Barbie is already shaping up to be one of the most controversial movies of the summer.
The film is set to open worldwide on July 21, but Greta Gerwig's comedic take on the iconic Mattel fashion doll line won't be making its way to Vietnam.
According to the New York Times, the movie has been banned in the country due to one shot of a map showing the disputed "nine-dash line" – a U-shaped line used in Chinese maps to stake its claim on territory in the South China Sea.
China and Vietnam are involved in a long-running dispute over ownership of the territory, which contains several islands, as well as oil and gas deposits and shipping lanes. Although an international tribunal at The Hague ruled that China had no legal basis for its claims back in 2016, the Middle Kingdom refuses to accept those findings.
The National Film Appraisal and Classification Board ultimately made the decision to ban the movie outright, with Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Vietnam Cinema Department, confirming to state media that Barbie would not screen in the region because of "the illegal image of the ‘cow’s tongue line’ in the film.”
We're not sure if this will have any significant impact on the movie's global box office takings, but it looks like the Philippines are considering following suit for the same reason.
"The Philippines, like Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia, have competing claims in the South China Sea and strongly refute China’s claim to nearly the entire maritime region. If the invalidated 9-dash line was indeed depicted in the movie Barbie, then it is incumbent upon the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to ban the same as it denigrates Philippine sovereignty,” said Philippines Senator Francis Tolentino, vice chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee.
We've almost used to seeing movies banned in certain locations in the Middle East for depictions of LGBTQ+ characters or situations, but one quick shot of a map is definitely a new one!
You can check out the "offending" image in question below.
From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig (Little Women, Lady Bird) comes Barbie, which also stars America Ferrera (End of Watch, the How to Train Your Dragon films), Kate McKinnon (Bombshell, Yesterday), Issa Rae (The Photograph, Insecure), Rhea Perlman (I’ll See You in My Dreams, Matilda), and Will Ferrell (the Anchorman films, Talladega Nights), and more.
Gerwig directs from a screenplay she penned alongside Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, The Squid and the Whale), based on the iconic fashion dolls by Mattel.
The film’s producers are Oscar nominee David Heyman (Marriage Story, Gravity), Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, with Gerwig, Baumbach, Ynon Kreiz, Richard Dickson, Michael Sharp, Josey McNamara, Courtenay Valenti, Toby Emmerich and Cate Adams serving as executive producers.