{"id":6847,"date":"2021-12-07T23:17:19","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T04:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=6847"},"modified":"2023-12-12T06:24:51","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T11:24:51","slug":"west-side-story-banned-in-parts-of-middle-east-over-trans-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=6847","title":{"rendered":"West Side Story Banned in Parts of Middle East Over Trans Character"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><i>West Side Story<\/i><\/strong> won\u2019t be making it to the Middle East, due to strict censorship protocols that frown on sexual immodesty, especially in a same-sex context. Because of the presence of a cast member played by a non-binary actor, the Disney\/20<sup>th<\/sup> Century film, which opens elsewhere in the world this week, will be off limits to audiences in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Disney reportedly refused to make the cuts that would have granted access to audiences there.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> online pharmacy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bethesdahouseofmercy.org\/scripts\/css\/ventolin.html\">ventolin over the counter<\/a> with best prices today in the USA <\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The objectionable cast member, Anybodys, is played by Iris Menas.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> online pharmacy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bethesdahouseofmercy.org\/scripts\/css\/flexeril.html\">flexeril over the counter<\/a> with best prices today in the USA <\/div>\n<p> Their inclusion represents a breakthrough of sorts for the musical, whose original story was rooted in the heteronormative milieu of Eisenhower-era America.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The new film had its premiere in New York on November 29, several days after the death of 91-year-old Stephen Sondheim, the lyricist for the original Broadway production of <i>West Side Story<\/i> in 1957.<\/p>\n<p>This is not the first time a Disney product has run afoul of the region\u2019s strict censorship regulations.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> online pharmacy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bethesdahouseofmercy.org\/scripts\/css\/lariam.html\">lariam over the counter<\/a> with best prices today in the USA <\/div>\n<p> Last month, its animated film <i>Eternals<\/i> was banned through much of the region because it featured a kiss shared by a same-sex couple, Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) and Ben (Haaz Sleiman).<\/p>\n<p>The new <strong><i>West Side Story<\/i><\/strong> flick was timed for release some 60 years after the original film, which opened in 1959. That earlier version, which starred Oscar-winning Rita Moreno in the role of Anita, opened in 1961. Interestingly, Moreno confessed that she almost pulled out of the role because of her objection to lyrics denigrating Puerto Rico as \u201cyou ugly island\/island of tropic diseases.\u201d The lyrics were rewritten and Moreno, now 89, continued in the role.<\/p>\n<p>The cast of the Spielberg-directed version stars Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort as the star-crossed lovers loosely modeled after Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo and Juliet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>West Side Story won\u2019t be making it to the Middle East, due to strict censorship protocols that frown on sexual immodesty, especially in a same-sex context. Because of the presence of a cast member played by a non-binary actor, the Disney\/20th Century film, which opens elsewhere in the world this week, will be off limits&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[741,744,5837,4082,2205,743,5839,55,5838,4137,742,745,2047,5840,482,958,740],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>West Side Story Banned in Parts of Middle East Over Trans Character | Cinema Daily US<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=6847\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"West Side Story Banned in Parts of Middle East Over Trans Character | Cinema Daily US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"West Side Story won\u2019t be making it to the Middle East, due to strict censorship protocols that frown on sexual immodesty, especially in a same-sex context. 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He served as literary advisor to her film Hyam Plutzik: American Poet, which was the keynote film in the American Perspectives series at the 2007 Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.cinemadailyus.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"West Side Story Banned in Parts of Middle East Over Trans Character | Cinema Daily US","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=6847","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"West Side Story Banned in Parts of Middle East Over Trans Character | Cinema Daily US","og_description":"West Side Story won\u2019t be making it to the Middle East, due to strict censorship protocols that frown on sexual immodesty, especially in a same-sex context. 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