New Delhi: Warner Bros’ highly anticipated film “Barbie” has been banned from screening in Vietnam, as reported by state media on Monday. The ban was imposed due to a specific scene in the movie that displays a map depicting China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea.
According to the director of Vietnam’s Department of Cinema, Vi Kien Thanh, the film review board has viewed the movie and subsequently made the decision to prohibit its screening in Vietnam.
The ban was enforced due to a violation concerning the contentious “nine-dash line,” as reported on the Dan Tri news site.
“The film review board watched the film and made the decision to ban the screening of this movie in Vietnam due to a violation regarding the ‘nine-dash line’,” said Thanh.
Further adding that Vietnam will not be issuing licences. Thanh stated, “We do not grant a licence for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to be released in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line.”
Chinese maps frequently use the “nine-dash line” in the shape of a U to outline their broad territorial claims over substantial areas of the South China Sea.
The highly anticipated fantasy comedy film, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, which was initially planned for a nationwide release in Vietnam on July 21, has been removed from the websites of the country’s cinema chains.
Warner Bros. has not made any comment on the matter as of yet.
The Vietnamese government has previously taken actions regarding movies that involve contentious territorial disputes. In 2019, the animated film “Abominable” from DreamWorks was pulled from release, while last year, the action movie “Uncharted” from Sony was banned for similar reasons. Additionally, in 2021, Netflix removed the Australian spy drama series “Pine Gap” from its offerings in Vietnam.