Licensed in Saudi Arabia but banned in Kuwait, the worldwide success of the film “Barbie” brings to light the divisions in the Gulf States, between opening speeches and still prevailing conservatism.
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Greta Gerwig’s film has also been released in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and is not yet available in Qatar and Oman without official announcement.
At a cinema in an affluent neighborhood of the emirate of Dubai, one of the region’s least conservative cities, pink-clad viewers compete in selfies in an imposing setting with the likeness of the famous blonde doll.
“We never thought that a film like this would be shown in the Gulf States,” admits AFP Ouadima Al-Amiri, an 18-year-old student who came to the cinema with her friends to form her own opinion about the film criticized.
Like the Kuwaiti authorities, who chided him for “undermining public morals,” many criticize him for what is seen as an extreme vision of women’s emancipation: the “Barbies” take on all the functions traditionally reserved for men, one of which is Da when they are pregnant, the “Kens” are relegated to the background and denied the ultimate responsibility.
“Reasonable” Feminism
This criticism did not stop Mounira from going to the cinema at the request of her “three barbies”, her daughters, who are also decorated in pink.
“If the film contains values and principles that are at odds with ours, it should not be shown in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf,” the 30-year-old Saudi Arabian told AFP. But, she says, “we came to give the film a chance.”
In recent years, the wealthy Gulf monarchy has given high priority to pro-woman announcements: the right to drive, permission to travel unaccompanied by a male, or sending the first Saudi female astronaut into space.
But these dramatic changes, wrought under the aegis of the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have come with pressure on feminist activists, many of whom remain in prison.
In this country, where cinemas only reopened in 2017 after long years of bans, all-pink events thrived to celebrate the release of Barbie.
But behind the candy-pink glamor in the luxurious cinemas of Riyadh or Dubai, the uneasiness is palpable. “We want freedom and more openness, but when it comes to Barbie, I’ve heard it disrupts masculinity,” Hanane Al-Amoudi, a Saudi tourist in Dubai who has declined to see the film, told AFP. movie.
For this housewife with the full veil, who advocates the “emancipation of women”, the opening must be made in a “reasonable” way.
“White, Colonial and Superficial”
Kuwaiti journalist Shaikha Al-Bahaweed, who speaks out against censorship in her country, regrets that “Barbie” conveys “one of the worst, if not the worst, vision of feminism,” especially in countries that are already particularly resistant to it It is “a white, colonial and superficial feminism”.
“Feminism is not about replacing a patriarchal system with a matriarchal system, but rather about humanity achieving a system based on justice and equal opportunities,” says AFP, which campaigns for women’s rights.
In her opinion, the “Barbie” brand, condemned by many feminists for the unrealistic physical standards it promotes, contradicts “feminist thinking”, even the color pink, “which symbolizes the division of social roles by gender”.
In Bahrain, Muslim preacher with a million followers on Instagram Hassan Al-Husseini has denounced a “revolution against marriage and motherhood” and men “without masculinity”. He also criticized the participation of a transgender actress and urged the authorities to end the film’s screening.
The “Barbie” phenomenon emerges in a context of great uneasiness in the Gulf States regarding major American productions seeking greater visibility for minorities, particularly sexual minorities.
Some countries in the region have banned the animated film “Buzz Lightyear” or, more recently, the latest “Spider-Man” because of more or less explicit references to homosexuality or trans identity.