The highly anticipated Warner Bros. film ‘Barbie’ was originally set to be released for many countries on July 21, including Vietnam.
Fox News reports that due to a specific version of the South China Sea map featured in the film, however, ‘Barbie’ has been banned and Vietnam will not see its release later this month.
The director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department told Tuoi Tre, the state-run newspaper, that Vietnam does not “grant license for the movie ‘Barbie’ to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line.”
China has been using the nine-dash line in maps to assert its claim over much of the South China Sea, disregarding areas Vietnam considers to be its own and even going against a ruling from the United Nations in 2016.
The nine-dash line has been the cause of dispute with many other countries near China – including Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia. All those countries have competing and overlapping territorial claims, according to The News York Post.
CNN Entertainment identifies that ‘Barbie’ is the latest of a series of movies that have banned in Vietnam for depicting China’s controversial nine-dash line.
The movie stars Margie Robbie as Barbie and Simu Liu and Ryan Gosling as competing Kens.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc. Please support our fundraisers. Purchase your tickets to a Night of Hilarity- a fun conversation with comedienne Jiaoying Summers and ABC7/KABC anchor David Ono to be held October 9 in Los Angeles.
Then join us for a stimulating conference about issues that divide the Asian American communities. Our fundraiser Common Ground and the dinner after will be held October 26 at UC Berkeley.
AsAmNews is partially supported by the Stop the Hate grant administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.
