Over the weekend, I came across a campaign in Lebanon opposing the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The official reason? The Israeli-American producer Avi Arad and what the campaign's organizers describe as his support for Israel.

This campaign included an article in the Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar and a Facebook page. The public pressure they created was successful, and the film's scheduled July 30 release was prevented.

But it has also sparked criticism inside Lebanon itself, exposing one of this story's biggest contradictions. After all, the film has nothing to do with the Middle East.

Many Lebanese have taken to social media to question the consistency of the country's censorship and boycott mechanisms. They posted things like : Avi Arad's Israeli identity wasn't a problem for more than twenty years. So why has it suddenly become one now? Beyond the hypocrisy they exposed, there is also the sheer futility of it.

Today it's difficult to stop people from watching a film. In an era where countless piracy websites offer instant access to almost anything, Spider-Man will almost certainly find its way to those who are supposed to boycott it. Yes, even Lebanese censorship has its limits.

So who actually loses? In the end, it is the local movie theaters that pay the price, at a time when they are already struggling to survive against streaming services.

And maybe this story isn't only about an Israeli producer. Perhaps it is also about an American film that represents an open, multicultural world, one that is difficult to reconcile with the worldview promoted by Hezbollah.