Lebanon, once thought of as among the most liberal parts of the Middle East, is poised to ban global hit movie “Barbie.” More conservative Kuwait said Wednesday that it had gone ahead with a ban du…

Different country, different culture. Anyhow, the movie is actually somewhat superficial, I understand.

  • Veraticus@lib.lgbtEnglish
    712·
    11 months ago

    “Different country, different culture” doesn’t make homophobia okay, and it doesn’t make it okay to call the movie homophobic when it had nothing at all to do with gay people. They’re just calling it that because their fragile patriarchy conceives of an attack against it as being anti-man which to them is also gay. It’s a disgusting and wrong point of view, and we can say that despite their country and culture.

    Barbie was a pretty thorough takedown of patriarchy and toxic masculinity and hardly seemed superficial to me.

    And I would hope those countries’ points of view would in fact be very difficult to understand.

  • CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world
    301·
    11 months ago

    I would absolutely not use the word “superficial” to describe Barbie, and feel fairly confident you haven’t seen the movie given that you’ve chosen it.

    • birdcat
      1·
      11 months ago

      How is it then? Actually good? What’s the message?

      Edit: no spoilers pls. But is it like a Lego movie situation, where you expect something awful and then its literally a masterpiece?

      • Specific_Skunk@lemmy.world
        10·
        11 months ago

        I was expecting “eh” but it was actually one of the better movies I’ve seen in a long time, and I’ve never even been a fan of Barbie toys. As for the message, there’s a few themes going on and I don’t have the communication skills to relay them without spoiling it.

  • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
    22·
    11 months ago

    If pretending a minority within your population doesn’t exist unless you’re oppressing them or banning anything that might remind people they exist, your culture is fucked up and wrong.

    • El Barto@lzrprt.sbsEnglish
      21·
      11 months ago

      But I can’t kiss my uncle on the lips when we meet if I know homosexuals exist, they make it gay. - some dude in one of these countries.

  • echoplex21@lemmy.world
    17·
    11 months ago

    I think they’re using homosexuality as a front for not wanting the women of the country to watch. Wouldn’t want them to find any sense of empowerment from the movie. I honestly can’t even remember anything that was explicitly homosexual in the film.

  • birdcat
    15·
    11 months ago

    Phhss, Amateurs! Real men are not afraid of homosexuality; they ban the movie for the scary dots in the water! 😤

    9dash

  • Clav64
    8·
    11 months ago

    But… How? I can’t think of a moment in the movie there is any “homosexuality”.

    Maybe the “I’ll beach you off” bit, but that’s more of a play on words and the characters most definitely don’t understand what they are saying.

  • Max_Power@feddit.deEnglish
    61·
    11 months ago

    It’s always “sex, sex, sex” with these countries. Everywhere they look there is sex. /s

  • ougi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    72·
    11 months ago

    relentlessly discriminate against an entire minority > “that’s just our culture!” > pretty shit culture

  • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    They probably saw all the vibrant colors in the movie trailers and immediately fixated on “gay”…

  • HubertManne@kbin.social
    31·
    11 months ago

    When will places learn that going to or watching movies is not mandatory. I have not seen one in ages. Watched two old sci fi films though last night. Its so strange. I just watch whatever I feel like or not. Maybe I do something else. Life. Its bigger. Its bigger than you and…

        • Dr Cog@mander.xyz
          22·
          11 months ago

          Isn’t that a bit fascist? People should be able to watch what they want to watch

          • 133arc585
            15·
            11 months ago

            I don’t think you know what “fascist” means.

            Moreover, people will happily complain that Chinese/Russian “propaganda” is allowed to exist, especially on the internet. They will demand that Chinese/Russian “propaganda” is removed from social spaces. And, then they somehow they have a problem with other countries (esp. China/Russia) wanting to do the exact same thing. The premise is that the propaganda being put out is misrepresenting the truth to influence public thought: when it comes from China/Russia, people want it blocked and removed; when it comes from the West, blocking and removing it is some sort of “free speech” issue (or, as you wrongly claim here, “fascism”).

            In this particular case, I don’t personally know hardly anything about the movie, and I do strongly disagree with using “promoting homosexuality” as an excuse to ban something. But in general, countries wanting to put a damper on other countries’ propaganda is near universal.