This time, Barbie miraculously survived. Philippine censors said Wednesday (July 12) that they allowed the US blockbuster to be shown in cinemas, on the condition that the Hollywood distributor blurs out a card that appears to be marrying controversial Chinese claims in the South China Sea.
The Hollywood comedy about the famous doll, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, is set to be released in the Southeast Asian country on July 19.
sequel after announcement
After reviewing the film twice and consulting with foreign affairs officials and legal experts, the state Film and Television Review and Ratings Commission said it would allow the film to be shown.
International diplomacy: all roads lead to Beijing
Political line or magic way?
Philippine censors began reviewing “Barbie” last week, after the movie was banned in Vietnam due to scenes featuring a card that appeared to contain The nine-dotted linewhich China uses to justify its controversial territorial claims in the South China Sea, as explained by the newspaper “Le Monde”.
Almost all of this sea is claimed by Beijing, to which other Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam have competing claims.
But after watching the movie “accurately”Philippine observers said “cartoon card” did not act The nine-dotted line But itinerary for Barbie’s imaginary journey to “The real world”The oversight committee explained in a press release.
sequel after announcement
“Rest assured that the Board has exhausted all possible resources to reach this decision, as in the past we have not hesitated to punish filmmakers, producers and distributors for featuring the imaginary ‘nine-dotted line’ in their documents.”said the commission.
Eight dotted lines are identified
In a separate letter to a Philippine senator who criticized the film for its existence ‘Violated the rights of Filipino fishermen’the censors said they asked the Hollywood studio Warner Bros. to do so “blur” Controversial dotted lines on the map.
Dotted lines drawn “like a baby” They appear at multiple locations on the map in areas believed to represent Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia, observers said.
The Warner is 100 years old and we all have cinema history with it
The censor board found only eight dotted lines on the map that were supposed to be drawn“Asia”. Also, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia are not visible on the map.The committee said in the same letter dated July 11 and released to the press.
AFP contacted, and Warner Bros. did not immediately respond. But a studio spokesperson, quoted by Variety, said the card was a “A colored pencil drawing similar to a child’s drawing” Which It was not intended to make any statement..
