Kuwait banned the screening of the movie “Barbie”, considering that it “violates public morals” and “calls for ideas alien to society,” according to what the authorities said late Wednesday, while the film will be shown Thursday in cinemas in other Gulf countries.
The official Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA) quoted the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information for Press, Publishing, and Publications Affairs, Chairman of the Film Censorship Committee, Lafi Al-Subaie, as saying that the committee “prevented the films Barbie and Talk Two Me from showing.”
Last Monday, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kuwaiti National Cinema Company (Cinescape), Hisham Al-Ghanim, told Agence France-Presse that “the Kuwaiti authorities have banned the showing of the Australian film Talk to Me” without disclosing the reasons, noting that a transgender actor is participating in it. .
Al-Subaie, for his part, stressed the committee’s keenness to “prevent everything that offends public morals or incites violations of public order, customs and traditions, and calls for ideas alien to society.”
He pointed out that the committee, before making its decision to permit the showing of any film, “requires the deletion of some obscene scenes, but if it carries ideas that encourage unacceptable behavior and a message that distorts the prevailing values of society, then a decision is taken to ban it completely,” explaining that “this applies to Any film that includes a different vision of values contradicts the vision of our society and our customs.”
The Kuwaiti decision comes hours after the Lebanese Minister of Culture, Muhammad Al-Murtada, requested to ban the showing of the movie “Barbie”, under the pretext of promoting homosexuality, in the wake of hostile rhetoric that recently intensified against members of the LGBT community in Lebanon.
Al-Murtada said in a statement that the film, whose global revenues exceeded one billion dollars, “contradicts moral and faith values (…), as it promotes homosexuality and sexual transformation and promotes an ugly idea of rejecting the father’s guardianship and undermining the role of the mother.”
Al-Mortada decided to “direct a letter to the Lebanese General Security”, which is the security apparatus authorized to pre-censor artwork intended for display in Lebanon, “to take all necessary measures to prevent” the showing of the film in the country.
Gulf countries, including Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have previously banned the showing of films that contain scenes referring to the LGBT community.
The Gulf states also recently banned the showing of the latest movie in the “Spider-Man” series, after it sparked controversy over its inclusion of a scene showing a flag supporting transgender people.
However, as of Thursday afternoon, after the date of its start was postponed, the movie “Barbie” will be shown in cinemas in Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Bahrain, which will also show “Tok to Me”.
Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, took in $53 million last weekend, bringing its total in North America since its theatrical debut to $459 million and $1.03 billion worldwide.
(AFP / The New Arab)
