Sam Amico
The new Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling is ready to hit theatres in the U.S. on July 21st, but as for Vietnam, forget it!
Videos by Rare
And you can blame the nine-dash line — or a set of line segments on a map in the film that alludes to disputed territory between China and Taiwan in the South China Sea.
To much of the rest of the world, it’s probably not a big deal. But to South East Asian countries, it’s serious business.
Somehow, this territory is seen in the Barbie movie. And it is the very reason it won’t be viewed in Vietnam.
“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 Vietnamese Department of Cinema said in a statement, via CBS News.
The nine-dash line is just part of the long history of the South China Sea being contested, as explained by CBS:
“Since the late 1940s, China has promoted the so-called nine-dash line in the South China Sea,” the outlet wrote. “The line, also known as the ‘U-shaped line’ or ‘cow’s tongue’ comprises nine dashes.
“As depicted in various official and unofficial Chinese maps, the line extends off the coast of China’s Hainan Island, and runs close to the coast of Vietnam, deep into the South China Sea, enclosing the Spratly Islands.”
It appears this region appears in a cartoonish map behind Robbie as Barbie. And that’s enough for Vietnam to abandon the bright and colorful world of Barbie Land.
