It's the freedom of the artist to communicate what he wanted to communicate with the audience while it's the freedom of audience to accept it or avoid it. The latest offense to an artist's freedom is from the censor board of Malaysia. Walt Disney prefers not to release Beauty and the Beast in Malaysian theaters than to delete the so-called 'gay moment' in the movie. "The film has not been and will not be cut in Malaysia, " a representative of Disney informed Bloomberg according to The Hollywood Reporter. The live-action movie starring Emma Watson was scheduled to release in Malaysia on Thursday, but Disney indefinitely postponed the film's release earlier this week when the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia informed that the movie would only get released once the delete the controversial scene.
The film, which was previously approved by the Censorship Board of Malaysia, unless the scene in which Gad dances with another man must be deleted. Abdul Halim, the chairman of the Film Censorship Board was talking to the Associated Press that 'they have approved it still there was a minor cut to be done. He also added that it is only one short scene which is inappropriate for the kids watching the movie.'
The proprietors of the Hengar Drive-In Theater posted on Facebook that if they can't take their 11-year-old granddaughter and an 8-year-old grandson to watch the movie, they have no business watching it. The post also added that 'if they can't sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by them, then they have no business showing it,' but that post is deleted now.
Gay sex is still considered to be a crime in Malaysia which can even make the accused imprisoned. The world's 20 largest film markets in the world do not include Malaysia, according to the Motion Picture Association of America, and it was a very good decision from the Disney not release the censored version as it has something to deal with the freedom of an artist. The uncut version has been approved for audiences aged 16 and above in Russia and the movie will be released in UK cinemas on 17 March.
