Barbie Land Dispute
The much-hyped Barbie Movie is described like this: “Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.” One of those perils is that very few humans look like Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. Another peril: geopolitics. The impending blockbuster has been causing some international strife, especially in Vietnam, where the movie has been banned because of a map that appears in the movie. “Shown for only a split second, the map looks as if it were drawn by a child — one who likes bright colors and has failed geography class. Among a mess of shapes and scribbles, one oddly specific detail stood out to reviewers from Vietnam’s National Film Evaluation Council: a dotted, U-shaped trail crossing into the ocean from what’s supposed to be China. As far as the council is concerned, this is no ordinary doodle, but a clear and deliberate representation of the so-called nine-dash line: a maritime boundary demarcating Beijing’s contested ownership of the South China Sea.” This perceived affront is actually part of a broader story, and a bigger deal, explained here by Tim Brinkhof in Vox. How Hollywood appeases China, explained by the Barbie movie.
+ While the broader issue is real, Barbie and Ken might be innocent of these charges. After “two review sessions, thorough deliberations, and consultations with relevant government agencies, including a legal expert on the West Philippine Sea,” the Philippine government’s Movie and Television Review and Classification Board is convinced that the map “does not depict the nine-dash line, but rather ‘portrayed the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie from Barbie Land to the ‘real world,’ as an integral part of the story.'” Also, they only counted eight dashes. Thus, they’ve agreed to allow the movie as long as the scene featuring the map, that has been deemed inoffensive, is blurred. There’s of course a broader lesson in all of this: If you’re having the time of your life in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land, stay there.
