UAE forbids the release of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” due to a poster calling to “Protect Trans Lives”
‘Variety’ has revealed that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ won’t be published in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because it didn’t pass the nation’s censorship standards.
One of the issues that prohibited a release from being allowed, according to insiders, was a scene with a billboard in the backdrop of the frame that shows the transgender flag and states, “Protect Trans Lives.”
Only one week remain till the Sony Pictures movie’s planned regional release date on June 22. According to “Variety,” it doesn’t happen seldom for the nation’s censorship board to halt the impending distribution of films with LGBTQ+ themes.
Last summer, a different animated movie had a similar problem when Disney and Pixar’s “Lightyear” was prevented from being distributed in the UAE because of a scene showing a same-sex kiss between two lesbian space rangers. Additionally, Kuwait, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia all banned the “Toy Story” offshoot.
The release of “Across the Spider-Verse” in Saudi Arabia is still uncertain, despite the fact that the country’s censorship laws sometimes coincide with those of the UAE.
According to ‘Variety’, ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ has garnered notice for how it examines the story of Gwen Stacy (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld), who some viewers have perceived as a trans-coded character. This is in addition to its display of a ‘Protect Trans Lives’ banner.
In the movie, Stacy keeps her father’s actual identity a secret. The transgender flag’s colours are clearly shown in scenes that are situated in the character’s world. However, Stacy’s gender identity is not made clear in the movie.
