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[1/2]Actress Margot Robbie is pictured during a photo shoot for the upcoming Warner Bros movie ‘Barbie’ in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
LOS ANGELES, July 6 (Reuters) – Warner Bros ( WBD.O ) studio said on Thursday that a map in the upcoming “Barbie” movie of the South China Sea is a “childish” drawing with no intended meaning, days after Vietnam . he said he would ban the film over the map.
Vietnam hit back at a map scene showing China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea, state media reported on Monday. It has decided to ban the domestic distribution of the highly anticipated film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
Warner Bros believed the map was harmless.
“The map in Barbie Land is a whimsical, childlike crayon drawing,” the studio said in a statement. “The doodles depict Barbie’s imaginary journey from Barbie Land to the real world. He had no intention of making any kind of statement.”
“Barbie” was originally scheduled to open in Vietnam on July 21, the same date as the United States, according to the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper.
Vietnamese authorities objected to a scene showing a map that includes the so-called nine-dash line, the newspaper said. The U-shaped line is used on Chinese maps to depict China’s claims to vast areas of the South China Sea, including areas of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions.
“We do not license the American film ‘Barbie’ in Vietnam because it contains the offensive image of the nine-dash line,” the newspaper quoted Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Film Department, a government body, as saying. responsible for the licensing and censorship of foreign films.
“Barbie” is the latest film to be banned in Vietnam for depicting China’s nine-dash line, which was rejected in an international arbitration ruling by a court in The Hague in 2016. China refuses to recognize the ruling.
This week, Vietnam also opened an investigation into the website of tour organizer K-pop group Blackpink, ahead of the group’s concert in Hanoi, over criticism from fans that it showed a map of the South China Sea with disputed boundaries.
Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles Editing by Mary Milliken and Matthew Lewis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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