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I always figured censored art was just old political stuff, then I saw the 2018 Chinese edits to Bohemian Rhapsody
I compared the original film to the version shown in China, and the difference was huge. They cut every single reference to Freddie Mercury being gay and having AIDS, over 2 minutes total. I used to think censorship was about blocking obvious propaganda, but this was about erasing a person's identity from a biopic. It made me see how modern censorship targets LGBTQ+ stories specifically, not just old books. Has anyone else seen a recent movie get edited that heavily for a foreign release?
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fiona_anderson6mo ago
Yeah, it's a huge deal. Cutting out someone's identity to make a movie 'safe' is wrong, not just a market choice. It changes the whole point of a biopic. I saw the side by side and it felt like they were trying to erase a real person's life, which is way worse than just cutting a random scene.
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loganburns6mo ago
The edit was over 40 seconds long and cut the only direct mention of his activism. It wasn't just trimming for time, it removed the specific reason he was targeted. That turns a story about a real fight into a vague crime plot.
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