Animated 'Abominable' film gets in hot water over South China Sea

[essentialsaltes]

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"Abominable" is an animated film about a young Chinese girl who embarks on an elaborate trip across China to return a magical Yeti, named Everest, to the Himalayas. The movie is a joint collaboration between Dreamworks Animation and Shanghai-based Pearl Studios in China, and is voiced predominantly by actors of Asian ancestry.
In a scene close to the start of the movie, the main character, Yi, goes to her rooftop hideout in which she has spread out a map of China.
Clearly visible on the map is a U-shaped dotted line stretching from China's southern coast and encircling almost all of the South China Sea.

In 2016, an international court dismissed China's expansive claims to the South China Sea and ruled the nine-dash line as legally invalid.

But the line is disputed by at least four other countries in the region, including Vietnam, which says it overlaps with its own territorial claims under international law.

In response, Vietnam has pulled distribution of the film.

 

[IceJad]

To me Vietnam has all the rights to pull it from screening in their borders although I would have preferred them to just censored the few seconds it was on screen.

What I'm more concerned about is Dreamworks siding with China on the 9 dash line. I know it was jointly produced with Pearl a Chinese company but still I would have expect Dreamworks to not pick a side and force Pearl to do the same.

Does the map really need to have that 9 dash line when other countries in the map don't have their borders drawn in the same manner? It is clear as day it was meant to sent a subtle message. And this is not the only time such things were put into Hollywood produced movies. The new Top Gun movie had the flags of Japan and Taiwan replaced with random symbols on Maverick's flight jacket.

A troubling trend in Hollywood appeasing authorities outside their own country for money.

 

[durangodawood]

Offended countries could just draw a different line, with a sharpie.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Kudos to the animators for their attention to detail... it would figure a Chinese map would have a Chinese bias...