Censorship of films can be based on differing moral perceptions as well as efforts to restrict human and civil rights, says a professor of gender and film studies.
Entertainment giant Disney’s latest animated film, Lightyear, has not been screened in at least 14 countries in the Middle East and Asia. According to publicly available information, the countries include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Kuwait, Egypt, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The film, which premieres this week, is about the adventures of a space hero named Buzz Lightyear, known from Toy Story.
The reason for the ban on the film in some countries is a montage scene showing the stages in the relationship between the two female characters. In the film, the characters get married, start a family and share a short kiss.
For example, according to the UAE Media Regulatory Authority, the film will not be shown in theaters at all because it does not meet the country’s “media content standards”. Same-sex relationships are prohibited in the United Arab Emirates, as in many other Muslim countries.
“We don’t cut anything out”
Lightyear’s access to screens and screens also seems unlikely in the world’s largest film market, China.
Chinese authorities have asked Disney to cut off points they saw as problematic from the film, says the film’s producer Galyn Susman news agency Reuters.
“We’re not going to cut out anything, especially anything as important as a loving and inspiring relationship that shows Buzz what he loses in his life as a result of his choices,” Susman says.
For example, Warner Brothers’ film Harry Potter, premiered in April, produced by Warner Brothers, was released on the operating table. Remarks referring to the romance of the two key male characters completely edited from movie (switch to another service).
Another option is a total ban on films containing homosexuality, as was the case with the Disney Marvel film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which premiered in May. in a few Arab countries (you switch to another service). In Russia, on the other hand, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (2017) was banned from children after authorities resented its spread of “homopropaganda” to minors.
The international wave of bans received by the new Lightyear film is reportedly the largest in recent times.
Movies at the heart of the political struggle
For the film Lightyear, Disney was also practicing self-censorship. The kissing scene between the women was first to be left out until Pixar’s employees demanded that it be kept in a letter to the company’s management, says Variety (switch to another service).
The hustle and bustle highlights how film culture is not detached from the rest of society, says Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Turku and Professor of Film Studies at the University of Stockholm Anu Koivunen.
– At a time when human rights and individual freedoms have increased in many areas, it is sexuality, gender and reproduction that have become increasingly important in the political struggle.
The struggle is particularly strong for content aimed at children and young people. In a situation like this, Disney in particular, known for telling stories that reflect traditional conservative values, is under tremendous cross-pressure in the West.
– When there are small cracks in traditional moral perceptions in films, they are both celebrated as victories and opposed as the spread of wrong thinking, Koivunen says.
In Florida, for example, Disney has ended up in the middle of a tearing political struggle. Liberals have accused the company of flirting with new laws that discriminate against sexual minorities, while the state Republican leadership punished Disney with the removal of tax benefits after it finally took a stand for minority rights.
“For the most part, just plain”
Professor Anu Koivunen emphasizes that the riots, boycotts and scandals against film companies are only a small part of a wider societal change in which both audiences and authors want more diverse and pluralistic cultural products.
– Some people are quite upset if the girls kiss in the film or the black person plays a key role, but for a lot of people it is nothing special but quite ordinary, Koivunen says.
The global market, which makes it even easier to tailor movies and TV series to different requirements, has its own chapters. In addition to differing moral perceptions, the demands may be driven by the tendency of authoritarian countries to restrict human and civil rights.
Koivunen cites Russia as an example, where sexual and gender minorities have never had a good time, but where the matter has only become strongly politicized in recent years.
– This wasn’t To Putin at first a key point, but in the 2010s he began to talk about homopropaganda and the digestion of European culture. There are countries where security policy is built on the idea that we are morally superior to those over there. Then the backlash is part of their national policy.