Warner Bros breaks silence over 'Barbie' ban in Vietnam over 'map controversy', calls it a 'child-like crayon drawing'

2023-07-07 07:48

'Those are ‘journey lines’ as usually seen in family animation and kid’s drawings and not ‘nine-dash line,' said a source

HANOI, VIETNAM: Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ got banned in Vietnam and the big banner has finally spoken out over the reason that led to it, a ‘controversial map.’ Just the trailer was enough for the South Asian country’s censor board to keep the movie away from its theaters. One of the scenes depicts where stars Margot Robbie and Kate McKinnon (called weird Barbie in the flick) are in the frame.

“The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing,” a spokesperson for the Warner Bros Film Group 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 country pulled its release with the depiction of contested territory in the South China Sea as it shows the ‘nine-dash line.’ MEAWW reports, ‘The U-shaped line refers to areas claimed by China, including territory considered to be part of Vietnam's continental shelf, where it was granted oil concessions.’

What is the South China Sea dispute?

The South China Sea is a significant geographic point, which holds tremendous economic and strategic significance. Since China is the dominant force in the region thanks to its economic and military powerhouse, it reinforces its claim over the region and built military installations and artificial islands. Meanwhile, the nations including Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam, dispute China's claim.

Notably, an international tribunal in The Hague rejected China's claim in 2016, but China outrightly rejected their judgment and continues to maintain a stronghold in the region.

Coming to the relevance of the controversial map scene in the movie, Robbie’s Barbie is going through an existential crisis and McKinnon’s Weird Barbie suggests the working doll step out and offer her a map to ‘the Real World,’ made by herself. One source claimed that those are ‘journey lines’ as usually seen in family animation and kid’s drawings and not ‘nine-dash line.’

'It’s cartoonishly unrealistic'

“I’m not sure this map, which you’d miss if you blinked at the one-minute mark in the third trailer, is admissible in the International Court of Justice. It’s cartoonishly unrealistic,” wrote Toronto Sun columnist Vinay Menon on Wednesday, June 5. “Where is continental Europe? New Zealand? What do the sailboats represent? Is that a jester’s crown atop Iceland?” ‘Barbie’ releases in North America on July 21. It comprises other big stars like Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Will Ferrell, Hari Nef, Issa Rae, and Simu Liu.