Barbie movie banned in Vietnam over use of ‘offending’ map image

The Barbie movie won’t be launched in Vietnam over its obvious inclusion of a controversial marking in a map of the South China Sea.

Starring Margot Robbie as the long-lasting doll, Barbie was scheduled to be launched in the southeast Asian nation on 21 July, in line with its cinematic debut in most international locations internationally.

Nevertheless, state media introduced on Monday (3 July) that the movie will not be distributed in Vietnam as a result of depiction of a map that makes use of the “nine-dash line”.

The U-shaped line, used on Chinese language maps, represents areas that China has claimed as its territory.

First proven on a map in 1947, the nine-dash line is controversial as the realm specified as Chinese language territory is contested and features a vital quantity of space that Vietnam considers its continental shelf.

China and Vietnam have lengthy been in a standoff over the area, whereas Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all make claims to components of the ocean.

As reported by Reuters, the Vietnamese state-run newspaper Tuoi Tre mentioned that attributable to its use of a map depicting this territorial form, Barbie will not be launched in the nation.

Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Division of Cinema in Vietnam, was quoted in the publication as saying: “We don’t grant license for the American movie Barbie to launch in Vietnam as a result of it accommodates the offending image of the nine-dash line.”

The Unbiased has reached out to Warner Bros, Barbie’s distributor, for remark.

This isn’t the primary time that the Vietnamese authorities has determined to halt a movie’s launch as a result of inclusion of the nine-dash line.

Final yr, Sony’s motion movie Uncharted was pulled for a similar purpose, in addition to the DreamWorks animated movie Abominable in 2019. Netflix additionally eliminated an Australian spy drama sequence, Pine Hole, from streaming providers in 2021.

Forward of the movie’s extremely anticipated launch, solid members have been stoking followers’ pleasure with their promotional efforts.

Ryan Gosling, who performs Barbie’s companion Ken, has been praised for totally embracing the happy-go-lucky vitality of his character all through the press tour.

Robbie, in the meantime, has shared some insider information concerning the creation of the movie, together with how they managed to attain a “genius” shot of Barbie’s foot, as seen in the trailer, and a “jaw-dropping” joke that was lower from web page one of the script.

Barbie will likely be launched in UK cinemas on 21 July.