Chinese release of Django Unchained?

blossompetal_ | 2 points | Jun 19 2021 20:28:12

Chinese release of Django Unchained?

Hi, apologies for posting in English and apologies for how long this post may be, I am currently writing my dissertation thesis and could use some help if anyone would be able to provide further information or assistance.

I am writing my dissertation on China's censorship of Hollywood films and one of my specific case study films is Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2013) because of its messy release. I have already researched this as much as I can, and know about the film being edited, approved for release, pulled from cinemas on opening day and then released again a month later, and I read that the edits made were darkening the blood, removing nudity and cutting down the violence.

I was wondering if there is any way to watch the version of Django released in China with the additional cuts? Or even just scenes of the film, so that I can do a textual analysis of the exact edits.

Additionally, comments were made by the head of Sony's mainland China branch, though I cannot find an original source for this but rather translated articles. I was wondering if he had said anything else about this though language and accessibility limitations make this difficult.

I apologise if this isn't the best subreddit to ask these questions, a kind redditor pointed me in the direction of this subreddit when I originally posted on r/China, and any help anyone could give me would be incredibly appreciated. Thanks.

[-] mathmethmyth | 8 points | Jun 19 2021 21:26:12

https://movie.douban.com/review/5953740/

这里有一份文字描述列表，列举了删减的暴力镜头.

https://movie.douban.com/subject/6307447/

页面里提到了中国版本时长是163分钟，所以你找到的版本如果是163分，那也许就是中国版了。

顺便我回忆起当年我在电影资料馆应该是看了完整无删减版，怀念。

翻译请自行deepl

https://www.deepl.com/en/translator

[-] XiTrollPing | 7 points | Jun 20 2021 02:55:41

看发贴记录，什么美颜自拍女主播都来了，引流人你坏事做尽

[-] pussy_smasher_ | 3 points | Jun 19 2021 22:03:43

Pls go to China and fuck Chinese girls

[-] XiTrollPing | 6 points | Jun 20 2021 02:43:54

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.对不起，绷不住了

[-] imperatorfidelis | 5 points | Jun 19 2021 22:34:55

是个白妹

[-] Whythebanhammer | 3 points | Jun 20 2021 02:11:16

Pointed you here? Well that redditor is so kind...

[-] Green_Offer | 2 points | Jun 19 2021 20:45:36

If I were you I would search on 腾讯视频 or 爱奇艺 which are two major streaming platforms in China. If no result then it’s only in cinema, exclusively.

[-] AnnihilatorofUranus | 2 points | Jun 20 2021 04:26:32

I had no idea Django Unchained was released in China at all. Films centred around themes of revenge or rebelling against authority/the establishment tend to touch a nerve over there and it's not unusual for China to outright ban them on the grounds of "technical issues" (as was the case with Django Unchained). I don't know where you heard there were comments made by Sony's China branch. Multiple sources suggest the only public statement on the tumultuous release of the film from Sony Pictures was given by their US-based spokesperson Steve Eltzer. Pretty tame shit too, "we regret blah blah..." Yeah, you posted your questions in the wrong subreddit. This place isn't for serious discourse. We're all up here memeing and shit.

[-] blossompetal_ | 1 points | Jun 22 2021 13:16:22

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1211385/tarantino-tones-down-violence-django-unchained-china-release - this article quotes Zhang Miao, the head of Sony's mainland China branch.

I've seen arguments though that the violence and themes of revenge within Django Unchained were allowed by censors because they depict the US very negatively, through focusing on slavery and the brutality of the US's past China can use the film as a means of saying "you can't criticise us when your country is just as bad".

Yeah I've realised that this was the wrong subreddit to post in, but I've still received quite a bit of help!

[-] blossompetal_ | 1 points | Jun 22 2021 13:18:55

I also cannot find the comment made by Steve Eltzer, I'm not sure if I'm looking in the wrong place, but I'd really appreciate if you could send me the link for that.

[-] AnnihilatorofUranus | 1 points | Jun 23 2021 07:40:41

https://variety.com/2013/film/news/django-unchained-pulled-from-china-1200347751/

“We regret that ‘Django Unchained’ has been removed from theaters and are working with the Chinese authorities to determine whether the film can be rescheduled,” studio spokesman Steve Elzer told Variety at the time.

I spelt his name wrong, it's Elzer not Eltzer. In any case, China's censorship of foreign films isn't known to follow any clearly defined guidelines so it's often anyone's guess as to why one film is axed while another similar film isn't. I've always suspected the country's reluctance to implement a rating system is a deliberate decision rather than an oversight. Opacity and ambiguity are by and large a feature of China's vast bureaucracy. The hoi polloi are not meant to know who lays down the rules for their daily lives, much less why. Even within apparatuses of bureaucracy, this "confusion by design" serves to obfuscate delineation of responsibility and authority. Back to the example of Django Unchained, you and I will never know who made what decision and why. It could be the head of 广电总局 himself, it could be the handful of low/mid level bureaucrats at 广电总局 (who are accountable only to their superior) tasked with determining whether specific films should see the light of day or what scenes are "too vulgar" for the average Chinese moviegoer. Regardless, in the absence of clarity, everyone is forced to err on the side of caution so as not to displease their immediate superior and make decisions that often will appear absurd to an outsider. My 2 cents.