Republican lawmakers are lashing out at the upcoming “Barbie” movie over a controversial detail in the film: a view of a map that appears to show Chinese claims in the South China Sea.
The film, set to be released later this month, includes a scene where the beloved doll character stands in front of a colorful, cartoon drawing of the world. The map shows a dashed line near where China could be located, which some critics have said resembles the “nine-dash line.” That’s used on some Chinese maps to suggest they control South China Sea territory.
Warner Bros. said in a statement to multiple outlets that “The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing.”
“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,” the studio added.
Vietnam:‘Barbie’ gets banned over map showing disputed South China Sea
But that hasn’t stopped Republican lawmakers from criticizing not only the movie but also the film industry itself.
“While it may just be a Barbie map in a Barbie world, the fact that a cartoonish, crayon-scribbled map seems to go out of its way to depict the PRC’s unlawful territorial claims illustrates the pressure that Hollywood is under to please CCP censors,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., said, referencing the Chinese Communist Party, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
Bethany Stevens, a spokesperson for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a statement to USA TODAY, “China wants to control what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think, and they leverage their massive film markets to coerce American companies into pushing CCP propaganda—just like the way the Barbie film seems to have done with the map.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., last week tweeted “The ‘Barbie’ movie’s depiction of a map endorsing Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea is legally & morally wrong and must be taken seriously.”
Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., last week tweeted “Since the Barbie movie is promoting a world in which China controls most of the South China Sea, perhaps this movie studio should think twice about asking for assistance from the DoD for its next action movie.”
The Department of Defense has long worked with the film industry on movies telling military stories.
Vietnam has already banned distribution of the movie over the view of the map.
Contributing: Lawrence Andrea, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Associated Press
