“Bye, Barbie” Vietnam bids adieu! Barbie banned by Vietnam for a scene showing the nine-dash line map

Vietnam has banned the highly-anticipated Barbie movie due to a scene featuring a map that depicts the nine-dash line. The map represents China’s territorial claims over the South China Sea. The Chinese claims overlap with the exclusive economic zone claims of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. As a result, Vietnam believes that its sovereignty is being violated.

All commercial screenings of Warner Bros’ Barbie have been banned in Vietnam. The movie was originally slated for release on July 21 in Vietnam. On Monday, Vi Kien Thanh, director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism said that the ban was decided by the National Film Evaluation Council.

“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,” said the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper, also citing Vi Kien Thanh.

Vietnam is one of China’s many neighbouring countries which strongly dispute China’s assertions. These countries have their own territorial claims that contest and overlap with those of China.

In 2016, an international tribunal was held in The Hague, Netherlands and unanimously ruled against Chinese claims in the South China Sea. However, this judgement was not recognised by Beijing which has been building military bases in the area for years. It also conducts regular naval patrols to assert its territorial claims.

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Barbie is not the first film to be banned in Vietnam due to this controversial map. Previously, DreamWorks’ animated film “Abominable”, and Sony’s “Uncharted” suffered the same fate in 2019 and 2022 respectively.

In 2020, the series “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” and “Madam Secretary” were told to delete scenes containing the map. Furthermore, in 2021, Netflix was ordered to remove the Australian spy drama “Pine Gap” from the Vietnamese market.

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Directed by Greta Gerwig, Barbie is set to release on July 21 this year. It stars Margot Robbie as the beloved doll, Barbie, opposite Ryan Gosling as Ken. Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives as they revel in the colourful, and seemingly perfect, world of Barbie. However, when the two venture into the real world they discover the joys and perils of a life among humans.