BAFTA, Golden Globe, Oscar (to say the least) award winning Biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody was released in China this week, but with all gay related scenes censored or completely edited out.
Any references made during the film to Freddie Mercury's sexual orientation, or his aids diagnosis was censored in the Chinese release. Scenes were edited out, with the film losing several minutes of footage.
Explicit and implicit scenes of men kissing, Freddie's illness, and a very pivotal moment where he comes out to his fiance were all cut from the film when being shown in China.
I can only imagine how lost you would be watching the movie without these important scenes that set the tone for the film and make up so much of Freddie Mercury's personal life.
When the film was released here, many people felt that even with all the scenes that reference his sexuality or sexuality of others, the film didn't focus enough on the struggle Mercury had as a gay man, and his battle with Aids, that eventually killed the singer.
Many people complained that they were "half watching, half guessing" what was going on in the film, while many others were happy to see the film released at all in the country.
More than 80% of reviews posted on Weibo awarded the film five stars, but with noticeable critiques about the deleted portion of the film.
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"If there were no deleted scenes it would have been better," one Weibo user wrote.
"Why is it necessary to delete gay-related content? Doesn't a person's life... deserve to be complete?"
"It's really good that Bohemian Rhapsody is being screened in the mainland," said another. "But the plot was broken because of deleted scenes."
Homosexuality has been legal in China for the last 20 years and the Chinese Society of Psychiatry removed it from the country's classification of mental disorders in 2001. Despite this, Chinese media will often delete any gay content online or in a film.
