This could be a blunder by Warner Brothers or they're pandering to the Chinese government to get the movie accepted in their market, which is obviously a big one. I think it's the latter and shows...
The American live-action movie reportedly features a scene with a map showing the “nine-dash line.” This is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims to large parts of the South China Sea. Vietnam is just one of many nations that contest those claims.
The territory dispute was brought to an international tribunal in The Hague in 2016, and resulted in a rejection of China’s claims to the majority of the South China Sea. But Beijing did not accept the judgement. The South China Sea is a vital trade route connecting the main arteries of trade in Southeast Asia.
This could be a blunder by Warner Brothers or they're pandering to the Chinese government to get the movie accepted in their market, which is obviously a big one.
I think it's the latter and shows that Warner Brother executives would step as low to help China legitimise its stolen territory for profit.
Totally disagree. I think it's a very obvious allusion to the real thing and there is absolutely no reason for this to be in the movie other than appealing to China/Chinese censors.
Seems like a nothing-burger to me.
Totally disagree. I think it's a very obvious allusion to the real thing and there is absolutely no reason for this to be in the movie other than appealing to China/Chinese censors.
I dunno, it seems entirely possible that the artist who made this didn't even know there is a border dispute. They were just told to make a silly nonsensical map and pulled from random maps they...
I dunno, it seems entirely possible that the artist who made this didn't even know there is a border dispute. They were just told to make a silly nonsensical map and pulled from random maps they found on the internet.
I wouldn't have been able to tell you this was a "problem" with this map unless somoene explicitly pointed it out to me, as happened here.
If the line wasn’t there I don’t think Chinese censors would even notice. It doesn’t look like China or even Asia. It’s a fictional map that looks nothing like the real world.
If the line wasn’t there I don’t think Chinese censors would even notice. It doesn’t look like China or even Asia. It’s a fictional map that looks nothing like the real world.
I tend to agree. It's such an oddly specific detail to include in an otherwise crude and inaccurate drawing. It's like drawing breasts on a stick figure. Why it's there is a mystery, but it does...
I tend to agree. It's such an oddly specific detail to include in an otherwise crude and inaccurate drawing. It's like drawing breasts on a stick figure. Why it's there is a mystery, but it does look intentional.
It doesn't. It has everything to do with Vietnam. The piece of the puzzle that's missing here is that the current Vietnames government is very sensitive at the moment and is doing things like...
It doesn't. It has everything to do with Vietnam.
The piece of the puzzle that's missing here is that the current Vietnames government is very sensitive at the moment and is doing things like demanding Meta use AI to detect and remove anti- Government content from facebook.
China is Hollywood's most lucrative foreign market so it's a no brainer at this point to keep the image in, but it's Vietnam's current political climate that made this into a thing.
No it isn't. The south China sea issue is a highly politicised issue that has been going on for years, coupled with the Hollywood-oandering-to-china issue on subjects like LGBT, south China sea,...
No it isn't. The south China sea issue is a highly politicised issue that has been going on for years, coupled with the Hollywood-oandering-to-china issue on subjects like LGBT, south China sea, Taiwan etc, which has also been getting (even) more attention lately.
Vietnam is calling it out because it has a stake in the issue, so does Indonesia, Philippines etc who also regularly call out bullshit like this.
Vietnamese governmental issues have nothing to do with either, this movie, the south China sea, or calling this out. Why did you think it is?
I think perhaps I didn't express myself clearly. Obviously the South China Sea is an ongoing geopolitical issue. This is the third film Vietnam has banned for showing this line. In the absence of...
I think perhaps I didn't express myself clearly. Obviously the South China Sea is an ongoing geopolitical issue.
This is the third film Vietnam has banned for showing this line. In the absence of Vietnam or other small stakeholders, I really don't think either China or the filmmakers would have put any thought into this particular instance. It's not a plot point.
Warner Bros execs probably didn't say "make sure you put a Chinese map in the background" and China's various censors (bizarrely, many different depts get input at this point) probably didn't say "yes let's screen this film because of its background map."
the article doesn't include a screenshot of the map in question (possibly for copyright reasons, possibly because they don't want CNBC itself to get censored in Vietnam for showing it?) here's a...
the article doesn't include a screenshot of the map in question (possibly for copyright reasons, possibly because they don't want CNBC itself to get censored in Vietnam for showing it?)
in both of those, I think the addition of the nine-dash line is superfluous and could just as easily have been left out.
in Barbie's case...the line is superfluous, but so is the entire map.
mild conspiracy theory: given how good the rest of the buzz marketing around Barbie has been, I can't help but wonder if they threw in those dashes on purpose, knowing the history of other films getting banned for it, and counting on it to generate media coverage for them?
Conspiracy theory eh. Well there was the whole Top Gun taiwan flag thing too. Maybe they already know the movie won't pass in China and might as well throw in some easily editable buzz maker issue...
Conspiracy theory eh. Well there was the whole Top Gun taiwan flag thing too. Maybe they already know the movie won't pass in China and might as well throw in some easily editable buzz maker issue and get some more press marketing before airing. Probably already have another version ready to air.
I've seen pictures of the offending "map" and I'm amazed they can make the leap to call that the line in question. At best you could say it's because it starts somewhere in the "east", but there's...
I've seen pictures of the offending "map" and I'm amazed they can make the leap to call that the line in question. At best you could say it's because it starts somewhere in the "east", but there's literally nothing else that could identify the area as the South China Sea.
Smacks of the government looking for anything it can to either stir up outrage or stealth ban something it doesn't like about the cultural implications of whatever's in the movie.
I can't even tell where China is supposed to be on that thing, let alone this claim line. It's an abstract map that doesn't represent anything accurately, and I doubt people would even notice if...
