Removal of gay kiss from ‘ Alien: Covenant’ sparks conversation about censorship standards
The removal of a gay kiss from the Chinese mainland version of Alien: Covenant, which released on Friday, has left many moviegoers in the country confused on just where the line lies when it comes to the depiction of same- sex relationships on big and small screens in China.
In addition to a few bloody scenes, a gay kiss scene between two synthetic androids David and Walter ( both played by Michael Fassbender) was removed from Covenant, making the film six minutes shorter than the US version.
However, while this gay content was cut, netizens have pointed out that the “gay moment” where two men dance together in the recent Disney live- action Beauty and the Beast remake was kept in, even though it proved controversial in places such as Malaysia.
Some netizens posed that the gay moment in Beauty and the Beast was kept because it was not very explicit, but others pointed out that sometimes even explicitly gay scenes have made it into films.
“I guess it must be because the censors are in different groups? I remember there is very straight forward gay scene in [ domestic film] The Dead End,” netizen Chen_ bee posted on Sina Weibo, refering to a scene from the film in which mainland actor Deng Chao french kisses Hong Kong actor Jackie Lui.
Outside film, some netizens noted that recent streaming drama Midnight Food Store also features a prominent gay character played by actor Yao Anlian.