The Hollywood comedy, which is released in France on Wednesday July 19, is visibly dissatisfied in Asia, especially in the Philippines.
There are areas that are no joke, even in Hollywood. And on the borders, you have to be very careful, even when you’re a plastic doll. The scenes that cause a stir are those where we see Barbie in front of a map of the world, like a child’s drawing.
Next to the block of Asia, blue, white dots, as can be seen in the photo illustrating this tweet below:
However, for several Southeast Asian countries, this is a provocation. These lines, drawn on the South China Sea, do not represent reality, but Beijing’s claims. For the Philippines, and for other countries in the region, these dots are not innocent: they take up the Chinese narrative and its expansionist desires.
Chinese claims…
In reality, this line even has a name: “Nine dash line”, the “line of nine lines”. It is an unrecognized maritime border in southern China, near the coasts of Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, known as an area rich in fish, oil and natural gas.
And this is where small Filipino and Vietnamese fishing vessels regularly come up against large Chinese vessels. And that, “it’s not a movie“, plague a Filipino senator. Beijing wants to set up bases in this region of the globe: this border appears on Chinese official documents, as well as on Chinese passports.
… And one stroke less
Because of this card, Vietnam decided in early July to ban the film Barbie in its halls. In the Philippines, the discussion was longer. Manila has already banned two films because of the depiction of this “nine-stroke line”, Abominable in 2019 and Uncharted in 2022. For Barbie, authorities first asked Warner Studios to blur the map. No answer. A big meeting was then held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: agents viewed “meticulously” the film twice, then sent it to legal experts. Conclusion: there are not nine strokes, but eight.
So it’s not a map, but the itinerary of Barbie’s imaginary journey in the “real world“. This is what Warner had replied at the time of the controversy with Vietnam: “The map that appears in Barbie is made to look like a child’s drawing. The doodles are meant to represent Barbie’s imaginary journey from her universe to the real world. This is in no way a statement of any kind…”
Error, naivety or attention to Chinese censors? When you see the size of the Chinese cinema market, some wonder.