Beyond Barbie: Hollywood's blurred boundaries & confused ethnic identities

Misrepresentation of borders and whitewashing of characters continues, with 87% American directors being white

After the much-anticipated Barbie movie ran into a controversy in both Vietnam and the Philippines, Warner Bros has come out in defence of its marquee offering. The film has a scene that depicts a version of the world map with the "nine-dash line". It is a representation of China's territorial claims to the South China Sea – a demarcation opposed by Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, and which was repudiated by an international tribunal in The Hague in 2016.

The scene has led to the film's ban in Vietnam. However, the studio has defended the map as a “child-like