Even ahead of its theatrical release, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling starrer Barbie has been making the headlines. Well, it turns out not for the right reasons. In the latest turn of events, the screening of Greta Gerwig’s directorial has been banned in Vietnam. According to a report in Variety, Vietnamese authorities have claimed that the movie violates its sovereignty after a scene in Barbie depicts a map with the “nine-dash line.” The scene features a map that shows territory in the South China Sea claimed by China.
The Warner Bros. film was due to start screening in Vietnamese cinemas on July 21, the same day as its release in the US.
Barbie is considered one of the highly anticipated movies of the year. The report revealed that the Director General of the Vietnam Cinema Department, Vi Kien Thanh, informed on July 3 that this ban was decided by Vietnam’s National Film Evaluation Council.
Variety quoted Vi Kien Than as saying, “We do not grant a license for the American movie Barbie to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line.”
It turns out Margot Robbie’s Barbie is not the only film to witness a ban over the nine-dash line. A similar portrayal of the map has previously caused trouble for multiple films and TV series in Vietnam. So much so that even an animated film by DreamWorks’ called Abominable witnessed the same fate in 2019. Not only this but the Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg starrer Uncharted was also banned last year.
Talking about Barbie, the adventure fantasy film is inspired by the famous doll, who faces a crisis that makes her question her world and existence. The movie, apart from Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, also features Kingsley Ben-Adir, Emma Mackey, John Cena and Will Ferrell, among others. The movie will hit the theatres in India on July 21.
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