(TibetanReview.net, May04’22) – Any display of any symbol of freedom and democracy is a red rag to the authoritarian communist China bull even if it appears only in cinematography and the Xi Jinping government has sought to drive this message home, most recently, to Sony for its “Spiderman: No Way Home”. And Sony, for its part, has rejected the Chinese censorship demand and got away with it, according to the nypost.com May 3, citing a recent article by Puck.
The report said Sony struck a major blow against censorship after defying a Chinese government demand to delete the Statue of Liberty from the latest Spiderman movie.
Chinese regulators were reported to have asked if the Japanese entertainment giant could “delete the Statue of Liberty from the ending of the film.”
But given the prominence of Lady Liberty in the climax in which the three spidermen swing around the iconic symbol of freedom while battling supervillains, Sony has unsurprisingly declined the demand.
But not to be put off by this snub, China has then asked if the monument could be “minimized”. In particular, they were stated to have wondered “if Sony could cut a few of the more patriotic shots of [Tom] Holland standing atop the crown, or dull the lighting so that Lady Liberty’s visage wasn’t so front-and-center.”
Sony ultimately passed. Its move to stand its ground was seen as bold, considering they were likely forfeiting a massive payday by not acquiescing to censors’ requests. The two previous films in the Tom Holland “Spider-Man” franchise had grossed $116 million and $200 million at the Chinese box office, the report noted.
Earlier, in 2019, the media conglomerate backed Quentin Tarantino’s refusal to omit the controversial Bruce Lee portrayal from “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” which prompted China to cancel the flick’s release, the report noted.
Sony’s moves to stand its ground comes as Hollywood studios face backlash for adulterating their movies so they don’t upset Chinese censors. In January, China snipped the iconic, destructive ending to “Fight Club” and replaced it with a milquetoast version where the government comes out on top, the report further noted.