After A Review, 'Barbie' Movie Will Show In The Philippines, After All
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine film industry regulator has ruled that the upcoming Barbie movie can be shown in theaters across the country after examining a map shown in the Warner Bros. movie that appears to depict a controversial series of nine Chinese scripts. .
It's about the scene where Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, shows up at another Barbie's house looking for help with her existential crisis. In the background of this scene, a color map of the "real world" can be seen very briefly, with a dotted line emanating from the east coast of the Asian continent.
The nine-dash line is the line used by China when it claims arbitrarily much of the South China Sea. Several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, have long been embroiled in a territorial dispute with China over a key waterway and claim Beijing's claims threaten their sovereignty.
The Philippine Board of Film and Television Review and Classification said in a statement that, given the context, "the review board is satisfied that the controversial scene does not represent 'Line of Nine'." a fictional journey from Barbieland to the 'real world', an integral part of the story."
Warner Bros. protected him. about the card, saying it was a "creepy kid's pencil" that wasn't meant to make a statement. However, many saw the map as a gigantic studio breaking into the multi-billion dollar Chinese film market and growing.
Philippine Senator Francis Tolentino, who initially said last week that regulators should consider the film, called the decision "sad."
"We respect this MTRCB, whether it's an 8 dash series, a 7 dash series or a 9 plate series," Tolentino told reporters. “What I see here is that China continues to claim Philippine waters and trample on the rights of our fishermen and even the Philippine Coast Guard.”
The move meant that the Philippines would not join Vietnam and take the film off the map. Barbie joins a growing list of films banned in Vietnam for using nine-script rule cards, including DreamWorks' Hideous and Sony's Uncharted.
The decision to allow Barbie to appear in cinemas in the Philippines comes just days after the Philippine Coast Guard announced that a large swarm of nearly 50 Chinese ships are approaching Iran's coral reefs, which are firmly anchored in Philippine waters. Worried that the shallow water could mean China is preparing to invade the reef, Philippine officials have ordered a beefed up coast guard and military presence to prevent Beijing from taking action.
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