Philippines allows 'Barbie' movie to be screened, calls China map 'cartoonish'

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Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling at the premiere of "Barbie" held at Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on July 9, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. The Philippines cleared the "Barbie" movie for release following calls to ban the show due to a controversial map of China's "nine dash line." The decision came after the film review board concluded the map was "cartoonish" and that there was no representation of a controversial map feature that China uses to stake its claims to large swarths of the disputed South China Sea. Warner Bros. "Barbie" is unexpectedly turning out to be one of the most controversial movie releases this summer after Vietnam last week banned Greta Gerwig's comedic fantasy production about the famous doll. Promotional trailers reportedly featured a scene showing the "nine-dash line," a map feature China uses to justify its territorial claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea. "Considering the context by which the cartoonish map of the character 'Weird Barbie' was portrayed in the film, the review committee is convinced that the contentious scene does not depict the 'nine-dash line,'" the Philippines' Movie and Television Review and Classification Board said in a statement Wednesday. It said the decision came after reviewed the movie twice, and consulted both foreign affairs officials and legal experts.