Is 'Barbie' Movie Banned In Pakistan? Here's What We Know

Greta Gerwig's highly-anticipated summer flick 'Barbie' is in theaters now, but the movie starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling is facing a ban in many countries due to a specific scene that recognises an Asian political conflict.

The controversial scene depicts a map with the nine dash line, a representation of China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, which Vietnam said that it violates its sovereignty.

Vietnam bans 'Barbie'

Vietnam became the first nation to take action, banning the distribution of the popular 'Barbie' movie because it includes a view of a map showing disputed Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

It said a map in the film shows China's nine-dash line, which extends Beijing's territorial claims far into waters that fall within areas claimed by Vietnam and other countries.

The nine-dash line is an arcane but sensitive issue for China and its neighbours that depicts Beijing's claims to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, which Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines reject.

An international court ruled in 2016 that the nine-dash line has no basis in law and the Philippines was entitled to an exclusive economic zone in part of the area claimed by Beijing. China rejected the ruling.

'Barbie' released with cuts in Pakistan

The screening of Hollywood movie 'Barbie' was temporarily halted in Pakistan's Punjab province. Islamabad took the decision considering the film's LGBTQ+ themes. However, the film was released in theatres across the province after some dialogues were censored.

Reports of 'Barbie' being banned in Pakistan began doing rounds on social media when the Punjab Film Censor Board did not issue a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) in this regard.

Some social media users even claimed that they were asked to get a refund for the tickets and the movie stopped screening midway.

However, Pakistan is not the only Muslim country to ban the film as other Islamic nations such as UAE, Egypt, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia.

As most Islamic nations don't view pro LGBTQ content with great enthusiasm, nor do they take it very positively, such bans on Hollywood films and serials that have pro-LGBTQ content is not uncommon.

While the other countries have only put a temporary ban on it, Iran has permanently banned it.

Russia and Philippines

Apart from Islamic nations, countries such as Russia, and Philippines have also banned the movie.

According to IANS report, Russia temporarily banned the film due to it what the state considers "promoting a consumerist attitude among infants" while Philippines banned it due to its depiction of the Nine Dash Line which these counties say violates their sovereignty as a depiction of this line, strengthens China's claims in the South China Sea over which these nations have outright rejected China's claims.

'Barbie', a live-action fantasy comedy starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, hit the screens worldwide to highly positive reviews on July 21.

According to multiple reports, 'Barbie' has surpassed Oppenheimer in more than 70 international territories.