Politics has once again placed its clammy hand on “Wonder Woman,” a movie about a comic book superhero who leaves her paradise island that is inhabited only by females to enter the world of men, kill lots of Germans with her sword, and looks great doing so. Lebanon has banned the movie from airing in its territory. The reason, of course, is that Gal Gadot, who plays the Amazon princess, is an Israeli and has once served in that country’s army, according to Deadline Hollywood.
Anti-Semitism stalks the marketing of the latest superhero movie
The problem is that Lebanon is still officially at war with Israel, unlike Egypt and Jordan which have both signed peace treaties with the Jewish state.
The ban was imposed by a Lebanese cinema chain at the best of a group calling itself Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel-Lebanon, likely taken by Lebanon’s Ministry of Economy.
The Lebanon ban was not the first time Gadot’s nationality and ethnicity have been made an issue. Last year, the Israeli actress was subjected to a campaign of Twitter harassment because of where she came from, not to mention the fact that she served in Israel’s army as a weapons trainer. The upsurge of social media hate has, by the way, died down since last summer.
‘Wonder Woman’ to show in other parts of the Middle East
It should be noted that the movie featuring the first adventures of the Amazonian superhero will be in movie houses elsewhere in the Middle East.
The film is set to premiere in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar Oman, and Bahrain over the next several weeks. The loss of Lebanon as a market is not expected to make any impact on the box office take of “Wonder Woman.” Most analysts believe that the film’s opening weekend will be in the range of $176 million, making it one of the first box office smash hits of the summer movie season.
What about that other political thing?
Stephen Miller, the conservative writer who sparked a social media firestorm when he announced he had bought a ticket to an illegal woman-only screening of “Wonder Woman,” reports that “The Daily Show” has reached out to him. The comedy show once hosted by Jon Stewart but now by someone else wanted to interview Miller and suggested that it might send a camera crew with him to the movie theater in New York when he goes to the screening. Miller, almost certainly aware of what would have been in store for him in the form of mockery, has declined the offer.
