When they’re bashing the moral laxity of the West, it’s OK to be puritanical. When Westerners notice that Islamic society is puritanical, it is an act of “Islamophobia.” Nonetheless, Muslims are enraged yet again, this time because of this film’s depiction of Islamic society as “puritanical and misogynistic.” And really, I must say I’m outraged as well. I mean, who would ever have thought to characterize Islamic society in such a way? The hijab, the niqab, the burqa, the chador — puritanical? Perish the thought! The wife-beating (cf. Qur’an 4:34), the polygamy (Qur’an 4:3), the genital mutilation, the honor killing — misogynistic? What are you, some kind of Islamophobe?
“Sex And The City 2 Blasted As ‘Anti-Muslim,'” from SkyNews, May 25 (thanks to Twostellas):
The first reviews of Sex And The City 2 have been published, with one critic claiming the new film featuring Carrie and the girls is “anti-muslim”….
The film sees the four New Yorker friends travelling to the Middle East for a trip to Abu Dhabi, but the Hollywood Reporter says it conjures up a “scathing portrayal of Muslim society”.
Carrie, played by Sarah Jessica Parker , Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall ), Charlotte York Goldenblatt (Kristin Scott ) and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon ) get caught up in moments there which the review says shows the region as “puritanical and misogynistic”.
“The rather scathing portrayal of Muslim society no doubt will stir controversy, especially in a frothy summer entertainment,” read the review by Hollywood Reporter.
One scene even features the four main characters being rescued by Muslim women who strip off their burkhas to reveal the stylish Western outfits they are concealing beneath their black robes.
While in another scene, the ladies perform a karaoke version of Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman in an Abu Dhabi nightclub, as man-eater Samantha shocks the locals with her sexual escapades.
Officials in the United Arab Emirates had denied the production team permission to film within the city, as did Dubai and instead the Abu Dhabi scenes were recreated in Morocco.
Abu Dhabi is currently considering whether to ban the film.