Authorized in Saudi Arabia but banned in Kuwait, the worldwide successful film Barbie divides in the Gulf countries, between opening speeches and still predominant conservatism. Also released in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Greta Gerwig’s film is still not available in Qatar and Oman, without any official announcement. In a cinema in an affluent district of the emirate of Dubai, one of the least conservative cities in the region, spectators dressed in pink vie for selfies inside an imposing frame bearing the image of the famous blonde doll. “We never imagined that such a film would be screened in the Gulf countries”, confides to AFP Ouadima Al-Amiri, an 18-year-old student who came to the cinema with her friends to form their own opinion on the film. which has been the subject of much criticism.
Like the Kuwaiti authorities, who censored him for “undermining public morals”, many criticize him for a vision deemed extreme of the emancipation of women. The “barbies” occupy all the functions traditionally reserved for men, only one of them is pregnant, the “Kens” are relegated to the background, being denied the highest responsibilities.
These criticisms did not dissuade Mounira from going to the cinema at the request of her “three barbies”, her daughters also adorned in pink. “If the film includes values and principles contrary to ours, it should not be shown in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf,” the 30-year-old Saudi woman told AFP. We came to give the film a chance”. In recent years, the wealthy Gulf monarchy has given pride of place to announcements favorable to women: the right to drive, authorization to travel without male accompaniment or sending the first Saudi female astronaut into space.
But these dramatic changes, carried out under the aegis of the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are accompanied by pressure on feminist activists, many of whom are still imprisoned. In this country where cinemas only reopened in 2017 after long years of prohibition, events all in pink flourished on the occasion of the release of Barbie. However, behind the candy pink glamor in the luxurious cinemas of Riyadh or Dubai, the malaise is palpable. “We want freedom and more openness, but when it comes to Barbie, I’ve heard that it upsets masculinity,” Hanane Al-Amoudi, a Saudi tourist in Dubai, who refuses to see the film, told AFP. movie. For this housewife wearing the full veil, who says she is in favor of “the emancipation of women”, the opening must be done in a “reasonable” way.
If she opposes censorship in her country, the Kuwaiti journalist Shaikha Al-Bahaweed deplores that Barbie gives “one of the worst if not the worst vision of feminism”, in particular in countries which are already particularly resistant to it, including seeing “white, colonial, superficial feminism.” “Feminism is not about replacing a patriarchal system with a matriarchal system, but rather it is about humanity achieving a system based on justice and equality of opportunity,” says the AFP this journalist committed to women’s rights. According to her, the Barbie brand, decried by many feminists for the unrealistic physical standards it promotes, is contrary to “feminist thought”, down to the color pink “which symbolizes the division of social roles according to gender”.
In Bahrain, the Muslim preacher with a million followers on Instagram, Hassan Al-Husseini, denounced a “revolution against marriage and motherhood” as well as men “without virility”. Also criticizing the participation of a transgender actress, he urged the authorities to put an end to the screening of the film. The Barbie phenomenon occurs in a context of great unease in the Gulf countries with regard to large American productions which seek greater visibility for minorities, particularly sexual ones. Some countries in the region have banned the animated film Buzz Lightyear or, more recently, the last Spider-Man, because of more or less explicit references to homosexuality or transidentity.
