The Four Color Media Monitor

The Wonder Woman movie may prove to be more successful than previous adaptations of DC products in recent years. But it makes no difference to Lebanon's autocrats, who banned the movie because of Gal Gadot's nationality, and her support for Israel's army:

Lebanese authorities banned the new "Wonder Woman" movie Wednesday, hours before it was due to premiere in the capital of Beirut and following a campaign against its lead actress, Gal Gadot, who served in the Israel Defense Forces, a security official and activists said.

Cinemas in Beirut began removing the movie posters, and cinema executives said the movie will not be shown because of the ban.

Lebanon is officially at war with Israel and the two countries have been through a number of wars, with the last conflict in 2006.

The ban is in accordance with a decades-old law that boycotts Israeli products and bars Lebanese citizens from traveling to Israel or having contacts with Israelis. The official said the ban, issued by the interior ministry Wednesday, had been relayed to the distribution company, which in turn had to inform the theaters planning to show the movie.

[...] A campaigner against the movie, Rania Masri, of the "Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel -- Lebanon" group, hailed the decision to ban "Wonder Woman" and said it signaled respect for the law. She said there had been much anticipation as the decision to ban the movie was last-minute.

What's ironic about this is that Geoff Johns - who had involvement in production/scriptwriting - is of Lebanese background himself, and lest we forget, he wrote a most notorious piece of apologia for Islamofascism, and insulted Americans simultaneously, in Green Lantern 5 years ago. As bad as Lebanon's act is, the silver lining is that this demonstrates no matter how kowtowing Johns is on his part, it won't guarantee the Islamists he pandered to will respect anything he's done (except surely the repellent violence prevalent in various books he's written).

According to Breitbart:

The ban came as something of a surprise as the Middle Eastern country had no issues with some of Gadot’s previous films, including Furious 7, which earned $1.8M in the territory, and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice which earned $843,000. The two other Fast and Furious films in which Gadot appeared were also screened in the country, with Fast and Furious 6 taking $788K and Fast Five grossing $520K.

To be sure, the reason they're doing it now is because Gadot's become a lot more well known, right down to her support for the IDF she was once a member of, thanks to the new movie. Obviously, when the scum leading the boycott campaign in Lebanon found out, they saw it as the perfect target.

Just as disappointing, if not shocking, is the discovery that Gadot was censored from commenting on Lebanon's ban of the film, by the film production staff:

As Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot was entrusted with saving the world. As an actress she has been entrusted with delivering a Hollywood blockbuster. But it seems the film’s producers would rather not see her wading into the murky waters of the Middle East conflict.

Gadot’s Israeli heritage has already caused them problems, with Lebanon banning the film in line with its boycotts of any Israeli product.

And Israel’s Channel 2 reported Thursday that its interview with Gadot had been censored by the film’s producers, after it asked her about the ban.

The channel was one of several media outlets from around the world granted a brief interview with Gadot to speak with her about the blockbuster movie, which opened in Israel on Thursday and opens in the US on Friday.

During the interview, Channel 2 asked Gadot, who served in the IDF, her thoughts about the Lebanese ban. However, although Gadot candidly answered the question, Channel 2 was required by the film’s production company, which oversaw the interview, to delete all the footage connected to the issue.

The Israeli TV station reported the censorship, and, in protest, did not transmit any part of the interview.

Gee, the studio sure didn't set a particularly good example by balking. The film looks like it'll do well, but avoiding the issue still won't solve anything. For now, it actually is a bit surprising Lebanon was willing to screen a movie involving a gorgeous gal at all: don't be shocked if a lot of movies like this are already banned in many countries far more Islamic than Lebanon is. Yet the reports tell only 15 theaters were originally going to screen the film, which would make for very minor box office intake, so it's not entirely a loss in itself. But it definitely is terrible that any country is furthering anti-Israeli sentiment via Islamofascism and refusal to abandon petty issues.

Labels: dc comics, Europe and Asia, islam and jihad, misogyny and racism, politics, Wonder Woman