The entire world has been happily admitting to being a Barbie girl in preparation for the new Barbie movie, but fans in Vietnam could be left disappointed.
As the cast continues their pink-tinted tour around the world, landing in Korea recently, Vietnam has ruled that the Greta Gerwig film will not be airing in theatres.
Authorities will not allow the highly anticipated feature to be screened commercially on July 21 as expected, due to a disagreement over a map scene.
Barbie, which sees Margot Robbie in the titular role, is a fish-out-of-water story as the beloved Mattel doll enters the real world for the first time, with Ken joining her.
Pink has become the colour of summer and fans are eagerly awaiting the film’s release, which has been pitted against Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
However, fans in Vietnam will miss out on this cinematic event as Barbie is said to contain a scene with a map, which authorities say violates the country’s sovereignty.
The Barbie ban was decided by the National Film Evaluation Council as it includes a map that features a nine-dash line, used to represent China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.
China’s neighbouring countries, including Vietnam, have overlapping territories and dispute the line along with territorial claims from China.
In 2016, a United Nations disputes resolution tribunal in The Hague did unanimously rule that China has no legal claim to any historic rights within the nine-dash line.
The line remains contentious as it is hard to regulate and while the UN ruling was binding, China does not recognise the decision.
‘We do not grant license for the American movie Barbie to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line,’ said the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper, citing Vi Kien Thanh.
Vi Kien Thanh, is director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
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Barbie is not the first film to be blocked in Vietnam for using the contentious line, with Uncharted starring Tom Holland facing the same dilemma last year.
Animated films aren’t exempt either as Dreamworks found out with 2019’s Abominable, which was banned from airing in Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Spy drama Pine Gap was removed from Netflix in Vietnam for the very same reason as well as shows Put Your Head On My Shoulder and Madam Secretary having to delete scenes.
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Barbie is released in cinemas July 21.
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