U.S. film company condemns edit of horror film in China to make a gay couple straight

A U.S. film company is condemning an apparent edit of the body horror film Together that depicted a gay couple in the original movie as straight.

Side-by-side comparisons of a scene in the U.S. and Chinese versions of the movie began circulating on Chinese social media following preview screenings earlier this month. The image shows a scene where a gay couple is getting married. In the Chinese version, the face of one of the men is edited to make him look like a woman.

The body horror film tells the story of Tim and Millie (played by real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie), a couple who move to a small, rural town, where a supernatural force tries to pull their bodies together and physically merge them into one. 

The film was distributed in China by Hishow, a Chinese-based entertainment company that distributes, produces and finances films. According to Deadline, the film began screening on Sept. 12 in China, but it was later pulled completely.

Global distributor Neon bought worldwide rights to the film at Sundance, distributed the movie in the U.S. and then sold the foreign rights to others, including Hishow. 

“NEON does not approve of Hishow’s unauthorized edit of the film and have demanded they cease distributing this altered version,” a spokesperson for the company told CBC News in an email.

CBC News reached out to Hishow as well as Together‘s director, Michael Shanks, for comment, but didn’t receive a response from either in time for publication.

Tight controls on film in China

Following the screenings in China, social media users criticized the editing choice.

One user on RedNote, a Chinese social media app, said that the face swap was “absolutely inappropriate” and was “defiling the original work,” because, in their view, making the couple straight watered down part of the story.

“If you know it won’t pass the censorship, then don’t import it,” wrote one user in a post on X.

Chris Berry, a professor of film studies at King’s College London who studies Chinese cinema, says the fact that Hishow sought to change the depiction of a gay couple in the film isn’t a surprise, considering China tightly controls what citizens are allowed to see on the big screen by pre-screening movies and dictating to film companies when and how they can be released to the public. 

“What is surprising is that they imported the film in the first place … and then that they did something so crude with it,” Berry said. 

Though there’s no exact list of what is and isn’t allowed in China, Berry says films might be banned or edits might be required if they don’t comply with Chinese values.

Depictions of sex or extreme violence are some of the things limited in Chinese films, but usually, he says, these scenes are simply edited out of films rather than altered.

Crackdowns in China despite changing attitudes

For example, when Bohemian Rhapsody, the 2018 biopic about Queen’s lead singer Freddie Mercury, came to China, whole minutes of the movie were reportedly axed — including a scene where Mercury tells his girlfriend he’s not straight.

Moviegoers at the time said the missing scenes made the film incoherent, and many already knew about Mercury’s story and sexuality. 

Homosexuality isn’t illegal in China — it’s been decriminalized since 1997, and some research indicates that attitudes toward 2SLGBTQ+ people in China are becoming more positive.

But there have still been crackdowns on 2SLGBTQ+ groups in the country in recent years. ShanghaiPride has been suspended for years in the country, while advocates have faced jail time and forced confessions.

Moral panic and debates over “sissy culture” have erupted in China in recent years, with some expressing concern about men who don’t act masculine enough. In 2021, the country went so far as to ban effeminate men from TV.

Berry says the face swapping edit in Together may have been crude, but he says it served its purpose by conveying what is and is not tolerated in China, regardless of what people there might think. 

“It’s a very clear message to people, like, ‘Well, you might disagree with this, but keep your mouth shut.’ “