Kuwait has banned the release in its cinemas of the global hit Barbie for “undermining public morals”, the authorities of this very conservative Gulf oil state announced on Thursday.
Several big American productions, which highlight homosexual or transgender people, have been poorly received in the Middle East in recent months. “The broadcast of the Barbie and Talk Two Me films has been banned,” Lafi Subaïei, chairman of the film censorship committee, told the official Kuna news agency. This body linked to the Ministry of the Media is keen to “prohibit anything that undermines public morals, public order and traditions, by introducing foreign ideas into society”. Before making their decision, the authorities had requested the “removal of certain obscene scenes encouraging unacceptable behavior”, he assured, without giving details of the passages in question.
As Barbie surpassed $1 billion at the global box office, Kuwaiti censorship will apply to “any film that contravenes the values and traditions of our society,” the official said. The main distributor in Kuwait announced Monday the ban by the authorities of Talk to me. The Australian horror film stars Zoe Terakes, a transgender actor who identifies as non-binary, but it contains no explicit reference to the LGBT movement. On social networks, Zoé Terakes had described this decision as “dehumanizing” and “targeted”.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Barbie and Talk to me are currently playing in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These two countries had however also banned films containing LGBT references. In June, the animated film Spider-Man was banned there, because of a scene which they said featured a transgender flag. Barbie is still not airing in Qatar, which has not made an official announcement about it.