After the turn of the screw of Russia, the ax of the Gulf States.
Viewers from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait will not have the opportunity to experience Marvel's new blockbuster,
The Eternals
, in theaters
.
The film was canceled Thursday when it was due to be in theaters in the region on November 11.
According to information from the American press, the cancellation of the
Eternals'
release
would not only be linked to the presence on the screen of a gay couple, but also to the representation of mystical motives deemed blasphemous.
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The staging of a kiss between two male characters in the film had already earned the feature film distributed by Disney to be banned for children under 18 in Russia, under the law
"against gay propaganda"
promulgated in 2013. The same adult rating was given to him in Singapore, where the film was released on Thursday. The reason for the ban of the
Eternals
by various Gulf states is not yet publicly justified. According to
Hollywood Reporter
, this deprogramming would however have followed Disney's refusal to censor several sequences of the feature film. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao (
Nomadland
),
Les
Éternels
However, still seems set for release next week in the United Arab Emirates.
Mystical to blasphemy
Deadline
, for his part, wonders about the mystical vein of the film and the presence on the screen of a divine entity, which may have agitated the censors.
Not content with staging a gay relationship between two characters, the Eternal Phastos (Bryon Tyree Henry) and her husband Ben (Haaz Sleiman), the feature film also introduces a deity by the name of Arishem.
A Celestial, according to the inventive vocabulary of the Marvel universe, which could represent, along with other supra-terrestrial entities of the film, a sensitive subject for these Islamic countries where this kind of stories - fictitious or not - can be considered blasphemous.
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Saudi Arabia and a majority of the Gulf States do not recognize rights for LGBT + people.
Homosexuality, the "promotion" of homosexuality and insulting good morals are generally punished by imprisonment and flogging.
An environment that had already earned in the past in animated film
Forward
, Pixar, to be banned from leaving Saudi Arabia and three other countries because of a phrase that evoked a homosexual relationship.
Beyond homosexuality, other blockbusters are regularly censored in Saudi Arabia, which for example blew up a kissing scene from the film
Black Panther
, in 2018. The rigorous Saudi kingdom has come a long way.
The American blockbuster was at the time, the first film to be screened in theaters in the country, when the first Saudi cinema opened in April 2018, 35 years after the ban on cinemas.
