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Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas, didn’t hold back. “Barbie’s new movie,” he cried out, “is nothing but a puppet show for the Chinese Communist Party.”
The much-anticipated flick starring the likes of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, directed by the brilliant Greta Gerwig, got banned in Vietnam. This is because of the scenes depicting a map that reflects China’s disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Reports indicate the film’s planned release in Vietnam on July 21 has been canceled.
Major Vietnamese cinema chains removed the movie from their performance schedules, in accordance with the government’s decision to ban the film over its portrayal of the controversial ‘nine-dash line.’
A spokesperson for Senator Ted Cruz voiced strong criticism, accusing the film of propagating Chinese propaganda.
“Senator Cruz has been steadfast in his efforts to prevent American companies, with a particular emphasis on Hollywood studios, from modifying and censoring their content in a bid to curry favor with the Chinese Communist Party,” read the statement.
It went on to express concerns about China’s influence over American media content.
“China seeks to manipulate what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think. They exploit their vast film markets as leverage to compel American companies into disseminating CCP propaganda.”
“The Barbie movie seems to have fallen into this very trap with the inclusion of the disputed map,” the statement added.
Senator Cruz passed legislation in 2022, preventing government cooperation on films that cater to such censorship.
The issue at hand can be traced back to China’s continued attempts to exert its territorial claims over parts of the South China Sea, using the so-called ‘nine-dash line’ to mark its expansive claims over the resource-rich water body.
The boundary has been a matter of dispute between several nations including Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
Tien Phong, a Vietnamese state media outlet, reported the controversial scene with the ‘nine-dash line’ was shown multiple times in the movie.
It’s worth noting that all films in Vietnam are required to pass through a censorship process that screens for excessive violence, explicit sexual content, or politically sensitive material.