Film

Controversial Barbie map ‘not intended to make statement’, Warner Bros says after Vietnam ban

Film reportedly contains a scene depicting a map showing what appears to be the ‘nine dash line’

Barbie: Margot Robbie in a scene with the map that got the film banned in Vietnam. Photograph: Warner Bros Pictures

Fri Jul 7 2023 - 09:14

Warner Bros says the image of a map which caused the upcoming Barbie movie to be banned in Vietnam was “not intended to make any type of statement”.

The film, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, directed by Greta Gerwig, reportedly contains a scene depicting a map showing what appeared to be the “nine dash line”.

The line is a representation of China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, which Vietnam says violates its sovereignty.

According to local Vietnamese outlets, it is deemed an “illegal image” – prompting the national ban.

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Vi Kien Thanh, director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department under the ministry of culture, sports, and tourism, reportedly announced the ban on Monday.

In a statement shared with US outlet Variety, Warner Bros said the “doodles” shown on screen were intended to depict “Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land”.

“The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing,” a spokesperson for the Warner Bros Film Group told Variety.

“The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the ‘real world’.

“It was not intended to make any type of statement.”

Some moviegoers in the country welcomed the government’s ban. Hoang Xuan Bach, a 23-year-old university student, said the producers should have known better than to include the map. “I hope this movie will flop,” he said.

[ Everyone needs to calm down about Barbie. Including me ]

China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei all have territorial claims in the South China Sea, which include islands and other strategic maritime features. The Philippines’ Movie and Television Review and Classification Board is also considering the release of Greta Gerwig’s film, it has been reported.

Barbie is not the movie to be banned in Vietnam for depicting China’s controversial nine-dash line, which was repudiated in an international arbitration ruling by a court in The Hague in 2016. China refuses to recognise the ruling.

In 2019 the Vietnamese government pulled DreamWorks’ animated film Abominable and last year it banned Sony’s action movie Unchartered for the same reason. Netflix also removed an Australian spy drama Pine Gap in 2021.

Barbie is due for release on July 21st in Ireland, the same day as Christopher Nolan’s historical epic Oppenheimer. – Agencies

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