Censorship became a part of our daily life in Egypt. Everything is censored, including some of the most popular TV shows and Movies. Some which kind of make sense, others are just extremely bizarre. Some we even watched a million times without even knowing they were banned. Here are some of the most popular shows and movies that were banned.
Family Guy
The animated comedy series is not just banned in Egypt, but in Taiwan, China, South Africa, Iran, India, Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea, and Vietnam. Mainly because of “moral censorship,” and religious reasons and the portrayal of God and the prophets.
The Pianist
The movie is about a Jewish-polish piano player trying to survive after WW2. No official reason was given as to why the movie was banned, but it’s probably because it’s about Jews and we sympathize with Jews in the movie.
Bruce Almighty
The movie is about a guy who keeps complaining about God, then God decides to let him take over his “job” to realize how hard it is. We don’t really need to explain why it was banned, do we?
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix has to be one of the most popular movies in Egypt, yet the second part was actually banned. Surprise, surprise! The official reason why it was banned was because it had too much violence. The real reason, however, was because Islamic parties and newspaper criticized the release of the first part, because it promoted Zionism and had too much religious controversy.
The Prince of Egypt
This movie cause a major crisis when it was released. The movie is basically about the life of Moses in Egypt, and the controversy was caused because of the portrayal of Moses, and because of the deception the creators caused to the public on how Jews were treated in Egypt, and manipulated the Egyptian history.
Oliver Twist
This is probably one of the most unexpected movies in the list. The original movie, released in 1948, was banned in many countries because of the portrayal of the character Fagin. He was a stereotypical Jewish person, with anti-Semitic make up that made Jewish countries, and Jewish supporters ban the movie. In Egypt, ironically, it was banned because the portrayal of Fagin was too sympathetic.
The Davinci Code
The film, and book as well, caused a lot of controversy around the world. In Egypt, both the book and the movie were banned due to pressure from the Catholics of Egypt getting offended by it, and compared it to the Danish cartoons, that were published around the same time. The ban made many Egyptian writers, and artists question the freedom of expression in Egypt, which caused others to question the freedom of expression between Muslims and Christians.
Exodus: Gods and Kings
To the most recent banned movies in Egypt, the movie that caused a hell lot of controversy. It’s basically for the same reasons The Prince of Egypt was banned, a long with the portrayal of Egyptians as white folks.
Now remember, 50 Shades of Grey was shown, and El Sobky Received an Award for “Community Awareness Through His Work.” this year!!!
