Staff Writer
Philippine censors announced on Wednesday that they had cleared the Barbie movie for release in theaters after requesting its Hollywood distributor to obfuscate borders on a colorful globe map illustration that purportedly depicted China’s claims to the contested South China Sea.
On July 19, the Southeast Asian nation will host the world premiere of Greta Gerwig’s fantasy comedy movie about the well-known doll, which also stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
The government’s Movie and Television Review and Classification Board announced that it will permit the film to be screened after viewing it twice, discussing with foreign affairs officials, and legal professionals.
The censors started reviewing “Barbie” last week following reports that Vietnam had banned the movie due to scenes showing a map with the so-called “nine-dash line,” which China uses to support its maritime claims.
Despite rival claims from other Southeast Asian nations like the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam, Beijing asserts almost complete sovereignty over the South China Sea.
But after “meticulous” analysis of the film, Philippine censors were determined that the “cartoonish map” did not portray the nine-dash line.
“Instead, the map portrayed the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie from Barbie Land to the ‘real world,’ as an integral part of the story,” the censorship board stated in a statement.
In a separate letter to Philippine Senator Francis Tolentino, who had attacked the film for “violating Filipino fisherfolks’ rights”, the censors stated they had ordered Hollywood studio Warner Bros to “blur” the disputed lines on the map.
Dashed lines painted in a “child-like manner” appeared in various spots on the map around land masses labelled as Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia, the censors claimed.
But it discovered only eight dashes around the landmass marked “Asia”.
“Moreover, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia are not visible on the map,” the board wrote in the letter dated July 11 and shared with reporters.
“This is in stark contrast to the maps found in the banned films ‘Abominable (2019)’ and ‘Uncharted (2022)’,” it claimed.
The Department of Foreign Affairs stated it appreciated the opportunity to view “Barbie” to “ascertain if the depiction of the imaginary world map is inimical to the national interest”.
Warner Bros did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
But a Warner Bros spokeswoman was described by Variety as stating the map was a “child-like crayon drawing” and “not intended to make any type of statement”.
The Philippines’ acceptance of “Barbie” coincided with the seventh anniversary of an international judgement that China’s historical claims to the South China Sea have no legal validity.
