Vietnam Nixes ‘Barbie’ Launch Over South China Sea Map – The Diplomat

ASEAN Beat | Safety | Southeast Asia

Any of Vietnam’s moviegoers wishing to catch the anticipated Hollywood movie “Barbie” later this month should go to appreciable lengths to take action, after the federal government introduced that it was blocking the home distribution of the movie over scenes with a map exhibiting China’s claims to territory within the South China Sea.

In accordance with studies in state media, Vietnamese officers declare that a number of scenes within the film function a map together with an outline of the “nine-dash line,” which is utilized by Beijing as an instance its expansive maritime claims within the disputed seaway, which conflict with Vietnam’s personal claims.

“The movie assessment board watched the movie and made the choice to ban the screening of this film in Vietnam as a consequence of a violation concerning the ‘nine-dash line’,” Vi Kien Thanh, the director of Vietnam’s Division of Cinema, advised the Dan Tri information web site, in accordance with AFP.

The “nine-dash line,” or “U-shaped line,” types the idea of China’s vaguely delineated however maximalist claims to just about all the South China Sea. Looping downward from the southern a part of the Chinese language mainland alongside the littorals of Southeast Asia, it embraces massive swathes of the Unique Financial Zones of Vietnam and the Philippines, in addition to waters claimed by Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia. The Chinese language declare was dominated legally invalid by an arbitral tribunal in The Hague in 2016, a ruling that Beijing has refused to acknowledge.

“Barbie,” a shameless mining of Mattel I.P. that was as a consequence of be launched in Vietnam on July 21, shouldn’t be the primary movie to seek out itself in troubled waters with Vietnam’s censors, who display screen all worldwide releases for gratuitous violence and intercourse scenes, along with politically-sensitive materials.

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Final 12 months, “Uncharted,” an action-and-adventure film starring Tom Holland, was banned from theaters as a consequence of scenes that featured the Chinese language declare. This got here after DreamWorks’ animated movie “Abominable” was blocked from home distribution in Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines in 2019, for together with a map exhibiting the “nine-dash line,” whereas Netflix Vietnam eliminated a number of episodes of the Australian spy drama “Pine Hole” in 2021, despite the fact that the movie’s dialogue described the claims as disputed.

Vietnamese censors have additionally reduce particular scenes from different movies and TV exhibits, together with a scene within the hit movie “Loopy Wealthy Asians” that featured a designer bag with a map of the world exhibiting disputed South China Sea islands underneath Beijing’s management.

All of this raises the query of why Hollywood producers hold wading into these troubled waters. One would have thought that repeated controversies would alert them to the significance of steering away from delicate territorial disputes. Certainly, with each controversy involving the “nine-dash line,” it turns into more durable to keep away from the suspicion that this isn’t unintentional in any respect: that the depiction of Chinese language claims in in any other case principally irrelevant contexts is a purposeful try by producers to ingratiate themselves with Chinese language officers and moviegoers.