‘Barbie’ map controversy slapped down by Warner Bros.: ‘Child-like crayon drawing’

The highly-anticipated “Barbie” movie has been the subject of many popular trends around the world — but Vietnam’s decision to ban the movie has been making headlines

Now Warner Bros. is attempting to clarify its intention.

The film, directed by Greta Gerwig, was set to hit theaters in the country on July 21, aligning with its big-screen release in most countries around the world.

However, Vietnam announced the movie will not be released due to a scene that includes a map using the “nine-dash line” — a set of line segments that represents China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea — which Vietnam claims violates its sovereignty.

But the studio rejects the need for controversy.

“The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing,” a spokesperson for the Warner Bros. Film Group told Variety. “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.”

An infographic titled "South China Sea a hotbed of sovereignty disputes between China, coastal countries" created in Ankara, Turkiye on January 06, 2023. — The U-shaped line, which was first seen on maps in 1947, includes parts that Vietnam sees as its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions.

The map depicted in the film is seemingly done by a child — complete with scribbled dolphins and hashtags floating around in the water — and is seen during a moment when Barbie is in an existential crisis and considering going on a journey to the “real world.”

While many have viewed it as the “nine-dash line,” one source said the lines represented “journey lines” — dashes often used to represent where a character has traveled to or from on a map.

The U-shaped line, which was first seen on maps in 1947, includes parts that Vietnam sees as its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions.

This mage released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in a scene from "Barbie." — The map depicted in the film is seemingly done by a child, complete with scribbled dolphins and hashtags floating around in the water.

The line is highly controversial as many of China’s neighbors — including Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam — have competing and overlapping territorial claims, and the Chinese territory is contested.

“We do not grant license for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line,” state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper said, citing Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of Cinema, Reuters reported.

Vi Kien Thanh said the decision was decided by the National Film Evaluation Council.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also slammed the upcoming movie for including what his office called Chinese communist propaganda.

“I guess Barbie is made in China….” the senator tweeted.

“China wants to control what Americans see, hear and ultimately think, and they leverage their massive film markets to coerce American companies into pushing [Chinese Communist Party] propaganda — just like the way the ‘Barbie’ film seems to have done with the map,” a representative for Cruz told the Daily Mail.

“Barbie” isn’t the first film to face problems with its release in Vietnam over the “nine-dash line” dispute.

In 2019, DreamWorks’ “Abominable” was banned for the same reason, while Sony’s “Unchartered” was blocked last year.

TV series “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” and “Madam Secretary” were told to delete certain scenes containing the map in 2020, and Netflix had to remove the Australian spy drama “Pine Gap” from streaming in Vietnam in 2021.

“Barbie,” starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, will be released in U.S. theaters on July 21.