By: Ella Wang
Last week, Disney’s ‘Lightyear’ came out starring Chris Evans as Buzz Lightyear. However, this film has already caused the Muslim world to ban it for a particular scene of the film.
The scene in ‘Lightyear’ includes two female characters kissing each other which angered the Muslim world. These Muslim nations have laws that illegalize same-sex relationships. Many Muslims consider gays and lesbians to be sinful. In some parts of the Arab world, members of the LGBTQ community have been arrested and sentenced to prison. At the extreme, some countries even maintain the death penalty.
Nations that have refused to allow the film to screen due to a lesbian kiss include Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Disney said.
Many of the film’s stars are displeased after hearing their decision.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Chris Evans, the voice actor of Buzz Lightyear in the film, said in an article in ABC News. “It feels good to be a part of something that is making social progress, but it’s with this ribbon of bittersweet frustration that at the same time, there are still places that have not caught up.”
Mirroring the censorship of global distribution of content in the Middle East is the turmoil within the United States. When Florida legislation presented the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, many people, including activists and their own staff, criticized Disney over CEO Bob Chapek’s slow response to the bill.
As a form of protest to Disney’s response to Florida’s bill, Pixar employees restored the scene showing the love of a same-sex couple that had been originally cut from the movie.
The Muslim world has often censored media and art that do not align with their political and religious beliefs. Perhaps allowing these types of films to screen in these countries will be the first step to normalizing the LGBTQ group.
Link to article:
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/disneys-lightyear-banned-muslim- world-lesbian-kiss-85440534#:~:text=DUBAI%2C%20United%20Arab%20Emirates% 20%2D%2D,Thursday%20as%20the%20movie%20premiered