Bruce Almighty!

on Thursday 31 July 2003
For those who don't know yet, after the banning of Daredevil and the ICT debacle, we now have the proposed banning of Bruce Almighty.

Muzammil Daud's letter shows how poor his understanding of other religions is. I don't know about Hinduism or Sikhism, but the Chinese version of Buddhism has no problems with deities or fairies assuming human form, or giving us mortals the power of divinity. Yes, you shouldn't make fun of the divine, but the movie isn't about making fun of God! It's making fun out of a man with god-like powers!

Tunasing's suggestion on having two new categories for movies is brilliant. When we can have food outlets marked halal (edible by Muslims), why can't we have movies and TV shows deemed haram (illegal) for Muslims? It's time we become more open-minded and tolerant of other views. And here we are trying to be a developed nation, but incurring such views.

The worst part is that while Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin, minister in the prime minister's department, claims that the show is inappropriate, he didn't bother consulting anybody about it. It was just what he thought. It's people like him and those on the censorship who think that they have a right to become our moral guardians and judge what we should and should not watch. If you say it's un-Islamic, then by all means, ban it to Muslims. This is being so insensitive to non-Muslims and free-thinkers who are denied the right to watch simply because half the population should not watch. And speaking of being un-Islamic, shows like Bedazzled, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Arabian Nights, Tomb Raider, The Mummy, and countless others should've been banned as well, simply for introducing elements of magic, the fey, and the divine. Another fine example of selective persecution; which, as I suspect, is due to something as simple as the word 'Almighty', similar to the word 'devil' in Daredevil.

If it's offensive to you, then don't watch it. I for one, want to, since I think it's a novel idea and the trailer is incredibly funny. So does my girlfriend (and she's a Christian!!). It's all about being open-minded and letting us judge the right and wrong of things by ourselves. Once I've watched it, I'll decide if it's insulting, offensive or blasphemous. Not some older, 'wiser' people closeted in small projector rooms who are likely with 'small' (narrow) minds. The piracy problem is already very bad, try not to encourage the populace into getting pirated but original (uncut) versions of movies or tempt them to download off the internet.