2023-07-12 12:47:00
Wednesday, July 12, 2023 / 16:47
The Philippine censorship authorities announced Wednesday that they had authorized the release of the American movie “Barbie” on the condition that the distribution company shade a map showing areas over which China asserts its sovereignty in the South China Sea.
The film, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is scheduled to be released in the Philippines on July 19.
After reviewing the film twice and consulting with State Department officials and legal experts, the government’s Film and Television Review Committee announced that it would allow it to be shown in cinemas.
The Philippine authorities began reviewing the film last week, following Vietnam banned it due to scenes containing a map showing areas China asserts its sovereignty over in the South China Sea.
But following watching it “carefully”, the Philippine authorities pointed out that the “cartoon map” does not show the so-called “nine sector line” that China uses to illustrate its vast claims over most of the resource-rich sea, but rather the course of Barbie’s imaginary journey to the “real world” according to Committee in a statement.
In a letter to a Philippine senator who criticized the film for “violating the rights of Filipino fishermen,” the commission said it had asked Warner Bros. to “shade” the controversial dotted lines on the map.
The commission explained that the dotted lines drawn in a style “almost like a child’s line” appear in several places on a map of areas that are supposed to represent Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia.
On the map, the commission found only eight dotted lines, which were supposed to constitute “Asia”.
In the same letter, she indicated that “the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia are not on the map.”
A Warner Bros. spokesman confirmed that the map was “a crayon drawing similar to a child’s drawing” and was not intended to express any position, according to Variety magazine.
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