Barbie movie banned in Kuwait as Lebanon moves to censor film for ‘promoting homosexuality’
Kuwait has banned the film Barbie in a bid to protect “public ethics and social traditions,” while a Lebanese minister has made moves to censor the film on grounds it “promotes homosexuality and sexual transformation”.
The Kuwaiti ban came shortly after Lebanon’s culture minister Mohammad Mortada criticised the movie, saying it “contradicts values of faith and morality” by diminishing the importance of the family unit.
Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has taken more than $1bn (£784m) in box office sales worldwide – a cool “Barbillion” as it’s been dubbed. It is the first film by a solo female director to surpass the billion-dollar benchmark.
Mr Mortada said the storyline supports rejecting a father’s guardianship, undermines and ridicules the role of the mother, and questions the necessity of marriage and having a family.
Pic: Warner Bros
The minister is backed by the armed Shi’ite armed group Hezbollah, whose head Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has recently ramped up rhetoric against the LGBT community, including a recent speech in which he said homosexual acts should be punished by death.
He called on Lebanese authorities to take action against materials he deemed to be promoting homosexuality, including by “banning” them, and said homosexuality posed an “imminent danger” to Lebanon and should be “confronted”.
In the case of a homosexual act, Nasrallah said in late July, “from the first time, even if he is unmarried, he is killed”.
Lebanon’s interior minister Bassam Mawlawi has now referred the movie to the country’s general security’s censorship committee, who will review the film and give a recommendation.
While the film does not contain any overt references to same-sex relationships, it has been widely embraced by LGBT audiences worldwide.
It had been due to be screened in Lebanon’s cinemas from 31 August.
Last year, Mr Mawlawi banned events “promoting sexual perversion” in Lebanon, which was understood to refer to LGBT-friendly gatherings.
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On Tuesday, Lebanon’s cabinet urged citizens to “cling” to family values following a meeting with the country’s top Christian cleric Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, although it did not mention the LGBT community specifically.
Ayman Mhanna, executive director at the non-profit civic Samir Kassir Foundation (a non-profit organisation which promotes democracy and human rights in Lebanon and across the Arab world), told Reuters that Mortada’s move came amid “a wave of bigotry”.
Mr Mhanna said: “This is part of a broader campaign that is bringing together Hezbollah, the Christian far right, and other top religious leaders in a focused campaign against LGBT people”.
Previously seen as a safe haven for the LGBT community within the largely conservative Middle East, Lebanon was the first Arab country to hold a gay pride week in 2017.
Barbie has also been banned in Vietnam over a scene featuring a map that shows China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea. In the Philippines, the same scene featured a blurred-out map.
Barbie’s release was delayed in Pakistan’s Punjab province over “objectionable content”.
Meanwhile, at the same time as Kuwait banned Barbie, it also banned the Australian horror film Talk To Me, which includes a transsexual actor in its cast.
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Joy star James Norton on the ‘postcode lottery’ of IVF – and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first ‘test-tube baby’
Actor James Norton, who stars in a new film telling the story of the world’s first “test-tube baby”, has criticised how “prohibitively expensive” IVF can be in the UK.
In Joy, the star portrays the real-life scientist Bob Edwards, who – along with obstetrician Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy – spent a decade tirelessly working on medical ways to help infertility.
The film charts the 10 years leading up to the birth of Louise Joy Brown, who was dubbed the world’s first test-tube baby, in 1978.
In the UK, statistics show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade
Norton, who is best known for playing Tommy Lee Royce in the BAFTA-winning series Happy Valley, told Sky News he has friends who were IVF babies and other friends who have had their own children thanks to the fertility treatment.
“But I didn’t know about these three scientists and their sacrifice, tenacity and skill,” he said. The star hopes the film will be “a catalyst for conversation” about the treatment and its availability.
“We know for a fact that Jean, Bob and Patrick would not have liked the fact that IVF is now so means based,” he said. “It’s prohibitively expensive for some… and there is a postcode lottery which means that some people are precluded from that opportunity.”
Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. All pics: Netflix/ Kerry Brown
Now, IVF is considered a wonder of modern medicine. More than 12 million people owe their existence today to the treatment Edwards, Steptoe and Purdy worked so hard to devise.
But Joy shows how public backlash in the years leading up to Louise’s birth saw the team vilified – accused of playing God and creating “Frankenstein babies”.
Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie star alongside Norton, with the script written by acclaimed screenwriter Jack Thorne and his wife Rachel Mason.
The couple went through seven rounds of IVF themselves to conceive their son.
Norton portrays scientist Bob Edwards, while McKenzie plays embryologist Jean Purdy
While the film is set in the 1970s, the reality is that societal pressures haven’t changed all that much for many going through IVF today – with the costs now both emotional and financial.
“IVF is still seen as a luxury product, as something that some people get access to and others don’t,” said Thorne, speaking about their experiences in the UK.
“Louise was a working-class girl with working-class parents. Working class IVF babies are very, very rare now.”
In the run-up to the US election, Donald Trump saw IVF as a campaigning point – promising his government, or insurance companies, would pay for the treatment for all women should he be elected. He called himself the “father of IVF” at a campaign event – a remark described as “quite bizarre” by Kamala Harris.
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Bill Nighy ‘proud’ of new film on IVF breakthrough
“I don’t think Trump is a blueprint for this,” Norton said. “I don’t know how that fits alongside his questions around pro-choice.”
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In the UK, statistics from fertility regulator HEFA show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade.
“It’s so expensive,” Norton said. “Those who want a child should have that choice… and some people’s lack of access to this incredibly important science actually means that people don’t have the choice.”
Joy is in UK cinemas from 15 November, and on Netflix from 22 November
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