Philippine censors mentioned Wednesday they’ve allowed the upcoming Barbie movie to be proven in cinemas, after asking its Hollywood distributor to blur a map allegedly displaying China’s claims to the disputed South China Sea.
The fantasy comedy movie in regards to the well-known doll, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is ready to open within the Southeast Asian nation on July 19.
After reviewing the movie twice and consulting overseas affairs officers and authorized specialists, the federal government’s Movie and Television Review and Classification Board mentioned it might enable it to be screened.
The censors started analyzing “Barbie” final week after Vietnam reportedly banned the movie over scenes that includes a map displaying the so-called nine-dash line, which China makes use of to justify its maritime claims.
Beijing claims nearly the complete South China Sea, regardless of rival claims from different Southeast Asian international locations together with the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.
But after “meticulous” scrutiny of the movie, Philippine censors have been satisfied that the “cartoonish map” didn’t depict the nine-dash line.
“Instead, the map portrayed the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie from Barbie Land to the ‘real world,’ as an integral part of the story,” the censorship board mentioned in an announcement.
“Rest assured that the Board has exhausted all possible resources in arriving at this decision as we have not hesitated in the past to sanction filmmakers/ producers/ distributors for exhibiting the fictitious ‘nine-dash line’ in their materials.”
In a separate letter to Philippine Senator Francis Tolentino, who had criticized the movie for “violating Filipino fisherfolks’ rights”, the censors mentioned that they had requested Hollywood studio Warner Bros to “blur” the controversial strains on the map.
Dashed strains drawn in a “child-like manner” appeared in a number of places on the map round land lots recognized as Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia, the censors mentioned.
But it discovered solely eight dashes across the landmass labelled “Asia”.
“Moreover, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia are not visible on the map,” the board mentioned within the letter dated July 11 and shared with reporters.
“This is in stark contrast to the maps found in the banned films ‘Abominable (2019)’ and ‘Uncharted (2022)’,” it mentioned.
Warner Bros didn’t instantly reply to AFP’s request for remark.
But a Warner Bros spokesperson was quoted by Variety as saying the map was a “child-like crayon drawing” and “not intended to make any type of statement”.
The Philippines’ approval of “Barbie” coincided with the seventh anniversary of a world ruling that China’s historic claims to the South China Sea don’t have any authorized foundation.
© 2023 AFP