Film 'Barbie' Alami Penanggan Gegara Peta Laut China Selatan Dengan Nine-Dash Line

Barbie film. (Twitter/@barbiethemovie)

JAKARTA - The film 'Barbie' produced by Warner Bros. and will launch this summer has come under opposition, due to a scene featuring a map showing territory claimed unilaterally by China.

The ban was carried out due to the appearance of nine U-shaped cut-off lines (nine-dash lines) being used on Chinese maps, to illustrate Beijing's claims over the vast territory of the South China Sea, including plots of territory deemed to be the takeoff of Vietnam's continuum, where China has provided an oil concession.

'Barbie', starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was originally scheduled to launch in Vietnam on July 21, the same date as in the United States, according to the government-owned Tuoi Tre newspaper.

"We did not give permission for the American film 'Barbie' to be released in Vietnam, because the film contains images that offend nine broken lines," said Vietnam's Head of Film Department, Vi Kien Thanh, citing Reuters from Tuoi Tre July 7.

'Barbie' is the latest film banned in Vietnam for describing nine controversial Chinese break-up lines, which were rejected in an international arbitration ruling by a court in The Hague in 2016. China refused to recognize the decision.

In 2019, the Vietnamese government withdrew the animated film DreamWorks 'Abominable' and last year banned the action film Sony 'Uncharted' for the same reason. Netflix also removed the Australian spy drama 'Pine Gap' in 2021.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. on Friday said the map was nothing more than a "little boy-like picture" and of course not a political statement whatsoever.

"The map on Barbie Land is a strange and children-like image of the storm," Warner Bros. said in a statement Friday, citing NBC News.

"The doodle describes Barbie's imaginary journey from Barbie Land to the real world. It's not meant to make any statements," the studio continued.

Separately, several senators in the Philippines have called for 'Barbie' to be banned, or a form of funding added to 'fight' the map.

The film 'Barbie' itself is currently being considered by the Philippine Film Review and Television Classification Agency.

"'Barbie' is fiction, as are the nine break-up lines," senator Risa Hontiveros said, as quoted by The Guardian.

"At least, our cinemas should include an explicit filing that nine breakup lines are a figment of China's imagination," he said.

Both the Philippines and Vietnam are both at the forefront of the South China Sea dispute, a resource-rich and strategically important waterway, as well as one of the world's busiest trade routes.