Manila Allows Screening Of Barbie Film Amid Map Controversy

12-7-2023 (MANILA) The Philippine censors announced on Wednesday (Jul 12) that they have granted permission for the upcoming Barbie film to be shown in cinemas, after requesting the Hollywood distributor to blur a map that allegedly depicted China’s claims to the disputed South China Sea.

The fantasy comedy film, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is scheduled to premiere in the Southeast Asian nation on Jul 19.

Following two reviews of the film and consultations with foreign affairs officials and legal experts, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board of the Philippine government stated that it would allow the screening of the film.

The scrutiny by censors began last week when Vietnam reportedly banned the film due to scenes featuring a map displaying the so-called nine-dash line, which China uses to assert its maritime claims.

Despite China’s rival claims from other Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam, Beijing asserts control over almost the entire South China Sea.

After careful examination of the film, the Philippine censors were convinced that the “cartoonish map” did not depict the nine-dash line.

According to the censorship board’s statement, the map portrayed the fictional journey of Barbie from Barbie Land to the “real world” as an integral part of the story, rather than the controversial territorial claim.

The board emphasized that it had thoroughly considered all available resources before making the decision, as they have previously taken action against filmmakers, producers, or distributors who featured the fictitious nine-dash line in their materials.

In a letter to Philippine Senator Francis Tolentino, who had criticized the film for violating the rights of Filipino fishermen, the censors stated that they had asked Warner Bros, the Hollywood studio behind the film, to blur the controversial lines on the map.

The censors pointed out that the dashed lines on the map, drawn in a “child-like manner,” appeared around land masses representing Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Asia. They found only eight dashes around the landmass labeled “Asia” and highlighted that the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia were not visible on the map. This was in contrast to the maps in the banned films Abominable (2019) and Uncharted (2022), according to the censors’ letter.

Warner Bros has not yet responded to AFP’s request for comment, but a spokesperson for the studio was quoted by Variety as stating that the map in question was a “child-like crayon drawing” and was not intended to make any political statement.

The approval of Barbie by the Philippines coincided with the seventh anniversary of an international ruling that declared China’s historical claims to the South China Sea as having no legal basis.