The highly anticipated “Barbie” movie is likely to be one of the hottest talking points of the movie summer.
However, the film is by no means enthusiastic and receives criticism even before its official premiere.
In the Philippines, a senator believed that several scenes “violate the rights of Filipino fishermen”. In Vietnam, the government prevents the country’s cinemas from showing the film.
Background: Dotted line map and historical power struggle for resources in the South China Sea.
Cinema screenings are prohibited
In one of the movie’s trailers, a drawn map line is shown. Vietnamese and Philippine authorities believe it shows a controversial map line drawn by China in 1947.
The map is known as the nine-pointed line.
Asia is shown in Barbie’s map with a dotted eight-dot line.
Photo: Warner Bros./screenshot
China claims a historic claim to everything within this line – about 90 percent of the South China Sea. However, the United Nations Court in The Hague dismissed the lawsuit in 2016.
– The Norwegian Film Authority saw the film and decided to ban cinema showings in Vietnam due to violations related to the “nine-point line”, according to the Vietnamese authorities.
Within the line lie the Paracels and the Spratly Islands. It is believed that there are large deposits of minerals, oil and gas in the surrounding waters.
China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei each have competing claims in the South China Sea.
Vietnamese cheer during a poster display as the United Nations International Court of Arbitration announces it has rejected the Nine Dividers line, July 12, 2016.
Photo: Bullit Marquez/Ap
It violates the rights of fishermen
Philippine Senator Francis Tolentino criticized the film for “violating the rights of Filipino fishermen”. He also indicates that the dotted nine line is the cause.
However, the Philippine authorities will allow cinemas in the country to screen the film.
On May 17, 1997, the Philippine Navy raised the country’s flag on a coral reef in the Panatag archipelago in the South China Sea. The Hague Arbitration Court recently ruled that China has no historical claim to the islands in the South China Sea.
Photo: Jess Yoson/AFP
the Philippine Oversight Board She gave the thumbs up to showing the film in cinemas in the country. But this did not happen until after they watched the film twice and consulted the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Maps should be darkened
They assured the senator that they had asked the Hollywood studio Warner Brothers to “blur” the lines on the map.
The censorship board believes that the fictional map only shows the action in the movie, when Barbie moves from “Barbie Land” to the “real world”.
The Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. China calls the islands Nansha, Vietnam Trung Sa and the Philippines Calayan. Illustrative image.
PHOTO: HANDOUT/REUTERS
Rest assured that the Board has used all possible resources to reach this decision.
The board notes that it has previously sanctioned filmmakers, producers and distributors for showing an imaginary “dotted nine line”.
And last year, Vietnam and the Philippines banned Tom Holland’s “Uncharted” for the same reason.
Barbie is produced by Greta Gerwig and stars Margot Robbie. The film will be shown in Norway on July 21.
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