The much anticipated ‘Barbie’ movie has had mostly very favourable news about it, from the titular character played by Margot Robbie to Ryan Gosling as Ken, having a lot of big names in the cast, -pop girl group Fifty Fifty lending a song in the official album, and more, it has mostly been good news.
The Greta Gerwig-directed movie has been much looked forward to for finally depicting the iconic children’s doll Barbie in an interesting way onscreen and a new avatar. However, it seems the movie has finally hit a bump in the road with it being banned in Vietnam.
The movie set to release on 21st July was revealed to have been banned in Vietnam by authorities because it shows a map that includes the controversial “China’ nine-dash line”.
Why Did The Movie Get Banned?
On Monday, 3rd July reports first announced that Vietnam had banned the release of the ‘Barbie’ movie in the country.
Vi Kien Thanh, director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism according to state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper said that “We do not grant licence for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line.”
As per reports, the decision was finalised by the National Film Appraisal and Classification Board which is in charge of licensing and censoring foreign movies in Vietnam.
Mr. Thanh used a Vietnamese phrase to explain why it was banned saying that it was because of “the illegal image of the ‘cow’s tongue line’ [nine-dash line] in the film.”
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Vietnam Plus, another state newspaper, also added that the scene and the inclusion of that map “distorts the truth, violates the law in general and violates sovereignty of Vietnamese territory in particular.”
The movie apparently, has a scene that shows such a nine-dash line in the map going over a territory in the South China Sea that both China and Vietnam state is under their rule.
As per Vietnam, this violates its sovereignty since the map included areas that reportedly the country “considers its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions.”
What Is The Issue With The Nine-Dash Line?
The ‘nine-dash line’ or also China’s nine-dash line is a U-shaped “nine-dash line” often used by China in maps to show territories in the South China Sea that China claims to be its own.
This type of line is apparently often used in Chinese maps to claim as much as 90% of the South China Sea, something that not just Vietnam but several of China’s other neighbours have raised objections too.
The flag first seen on maps in 1947 includes several overlapping territories with not just Vietnam but other neighbours like Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia that have contested China’s claims over the territory.
In 2016 the United Nations disputes resolution tribunal at The Hague denounced the nine-dash line and that China did not have any legal basis for its claims, however, Beijing does not recognise the ruling. Instead, the authorities have only made aggressive moves to take control of the waters like conducting aggressive incursions and putting up military installations.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Variety, Reuters, The New York Times
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Barbie Movie, Barbie Movie banned, Barbie Movie vietnam, Barbie Movie vietnam ban, Barbie Movie ban, Barbie Movie vietnam map, vietnam, vietnam china, vietnam map
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