Is The “Barbie” Movie Too Gay For These Eastern Countries?
Greta Gerwig’s film Barbie was released to great fanfare from the West with hoards of girls, gays and theys rushing to cinemas in their brightest pinks. But more traditional countries are seeing resistance from authorities.
According to BBC, Barbie has been banned in Kuwait with other Middle Eastern nations such as Lebanon and Saudi Arabia looking into censoring the movie. The reason? It ostensibly promotes homosexuality and corrupt social values.
Are we surprised? Not really.
Kuwait’s under-secretary of the Ministry for Press and Publication, Lafy Al-Subaiei, says, “Both movies promulgate ideas and beliefs that are alien to the Kuwaiti society and public order.” The other movie Mr Al-Subaiei refers to is Talk To Me starring trans actress Zoe Terakes.
Lebanon’s Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada has made pleas to the government to ban Barbie. “[Barbie] promotes homosexuality and transsexuality… supports rejecting a father’s guardianship, undermines and ridicules the role of the mother, and questions the necessity of marriage and having a family,” he says.
Other countries are in the midst of censoring the film either partly or in whole. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are allowing the movie to be screened, however, censorship boards have tasked the government with removing any LGBTQIA+ content.
Movies popular in the West are often panned in Eastern countries for a misalignment of ethical and moral values. Other films that have experienced this censorship include Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Beauty And The Beast and Lightyear. This is to say that Barbie producers might not be surprised or concerned about the ban, especially in light of the film’s success at the global box office.
