Actress Angelina Jolie criticized the move against the Marvel Studios film; director Chloé Zhao has expressed her wish not to alter the film.
The premiere of Eternals Marvel was going to be on November 11 in theaters in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait, as well as other nations in the Persian Gulf region, but the censors of three of those countries asked Disney Movies, the distributor, to edit certain scenes as a condition for projections.
When Disney refuses, the result is that Eternals was removed from the websites on which it was advertised, as reported by the websites Collider and The Hollywood Report. Until now it is known that United Arab Emirates keeps it on the list of upcoming releases and that the tickets are available for pre-sale. Vox Cinemas, the largest exhibitor in the region, has not commented on the issue.
The censorship is presumed to be due to a non-explicit sexual scene and scenes of a same-sex couple. One of them is the first gay superhero in the Marvel Universe, played by Brian Tyree Henry. In the movie, he and another actor share a kiss.
Homosexuality is still illegal in some of the Gulf countries, and films with LGBTQ + representation are frequently withdrawn. In 2017 Tunisia banned Wonder Woman because its protagonist, Gal Gadot, is Israeli; and in 2020, Saudi Arabia did the same with Onward, from Pixar, for a comment that referred to a lesbian relationship.
Actress Angelina Jolie has criticized the “ignorant” who have caused the ban on the film. “I’m sad,” she said in reference to the audience that she will not be able to see the film, but “proud” that Marvel refused to remove those seconds from the film.
During a meeting with Australian media, Jolie said: “I do not understand how we live in a world where there are still people who do not see the family that has Phastos (the homosexual superhero) and the beauty of that relationship and that love ”.
“Whoever is angry about it, feels threatened, does not approve or appreciate it, is ignorant,” said the actress, according to the Australian media news.com.au.
According to the magazine Deadline, the film has been banned in Kuwait and Qatar because its plot, which portrays a family of superheroes sent by the gods, is considered blasphemous.
And in other territories, such as Lebanon and Egypt, Eternals It will be released although suppressing any intimate, homosexual or heterosexual scene, a common practice for Hollywood studios in some countries, according to the EFE agency.
Eternals It is already on the billboard in Ecuador. The film not only features ten characters never before seen in the MCU, but also has an epic scope in terms of temporality: the story spans more than 7,000 years on Earth and in space, with constant jumps between the past, the present and the future.
The Chinese director Chloe Zhao assures that she was not only attracted to the project of Eternals as a director, but also fulfilled a fan dream with him. “The MCU is exciting. It is a world of great characters and epic adventures. It is made by people who really love storytelling and have immense respect for their fans. I entered the process as a filmmaker and also as a fan. To be able to make an independent film, but also to celebrate what came before us, expanding the mythology and shaping the future of the MCU was an exciting challenge and it is an honor to be part of it ”. (AND)
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