Barbie banned over ‘objectionable content’

Barbie’s release has been delayed in another huge country as the moral police warns “it will be censored”. The fresh controversy follows uproar in the South China Sea over a child-like map.

Barbie’s film release has been delayed in Pakistan’s most populous province over “objectionable content”, with officials warning “it will be censored when deemed necessary”.

Farrukh Mahmood, secretary of the Punjab Film Censor Board, told AFP the fantasy-comedy film, which stars Australian Margot Robbie as the title character and Ryan Gosling as her boyfriend Ken, didn’t elaborate as to what part of the film was objectionable or why.

Margot Robbie stars as the title character in the pink-tinged feminist flick. Picture: AFP

All films in Pakistan must be cleared by provincial boards that censor anything deemed a violation of the country’s social and cultural values before being released.

However, it has been cleared in the capital, Islamabad, and the province of Sindh.

“I have been looking forward to watching Barbie for months,” Nousheen Saad, a resident of Punjab’s capital city of Lahore told AFP.

“It makes no sense that it’s OK to be shown in Karachi or Islamabad, but not Lahore.”

It’s unclear what specifically authorities have found objectionable. Picture: Warner Bros

The pink-tinged flick, written and directed by Greta Gerwig, generated a huge amount of buzz ahead of its release and has been lauded as the most highly anticipated movie of the year.

It premiered around the world this week, hitting Australian cinemas on July 20, and has already raked in USD $22.3 million (AUD $33.1 million) from box-office previews.

It’s expected to reach USD $100 million (AUD $148.5 million) this weekend.

A world map sparked a stir over a dashed line to the left of Asia. picture: Warner Bros

But Pakistan isn’t the only country where the plastic fantastic film has caused controversy.

Barbie has proven to be a political hot potato in the South China Sea over a scene depicting a hand-drawn world map with a dashed line that appears off the side of Asia.

It prompted Vietnamese officials to ban the film, arguing the line represents China’s controversial claim over the hotly disputed strategic territory.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism revoked the movie’s licence about two weeks ahead of its scheduled release and online advertisements were all shut down.

It’s expected to made USD $100 million by the end of the week. Picture: Warner Bros

“We do not grant a license for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to be released in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line,” Vi Kien Thanh, head of the ministry’s department of cinema, reportedly told state-run newspaper Tuoi Tre.

Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines also disputed the map, but Warner Brothers said it’s a “childlike crayon drawing... not intended to make any type of statement”.

Barbie is the most hotly anticipated film of 2023. Picture: AFP

It’s expected Barbie will be released in Punjab once it has been fully reviewed and the censoring process is complete — however, it’s unclear what it will look like at the end.

In November, the Cannes prize-winning film Joyland — Pakistan’s entry for the 2023 Oscars — was banned by the government for being “clearly repugnant” to decency and morality.

The film depicts a Pakistani married man’s affair with a transgender woman.

It was later cleared by the national censorship board after the government ordered a review, however, Punjabi officials took a conservative stance and upheld the ban.

Another film, Zindagi Tamasha, was banned in 2019 after its director was accused of blasphemy over a scene depicting a religious man dancing at a family event.

With additional reporting from wires.

Originally published as Barbie banned over ‘objectionable content’