‘Barbie’ banned in Vietnam over “offending” South China Sea map

Vietnam has blocked screenings of Barbie because the film includes the “nine dash line map” that depicts islands in the South China Sea as being controlled by Beijing.

Vi Kien Thanh, director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, announced that Barbie will not be allowed to commercially screen in the nation, as ruled by the National Film Evaluation Council.

“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,” the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper stated, citing Thanh (via Variety).

The move follows Vietnam banning previous films including Uncharted and Abominable over the same issue.

In 2016 the UN ruled unanimously against the validity of the “nine dash line” map, however China responded by saying that it doesn’t recognise the UN’s decision.

Meanwhile, in other recent Barbie news, Margot Robbie has revealed the one request she made to director Greta Gerwig before filming the new movie.

Set for release on July 21, Gerwig’s film stars Robbie in the titular role, with Ryan Gosling as Ken.

Speaking about the film in an interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Robbie discussed how she fell in love with the character as a child when she was gifted a Barbie Dreamhouse for Christmas.

Such was the impact the gift had on her, that she revealed she asked Gerwig to allow her to live out the real-life fantasy of the Dreamhouse in the film.

“I’ll follow your vision. Whatever you want this Barbie movie to be, let’s do that,” she remembers telling the director. “Except I just have one favour.

“Please, please, please can we have a Dreamhouse where she has a slide that goes from her bedroom down to her pool, because that is my goal in life.”

The request from Robbie was clearly granted, as Barbie is seen sliding down said contraption in the film’s trailer, which you can watch here.

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