This year’s summer movie season was a bumpy ride, with big bombs and shocking underperformers (plus one that was not so shocking). But there were two unambiguous smashes: the duo collectively known as “Barbenheimer.” Not everyone around the world got to see them; Barbie was banned in some Middle Eastern countries. It was also banned in Russia. One problem there, though: Neither Barbie nor Oppenheimer were ever offered to play there.
After they drone on about how the Russian govt is banning “Barbie” & “Oppenheimer” because they contradict “traditional Russian moral values” Pecheykin finally points out why those movies ACTUALLY aren’t available to Russians. At which point the host says they’re out of time.
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— Vlada Knowlton
(@VladaKnowlton) September 6, 2023
Russian State TV recently did a segment about Barbie and Oppenheimer, both of which “failed to secure a distribution license” by the warring nation’s Ministry of Culture. The reasoning? That both films “do not promote the strengthening and preservation of traditional values.” One commentator went so far as to call Barbie “non-traditional and no good.” He added, “I don’t understand what is inside the head of any grown-up who goes to see Barbie.”
The commentators also accused it of being everything “our country is fighting.” including “radical feminism, prohibited LGBT scenes, and transgenders portraying females.”
No one went into why Oppenheimer was banned, but maybe it’s due to all that sex.
There were a couple of issues that subtracted credibility from the banning. For one, one talking head said he asked people who’d actually seen Barbie what they thought, and they told him it “didn’t promote any “LGBT values,” nor did it have any kissing. (This is true.) Still, another host declared that makes it “even more suspicious.”
Another commentator then threw cold water on the banning. “Let’s be honest: We aren’t showing them because Warner Bros. didn’t offer it for us to show,” he said. “We banned something that wasn’t even offered to us.”
Soon as he said that, the show’s host announced they were “out of time,” prompting a sudden cut to a commercial.
Meanwhile in Russia: propagandists defended the government’s decision to ban movies ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer,’ until one honest commentator ruined the show.https://t.co/mTCfPLUiqi
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) September 6, 2023
You can watch the full segment below, during which it’s revealed Russia has also banned the most popular billionaire cartoon character, Scrooge McDuck, who they say teaches kids “the wrong values, not the ones needed today.”