Warner Brothers have quickly defended their upcoming movie Barbie after it was banned in Vietnam.
The movie's trailers have been steadily released in the run up to the release on July 21st. However, Vietnam have banned the film from domestic releases in their country due to an "offending image of the nine-dash line".
However, Warner Brothers have hit back at the claims, stating that the map is "whimsical" and "child-like," highlighting that they're part of Barbie's "make-believe journey".
"The map in Barbie Land is a whimsical, child-like crayon drawing," the studio said in a statement. "The doodles depict Barbie's make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the real world. It was not intended to make any type of statement."
A scene in the film includes a map with the nine-dash line, a geographical line showing China's claim over most of the South China Sea, which is highly disputed among countries in the region. This pre-World War Two line has Vietnam saying the PG-13 movie violates its sovereignty.
Vi Kien Thanh, the director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, announced the ban on Greta Gerwig's newest film. The ban was decided by Vietnam's National Film Evaluation Council.
Their statement read: "We do not grant licenses for the American movie 'Barbie' to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line."
A United Nations tribunal decided in 2016 that the nine-dash line was invalid, but China does not recognise the decision and there is nothing set in place to enforce the tribunal's ruling.
Barbie stars Margot Robbie as the bubbly and fun Barbie and Ryan Gosling as "just Ken", according to the movie posters and marketing and is set to premiere later this month on the same day as Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, causing fans to plan for a double feature and compare the marketing of both films.
