This week the highly anticipated “Barbie” movie found itself in some entirely unexpected controversy – and it’s all tied to a bit or creative cartography.
A few days ago, Warner Bros. Discovery found its new film had been banned in Vietnam over the appearance of a hand-drawn world map which can be glimpsed in the trailer (see photo above).
The map deliberately has the various continents of the world in funny shapes as if drawn by a young child, but also includes what is believed to be a representation of the ‘nine-dash line’ – line segments on maps meant to indicate China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Vietnam disputes said claims and believe they violate the sovereignty of the country. Then on Tuesday, the Philippines’ film regulator posted a notice confirming “Barbie” was under review with one senator asking them to block the movie over its map.
Now, in a statement regarding the issue, a spokesperson for the Warner Bros. Film Group tells Variety that the map found in the film is not meant to represent any sort of real-world scenario:
“The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing. The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the ‘real world.’ It was not intended to make any type of statement.”
The map in question is said to be a plot point in the film as Barbie (Margot Robbie) refers to it on her adventure. The Greta Gerwig-helmed film also stars Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Will Ferrell, Helen Mirren, Dua Lipa and more.
“Barbie” opens in cinemas everywhere on July 21st.
