Warner Bros studio on Thursday stated a map in its upcoming “Barbie” film of the South China Sea is a “child-like” drawing with no supposed significance, days after Vietnam stated it could ban the movie over the map.
Vietnam balked at a scene of the map that exhibits China’s unilaterally claimed territory within the South China Sea, state media reported on Monday. It determined to ban home distribution of the extremely anticipated movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
Warner Bros believed the map was innocent.
“The map in Barbie Land is a whimsical, child-like crayon drawing,” the studio said in a statement. “The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the actual world. It was not supposed to make any sort of assertion.”
“Barbie” was initially slated to open in Vietnam on July 21, the identical date as within the United States, in accordance with state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper.
Vietnamese authorities objected to a scene exhibiting a map that features the so-called nine-dash line, the newspaper stated. The U-shaped line is used on Chinese maps as an example China’s claims over huge areas of the South China Sea, together with swaths of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf, the place it has awarded oil concessions.
“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,” the newspaper reported, citing Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of Cinema, a authorities physique in command of licensing and censoring international movies.
“Barbie” is the newest film to be banned in Vietnam for depicting China’s nine-dash line, which was repudiated in a world arbitration ruling by a courtroom in The Hague in 2016. China refuses to acknowledge the ruling.
This week, Vietnam additionally opened an investigation of the web site of Ok-pop group Blackpink’s tour organizer, forward of the group’s live performance in Hanoi, over criticism from followers that it exhibits a map of the South China Sea with disputed boundaries.
© Thomson Reuters 2023.