Algeria has banned the Barbie movie for supposedly "damaging morals," though plenty of Algerians have already had the opportunity to have their morals damaged: The film was released in the North African country more than three weeks ago and 24H Algerie reports that screenings have been selling out in cities including Algiers, Oran, and Constantine. An official source tells Reuters that the movie has been pulled from cinemas because the country's culture ministry has decided it "promotes homosexuality and other Western deviances" and it "does not comply with Algeria's religious and cultural beliefs."
The blockbuster has already been banned Middle Eastern countries including Kuwait, the BBC reports. Last week, Lebanon's culture minister called for a ban, saying the movie "promotes homosexuality and transsexuality" and also "supports rejecting a father's guardianship, undermines and ridicules the role of the mother, and questions the necessity of marriage and having a family." Officials asked the country's censorship committee to review the film but they didn't immediately ban it.
But in Saudi Arabia—where movie theaters were banned until a few years ago—the movie opened last Thursday and it was a big hit, with some cinemas holding 15 showings a day, the New York Times reports. Many had expected it to be banned or heavily censored but few changes were made, with references to the patriarchy left intact in the male-dominated country, the Times notes. Barbie also opened Thursday in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Some Kuwaitis said they were stunned that they would have to travel to Saudi Arabia, a neighbor long considered more conservative, to see the film. (Vietnam banned Barbie because of a map.)
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