I can't even tell where China is supposed to be on that thing, let alone this claim line. It's an abstract map that doesn't represent anything accurately, and I doubt people would even notice if they somehow snuck in this claim line for some unimaginable reason.
I mean, I was taking it at face value that it's not rotated, but the mountains near the top of "Asia" on there make more sense if they're the Urals. If so the line would be coming out of the...
I mean, I was taking it at face value that it's not rotated, but the mountains near the top of "Asia" on there make more sense if they're the Urals. If so the line would be coming out of the middle of nowhere in Siberia instead of China, which makes this whole thing even dumber.
Look at a map of the south china sea and it has a whole bunch of different claim lines. I think its reasonable to guess the map in the movie is maybe alluding to that... but which claim line it is...
Look at a map of the south china sea and it has a whole bunch of different claim lines.
I think its reasonable to guess the map in the movie is maybe alluding to that... but which claim line it is depicting is a probably a stretch.
This could be a blunder by Warner Brothers or they're pandering to the Chinese government to get the movie accepted in their market, which is obviously a big one.
I think it's the latter and shows that Warner Brother executives would step as low to help China legitimise its stolen territory for profit.
This is the offending map (thanks, spit-evil-olive-tips).
Seems like a nothing-burger to me.
Totally disagree. I think it's a very obvious allusion to the real thing and there is absolutely no reason for this to be in the movie other than appealing to China/Chinese censors.
So it was made by a Chinese artist or designer, got it
I dunno, it seems entirely possible that the artist who made this didn't even know there is a border dispute. They were just told to make a silly nonsensical map and pulled from random maps they found on the internet.
I wouldn't have been able to tell you this was a "problem" with this map unless somoene explicitly pointed it out to me, as happened here.
If the line wasn’t there I don’t think Chinese censors would even notice. It doesn’t look like China or even Asia. It’s a fictional map that looks nothing like the real world.
I tend to agree. It's such an oddly specific detail to include in an otherwise crude and inaccurate drawing. It's like drawing breasts on a stick figure. Why it's there is a mystery, but it does look intentional.
There's a simple reason. Maps often have dotted lines on them.
Occam's Razor should be applied here.
It’s not even a real map of the world. It’s some weird highly stylized graffiti. I don’t think this has anything to do with China.
It doesn't. It has everything to do with Vietnam.
The piece of the puzzle that's missing here is that the current Vietnames government is very sensitive at the moment and is doing things like demanding Meta use AI to detect and remove anti- Government content from facebook.
China is Hollywood's most lucrative foreign market so it's a no brainer at this point to keep the image in, but it's Vietnam's current political climate that made this into a thing.
No it isn't. The south China sea issue is a highly politicised issue that has been going on for years, coupled with the Hollywood-oandering-to-china issue on subjects like LGBT, south China sea, Taiwan etc, which has also been getting (even) more attention lately.
Vietnam is calling it out because it has a stake in the issue, so does Indonesia, Philippines etc who also regularly call out bullshit like this.
Vietnamese governmental issues have nothing to do with either, this movie, the south China sea, or calling this out. Why did you think it is?
I think perhaps I didn't express myself clearly. Obviously the South China Sea is an ongoing geopolitical issue.
This is the third film Vietnam has banned for showing this line. In the absence of Vietnam or other small stakeholders, I really don't think either China or the filmmakers would have put any thought into this particular instance. It's not a plot point.
Warner Bros execs probably didn't say "make sure you put a Chinese map in the background" and China's various censors (bizarrely, many different depts get input at this point) probably didn't say "yes let's screen this film because of its background map."
the article doesn't include a screenshot of the map in question (possibly for copyright reasons, possibly because they don't want CNBC itself to get censored in Vietnam for showing it?)
here's a tweet that does (and an imgur mirror if twitter is loginwalled for you)
it's...uhh...a bit underwhelming. besides the line only having eight dashes, there are several other inaccuracies in that map.
this reddit post has a screenshot of the map from Uncharted, and a BBC article shows the map from Abominable.
in both of those, I think the addition of the nine-dash line is superfluous and could just as easily have been left out.
in Barbie's case...the line is superfluous, but so is the entire map.
mild conspiracy theory: given how good the rest of the buzz marketing around Barbie has been, I can't help but wonder if they threw in those dashes on purpose, knowing the history of other films getting banned for it, and counting on it to generate media coverage for them?
Conspiracy theory eh. Well there was the whole Top Gun taiwan flag thing too. Maybe they already know the movie won't pass in China and might as well throw in some easily editable buzz maker issue and get some more press marketing before airing. Probably already have another version ready to air.
China Bad Barbie Good?
I've seen pictures of the offending "map" and I'm amazed they can make the leap to call that the line in question. At best you could say it's because it starts somewhere in the "east", but there's literally nothing else that could identify the area as the South China Sea.
Smacks of the government looking for anything it can to either stir up outrage or stealth ban something it doesn't like about the cultural implications of whatever's in the movie.
I can't even tell where China is supposed to be on that thing, let alone this claim line. It's an abstract map that doesn't represent anything accurately, and I doubt people would even notice if they somehow snuck in this claim line for some unimaginable reason.
I mean, I was taking it at face value that it's not rotated, but the mountains near the top of "Asia" on there make more sense if they're the Urals. If so the line would be coming out of the middle of nowhere in Siberia instead of China, which makes this whole thing even dumber.
Look at a map of the south china sea and it has a whole bunch of different claim lines.
I think its reasonable to guess the map in the movie is maybe alluding to that... but which claim line it is depicting is a probably a stretch.
I can understand banning this movie, but not for this reason /jest
It's a perfectly good reason. Warner Brothers is helping China to legitimise stolen territory.
Yeah I agree. There was no reason to include a dashed line where China is on that highly inaccurate map, but they did.