Warner Bros explain ‘Barbie’ Vietnam map controversy
The news arrived recently that Greta Gerwig’s upcoming movie Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has been banned in Vietnam over concerns about a scene showing an outdated map.
Barbie had been set to be released in the South-East Asian country on July 21st, but it will no longer be shown after being pulled from cinemas by the director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department, Vi Kien Thanh.
“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,” Thanh recently said in a statement.
The “nine-dash line” is said to be representative of the territorial claims of China over the South China Sea, which the authorities in Vietnam believe undermines their power and sovereignty.
Now, a spokesperson for the Warner Bros Film Group has made a statement claiming that the map in the Barbie scene had not been intended to cause offence or any sort of political statement.
“The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing,” the spokesperson told Variety. “The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the ‘real world.’ It was not intended to make any type of statement.”
The film is still set to be released in other parts of the world. Check out the trailer below.
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