Vietnam bans ‘Barbie’ premiere for geopolitical reasons, but we don’t have to travel 10,000 kilometers to find troubling censorship maneuvers

I don’t mean, far from it, to sound disastrous, however We live in dark times. There are many reasons to worry, but today we’re going to focus on something that might sound cliche, like our beloved world of cinema, to feed our existential pessimism, since Censorship for political reasons again led to the death of a new victim. Specifically, one that features good vibes and pastel colors.

Barbie stays home

As mentioned Delivery timeAnd Vietnam banned any kind of commercial screening From “Barbie,” the potential movie phenomenon of summer 2023 directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie that was supposed to be released in the Asian country on July 21. the reason? known as “nine point line”.

The nine dotted line is A line drawn by the government of the People’s Republic of China to delineate the territories it claims in the South China Sea which includes areas such as the Paracel Islands, currently occupied by China but claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam itself. Conflict serves.

During one of the “Barbie” scenes, You can see a map of the South China Sea showing the aforementioned controversial layout, which led to the ban. Phi Kin Thanh, Director General of the Vietnamese Film Department, affiliated to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, justified the decision as follows:

“We did not agree to license the American movie Barbie to be released in Vietnam because it contains an offensive nine-point image.”

this It’s not the first time That old line affects the premiere in Vietnam. Without going any further, titles like “Abominable”, “Uncharted” or “Pine Gap” have already been banned from displaying the maps they include.

Spain is (not) different

Unfortunately, it is not necessary to travel 10,000 km or plunge into republics with one-party systems of government and, say, “not very transparent” We find ourselves with typical censorship at other times. The news of Barbie’s ban came a few days after a democracy like Spain’s made a maneuver that was, to put it mildly, alarming.

On July 1, the Department of Culture of the City Council of Bizana, represented by Manuela Bolado, decided to cancel the showing of the Pixar film “Lightyear” with the approval of the Mayor of the Popular Party, Carmen Pérez Tejedor. The reason, as expected, is nothing but The controversial kiss between two women This takes seconds of footage.

The cancellation of the screening of “Lightyear” comes after it was denounced by the Teatro Defondo – Canceling the performance of the play “Orlando”, based on Virginia Woolf’s novelwhich was to take place on November 25 in Valdemorillo – Madrid, “by decision of the government team”, composed of the Councilor for Culture and Tourism Victoria Amparo Gil Movillan, of the Vox party.

Spain of course is no different. Now it remains only to see if We will reach levels of absurdity like those of the mid-1950s With the premiere of John Ford’s brilliant Mogambo, when Franco’s censor changed the content of the story through dubbing, turning the case of adultery into incest. shining.

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