Barbie was banned in Vietnam due to a scene containing a map with the nine-dash line, but the Philippines have decided not to ban the film. Instead, the map in the scene might be blurred. The release date for the movie in the Philippines will be July 19th. The nine-dash line is a controversial indication that suggests China’s claims of certain territories, which places like Vietnam and the Philippines say violate their sovereignty. China also has no legal basis for making these claims.
The Philippines went through a week of debating if the movie should be banned. After much public debate, they decided not to ban the heavily anticipated film. Barbie is directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. The summer blockbuster is set to release on July 19th.
The film went through the Philippines’ Movie and Television Review and Classification Board. In a letter to the public, they announced Wednesday that they had “exhausted all possible resources to arrive at this decision.” The board met with foreign affairs officials and legal experts to make this decision. Overall, it was decided that after meticulous scrutiny of Barbie, there was no basis for a ban.
The board did, however, request Warner Bros. To blur the map scene that, caused controversy. The board states that they do not want anyone to misinterpret the scene. This is the same scene that caused a ban in Vietnam.
The board did say that this was most likely not the intention of the “cartoonish map”; instead, the map is supposed to look like Barbie’s journey to the real world. This is not the first time a movie has been banned over the depiction of a map. The Uncharted film starring Tom Holland was banned in both of these countries. A ban in these countries can cause the movies to lose millions.
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