Fantastic Beasts 3: Homosexual love confession falls victim to Chinese censorship
Many fans of the "Fantastic Beasts" series can hardly wait to finally see the third part. In one scene of the film, there is supposed to be a spicy confession of love. And that is exactly what is currently causing a stir in China.
Most viewers will have already noticed that there is a special relationship between Albus Dumbledore, the future principal of Hogwarts, and the criminal Grindelwald. In the third part, it also becomes known why.
In "Fantastic Beasts 3," Dumbledore confesses his love to the evil wizard Grindelwald. This confession of love is a reason for many to cheer and celebrate, but China apparently sees a need for action here.
Homosexual love confession censored in China
It is only a few moments... But they are moments that cause outrage and horror in the Chinese government. In the scene in question, Albus Dumbledore confesses his love to Gellert Grindelwald. More specifically, he speaks of the "summer Gellert and I fell in love.". No question! These words thus out the later Hogwarts principal as homosexual.
According to a report on variety.com, this went too far for the Chinese government and censors. The scene had to be removed in order not to risk that fans in China would have to miss the entire movie. Thus, they will not learn - at least not while watching - about the sexual orientation of the two characters. The fact that Warner Bros. decided to back down here in a way was not welcomed by many. Some fans of the series were even shocked that this kind of "compromise" was made at all.
Warner Bros. comments
In the meantime, Warner Bros. has also decided to take a stand. Those responsible explained that the censorship would not affect the film or the plot too much. Accordingly, there would be no need - from a purely content-related point of view - for this kind of declaration of love. It was far more important to make the third part of the Fantastic Beasts series accessible to fans all over the world.
Accordingly, the Chinese requirements had been met.
Admittedly: If the film had not been released in China, that would certainly have caused at least as much of a stir. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned at this point that while it is nice for the Chinese audience that they can now also see the film, some community visibility has certainly been lost.
Not the first censorship in China
The film "Fantastic Beasts 3" is not the first film to fall victim to Chinese censorship. The Chinese seem to react very sensitively to the topic of homosexuality. In the past, there have already been repeated censorships of series, films and songs.
For example, scenes from the series "Sex and the City" and "Friends" were cut out that dealt with the topic of homosexuality or other LGBTQI+ topics. Here it always seems as if one wants to hide an existing fact in order to convey to society that the world only consists of heterosexuals.
And this is precisely the real problem. Because the more often homosexuality is discussed in the media, including in films and the like, the more is done "incidentally" to educate people. However, if no one talks about a topic that concerns a broad mass of people, the community, there is a great danger that intolerance and prejudice will increase sharply - especially among the younger audience. Probably fewer people would have had a problem with Dumbledore's homosexuality anyway than the censorship might lead us to believe.
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