Barbie banned from Vietnam release over use of map
The Barbie movie is finally releasing this month, but one place it won't be releasing in is Vietnam.
Vietnam's head of the department of cinema, Vi Kien Thanh, said that the Margot Robbie movie won't launch in the country due to a map drawing some have claimed depicts the nine-dash line.
"We do not grant license for the American movie Barbie to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line," they told Tuoi Tre newspaper (via The Guardian).
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The nine-dash line refers to lines used on a map of the South China Sea, which is surrounded by countries like Vietnam, China and the Philippines. The dashes mark sea-based territory that China claims ownership of, although countries including Vietnam have long contested that ownership.
The Vietnamese government finds the inclusion of the dashes offensive, and has banned multiple projects from releasing in their country for the same reason.
Warner Bros responded by denying that the dashes seen in the drawing represented the nine-dash line, saying in a statement to Variety: "The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing. 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."
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Tom Holland's Uncharted movie, DreamWorks Animation's Abominable, Australian TV series Pine Gap and Chinese series Put Your Head on My Shoulder were all previously banned in Vietnam for featuring the nine-dash line, with the Philippines often following suit.
Another scene from the Barbie movie has caused a bit of controversy for a different reason, with Margot Robbie revealing that she and director Greta Gerwig had to argue with the boss of toy company Mattel to keep one scene in the film.
"In that very first meeting, we impressed upon [Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz] we are going to honour the legacy of your brand, but if we don't acknowledge certain things – if we don't say it, someone else is going to say it," Robbie recalled.
Barbie will be released in cinemas on July 21.
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