is none better. They're just enough of them that you can scare people with them bu
I don't think that's what they wanted (Score:5, Funny)
Coming to a future near you... (Score:2)
Someday such technology will ubiquitous enough to watch the entire news this way. [dailymail.co.uk]
(Biden looks eerily like Jen Psaki. Foil hat stuff...)
I never thought ... (Score:2)
The wedding night, on the other hand
Very strange (Score:2)
In the movie, they gay marriage is not even presented in a positive light. It is a videotape of a past wedding, of a rather scary non-main character who apparently did something evil to his (now absent) partner. So very strange they were bothered by this.
China's censorship authorities require all importe (Score:2)
> China's censorship authorities require all imported films to undergo approval before release.
Like every other country in the world?