HONG KONG â€" The issue of whether Hong Kong falls under Chinese rule, or its own, is a complex one. But, at least in terms of pop culture, Hong Kong is separate.
Audiences here got the Andy Warhol retrospective complete with the Mao portraits that were removed in Beijing and Shanghai. We got to see a fully naked Tony Leung in “Lust, Caution,†and heard what was whispered in the twist ending. The blood in our “Django Unchained†was a normal red. (Though why artificially darkened blood is considered less disturbing is a mystery to me.)
Mainland Chinese audiences are used to getting their foreign culture with bits missing. A fight scene in New York’s Chinatown was deleted from “Men in Black 3†because, as we all know, nobody ever fights in Chinatown. The unsightly image of laundry hanging in Shanghai was snipped out of “Mission: Impossible 3,†presumably because the authorities want to present a view of a modern China â€" one with an electric washer/ dryer in every laundry room.
“Iron Man 3,†which stars Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, opened Wednesday in mainland China and broke opening-day box office records. In that film there were additions rather than cuts: four more minutes of footage.
The government usually offers justifications for most cuts: Scenes are too violent or sexually charged for a country that has no ratings like PG-13 or R. There are political reasons why they do not want Chinese bad guys or sensitive topics. But the “Iron Man†additions were basically advertisements for Chinese products and stars. Whose decision it was to make those additions has not been revealed.
In a sign that Hong Kong still has some autonomy, audiences here are spared the Chinese version. That means that â€" along with viewers in America, where the film opens Friday â€" we miss the first scene that asks, “What does Iron Man rely on to revitalize his energy?â€
The answer, for trivia-seeking fans, is Gu Li Duo, a “milk drink†from Yili, an Inner Mongolia-based dairy. This is more than just product placement, given that the Chinese government has been trying to calm parents who are jittery over the safety of domestic milk. Consumers â€" along with black-market traders â€" have been flocking to buy out milk powder from Hong Kong, causing the city to impose a two-tin export limit on baby formula. Last year, Yili had to withdraw some of its baby formula because of high levels of mercury.
None of that seems to bother Dr. Wu (played by Wang Xueqi), who drinks from a carton of Gu Li Duo in the Chinese version of the film. Dr. Wu also uses Chinese medicine to help Iron Man, and is aided by his pretty assistant, the doe-eyed Chinese star, Fan Bingbing. She never appears again or is given a name. Perhaps her job is to make sure there’s always Gu Li Duo in the fridge to keep Dr. Wu and Iron Man strong.
The extra scenes were quickly panned by Chinese netizens. The additions also included product placements by the Chinese electronics maker TCL, a mention of heavy industry giant Zoomlion and a group of perfect cheering Chinese schoolchildren.
Japan got its own version of “Iron Man 3.†Some reports said that the “4DX†Japanese screenings would also involve smells. There are many movies I would have loved to smell â€" “Chocolat,†“Eat, Drink, Man, Woman,†even “Ratatouille†â€" but probably not this one. What would Iron Man smell like? Manly sweat? Burning metal?
According to a review by Wired, the seats vibrated, lights flashed, gusts of wind blew around the theater, and water was sprayed into moviegoers’ faces â€" but no interesting smells were recorded. The reviewer, Daniel Feit in Nagoya, called it “a drag.â€
The Los Angeles Times writes that †‘Iron Man 3’s’ efforts to appeal to Chinese audiences fall flat.†But was that ever the point?
Do you find it strange that different versions of the same movie play in different countries? Do product placements and special effects ruin a film? Should Hollywood studios bend to Chinese government, or anyone else’s, interests?
