Barbie isn’t cancel-proof after all, as hopes of turning Vietnam pink are dashed

Hollywood thought an edgy movie about an iconic blonde doll with a diverse cast would make it cancel proof, they were wrong.

Margot Robbie in Seoul to promote her Barbie film. Picture: AFP

Margot Robbie must have thought she was the mastermind of one of the most diverse casts of all time with her upcoming Barbie movie.

During the Australian press tour this past week, we have been introduced to actors who represent Black Barbie, Trans Barbie, Astrophysicist Barbie and Mature Aged Barbie – but Fiery Cross Reef Barbie, who comes with her own radar station and airstrip, was a shocking, and scandalous, inclusion.

It’s not Ryan Gosling’s frosted tips, the scene featuring grotty ­Birkenstocks, or more pink than an international women’s day morning tea that has led the new Barbie film to be banned in Vietnam – it’s a map.

A hypercolour mud map which appears in the film’s trailer has caused international condemnation and now has scholars and social media commentators alike asking questions about the films ­financial backers and if this homage to a plastic doll is actually ­communist propaganda.

The highly anticipated film about the world’s most popular doll will not be screened in Vietnam due to a cameo of a “highly ­offensive” image of a map containing the so-called “nine-dash line”, which is a visual representation of China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, something Vietnam says violates its sovereignty.

In 2016, a UN disputes resolution tribunal in The Hague ruled unanimously against the validity of the nine-dash line. However, while the South China Sea arbitration was final and binding, there are no clear mechanisms for its implementation and China has said it does not recognise the decision.

(L-R) American actress America Ferrera, American actress and director Greta Gerwig and Australian actress Margot Robbie pose for a photo during a pink carpet event to promote their new film Barbie in Seoul.

For years, many of China’s neighbours, including Vietnam, have contested territorial claims in the region and strongly dispute China’s assertions.

Vi Kien Thanh, director-general of the Vietnam Cinema Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, said the ban was decided by the National Film Evaluation Council.

“We do not grant licence for the American movie Barbie to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line,” the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, also citing Mr Kien Thanh.

It’s not the first time the line has been censored in Vietnam. Back in 2021, Netflix was ordered to remove Australian spy drama Pine Gap from the Vietnamese market.

Barbie has been tipped to be a subversive, sassy take on feminism and gender norms that is directed by Greta Gerwig – an emerging name in Hollywood for both her acting and directing in indie films – and driven by Robbie, who both stars as the blonde doll and co-­produced the movie.

Judging from the trailer and reams of positive press, including a Time cover, the millennial creators of the new instalment of the Barbie franchise incorrectly assumed that they – and their $150m project – would be impervious to cancel culture.

It may tick all the politically correct boxes in terms of gender, race and cultural representation but the film has crossed a line when it comes to geopolitical issues, even though the nine-dash line depicted in the film appears to have only eight dashes.

The offending map isn’t even real. It’s merely a cartoon sketch during a scene. However, the scene is a pivotal moment in the movie when Barbie is told she has to go to the “real world”.

The news of the ban came at the same time the US government issued an official travel warning to for Americans to “reconsider” travel to China because of an increased risk of “exit bans and the risk of wrongful detention”.

Barbie now follows in the footsteps of previous diplomatic missteps by former speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice-President Kamala Harris. Forget a missing laptop, a wayward son with curious connections and Donald Trump – the Biden administration’s foreign ­affairs record could be besmirched by a Barbie doll.