How do ‘Barbie’ and Blackpink figure in a dangerous territorial dispute?

Barbie doll heads with different hair styles in the design center at Mattel headquarters in El Segundo, California, US, on Aug 26, 2022. (Bloomberg file photo)

Of all the things that could inflame tensions in a region that could someday be a theatre of war between superpowers, the movie “Barbie” was not an obvious catalyst. Yet here we are.

The authorities in Vietnam this week banned the upcoming Greta Gerwig film over a map in “Barbie” that they said shows a Chinese map of territory in the South China Sea, where the two neighbours have competing claims.