An Australian film titled Together, featuring actors Dave Franco and Alison Brie, has faced criticism in China after some scenes were digitally altered to change a same-sex couple to a heterosexual one. The horror film was shown in select Chinese cinemas during advance screenings on September 12, 2023. Audience members quickly recognized the edits after screenshots of the original scenes gained traction online.
Scheduled for a wide release on September 19, the film has yet to be shown in cinemas as of Thursday. The global distributor, Neon, publicly condemned the unauthorized alterations, asserting they did not approve the changes and called for a halt to the modified version’s distribution.
Together, which follows a couple as they encounter a mysterious force impacting their bodies and relationship, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023 and was released in the US and Australia in July, receiving positive critical reviews with a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, during the initial screenings in China, viewers noted modifications, including the addition of steam in a scene featuring the male lead to obscure his nudity, as well as the digital alteration of a gay couple, where a male character’s face was replaced with a female’s. Numerous references to the same-sex relationship were omitted.
Such censorship is typical in China, where same-sex marriage is not recognized and LGBTQ+ topics are considered largely taboo. This instance, utilizing what appeared to be AI-generated alterations, has sparked particular backlash. Comments on the Chinese film critic platform Douban expressed concerns that these edits distort the original narrative and disrespected the actors’ sexual orientations. Neon’s criticism also directed attention towards the Chinese distributor, Hishow, which has not yet responded to the situation. This incident follows China’s increasing trends in censoring LGBTQ+ content, including recent arrests of writers involved in gay erotic fiction.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8w9492lg6o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss