‘Barbie’ Movie Banned In Vietnam Due To South China Sea Map

Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie will not be released in Vietnam. The country has banned commercial screenings of the film due to a scene that shows a map of the controversial “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea.

The U-shaped nine-dash line is a boundary China has used to claim territories in the South China Sea. This line is challenged by other nations in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, which says the territorial declaration violates its sovereignty. Some of the contested areas are potentially rich in energy sources like oil and natural gas.

A court at The Hague in the Netherlands, which is home to the United Nation’s International Court of Justice, made a unanimous decision to reject the line, but China has ignored the ruling. There are currently no established tools for the implementation of the court’s verdict.

This is not the first movie Vietnam has banned because of the line. The country’s government banned the 2019 DreamWorks animated film Abominable and the 2022 action film Uncharted. Netflix also had to take out the 2021 Australian drama series Pine Gap from Vietnam.

50 BEST CELEBRITY BIKINIS SLIDESHOW!

Barbie is scheduled to release in theaters on July 21. The film stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken alongside a supporting cast of America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman and Will Ferrell. Its soundtrack features music from Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice and more.