AMONG members of Congress, we expect senators to be more intellectually and experientially prepared, the reason that to be elected, they must be at least 35 years old and know how to read and write. Many of them are lawyers, academicians, former local officials, human rights advocates, and liberals, therefore believers of fairness and basic rights such as rights to free speech and free expression.
These intellectuals in government know that censorship is anathema to free expression and democratic traditions, but bait them with a movie like “Barbie” which allegedly showed the legitimacy of China’s nine-dash-line claim on almost the whole of South China Sea and they invariably reveal their censor’s fangs.
Vietnam, also a claimant to a portion of the South China Sea, has reportedly banned the showing of the Warner Brothers movie “Barbie” which is about the iconic doll and starring Margot Robbie. It is slated to be released in local theaters on July 21.
‘The fate of “Barbie” is now in the hands on the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) which had encountered the very same problem before.’
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, a consistent China critic, said, “The movie Barbie is fiction, and so is the nine-dash line.” Short of banning the film, the senator proposed: “At the minimum, our cinemas should include an explicit disclaimer that the nine-dash line is a figment of China’s imagination.”
The usually circumspect Sen. Francis “Tol” Tolentino, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, was somewhat aggressive this time in supporting his colleague from the Senate minority group.
Admitting that he has not watched the film, Tolentino noted that the movie “will not just be injurious to the Republic of the Philippines but would be contrary to what our country fought for and achieved under the Arbitral Ruling in 2016.”
An interesting, if appropriate, take on the nascent controversy about Barbie came from a movie industry leader, Sen. Robinhood Padilla, who has spent much of professional life as a movie actor.
Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, said that the decision to allow the showing of the movie “Barbie” in the Philippines should depend on its message.
“First, in the interest of fairness, I cannot make a personal call at this time on whether or not to allow the showing of the movie ‘Barbie’ in the Philippines, without first watching it,” Padilla said in a statement. “If the scene or scenes will affect the arbitral ruling, but if the producers would agree to edit it or them out, then I have no problem having it shown.”
Padilla said if an agreement cannot be reached to make sure the film does not become a geopolitical issue, then there is no choice but to disallow its showing in the Philippines.
The fate of “Barbie” is now in the hands on the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) which had encountered the very same problem before. The board disallowed the showing of the films “Abominable” (2019) and “Uncharted” (2022) precisely due to their depiction of the controversial Chinese claim of nine-dash line. Let us see how the MTRCB, under pressure from some senators, will pass judgment on this film “Barbie.”
