Disney Removed Same-Sex Kiss Scene From Star Wars Movie To Prevent Higher Age Rating
Moviegoers who watched Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in Singapore might not have noticed that a certain scene was omitted.
Instead, they would have had to find out what they missed through the Internet.
BBC reported on 24 Dec (Tue) that a “brief” scene of 2 women kissing had been cut from the Singapore release of The Rise of Skywalker – the latest and 9th film in the Star Wars franchise.
Disney removed the kiss scene in Star Wars movie, says IMDA
According to the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Disney, which owns the Star Wars franchise, had taken the kiss scene out on their own.
IMDA was quoted as saying,
The applicant has omitted a brief scene which under the film classification guidelines would require a higher rating.
Movies which depict “homosexual themes” or “homosexual references” are subject to a higher age rating, as a check on IMDA’s website shows.
Here’s an example of a film, Carol, which was passed uncut but given an R21 rating for having a “homosexual theme”.
The trend by IMDA appears to be to restrict films with these themes to those above 21 years old, by way of an R21 rating, while those with “homosexual content” receive an M18 rating.
Kiss scene so brief you might have missed it anyway
Disney’s apparent decision to remove the scene is, on the face of it, to avoid a higher classification rating. The film is rated PG13, with an edit made, according to the IMDA’s website.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the scene has also been cut in the United Arab Emirates.
But then the cut begs the question: why include it at all?
The scene lasted a mere 2 seconds. Neither character was important to the plot.
Some viewers felt that Disney was pandering to the LGBT community by including the same-sex kiss, which was the first of its kind in Star Wars cinematic history.
Disney has not responded to queries over the scene cut as of the time of writing.
Decision a reflection of Singapore’s intolerance to LGBT
When the Prime Minister’s nephew, Li Huanwu, got married to his partner in South Africa, mainstream media was silent. PM Lee even told Singaporeans that Section 377A “will be around for some time”.
It tells those aware of what happened that Singapore implicitly discriminates against homosexuals.
No matter how brief the kiss was or how pandering it seemed, Disney’s seemingly forced decision is still a reflection of how intolerant the country is when it comes to LGBT, and we should not be proud of this.
Featured image adapted from Empire Online.
