By Faten Omar

KUWAIT: Kuwait has announced a ban on the controversial film ‘Barbie’ in order to safeguard ethics, public order and traditions as it confirmed that the film carries ideas that encourage unacceptable behavior. However, the decision attracted different opinions and the hashtag #Barbie trended on social media platforms with thousands of opponents and supporters of this decision. Professor Abdullah Al-Shayji said that Barbie movie promotes homosexuality, gender reassignment, and feminism, as well as promoting a negative image of men describing patriarchal society.

He added, “the movie destroys the values of marriage and family and it encourages women to be independent, which contradicts the principles of sharia, our values and our culture.” Ali Al-Moqadem affirmed that he supports the decision 100 percent, explaining “The movie incites immorality and contains scenes that encourage homosexuality, in addition to forcing wrong concepts, especially since Barbie is something that belongs to children. It is a fashion doll and when it is distorted this way, it affects the new generation’s idea about Barbie the doll.

He pointed out that the generation is already being spoilt by Netflix and the social media. “We do not need such movies to ruin the culture. This is a conspiracy to make the society tolerate these ideas, especially ideas that are not related to our traditions or religion.” On her part, Arwa Hamid said she watched the Barbie movie online for two reasons because it is her favorite doll, and secondly, because it was widely promoted everywhere, adding, “It was overrated, and I understood the reason behind getting that huge promotion by some politicians in order to promote Western culture.

They distorted my love for my favorite childhood doll,” she said. Ahmed Kassab said that women in the Gulf and Kuwait in particular assumed leadership positions politically, athletically, and economically, so there is no need for an idea that promotes that women are oppressed. “The main reason for banning Barbie movie is the dissemination of extremist radical feminist thought, the amount of atheism and the extremist agenda,” he added. Meanwhile, Abdel-Hadi Waheed commented that the Barbie movie does not carry any principles and culture compared to the Oppenheimer movie which obliges a person to read about geography and politics, and modern physics to understand, so that the family should choose the appropriate movie to watch.

While opposing the ban of the film in Kuwait, Ali Ibrahim said that he saw a comment by someone who was talking about how Barbie movie would destroy the family. He said, “If a movie will destroy your family, then it was never raised well. A strong family is not affected by difficult external factors, because the right family will discuss topics and talk about them, while every family member has his/ her value and opinion. Thousands of movies, series, and books are available today expressing differing ideas and views.

These are not expected to influence negatively our views.” Iqbal Al-Zirqi noted that the banning of Barbie movies in Arab countries, although it does not have any inappropriate scenes, reflects the fear of the patriarchal society about any sign of women’s empowerment! Although the film calls for cooperation between both genders, the sensitivity of males in real life is very high. Um Abdullah said she is also against the ban saying “We are afraid of Barbie movies, but we are not afraid of the gangster movies being watched by our teenagers”.