Typically, censorship news coming from Asia tends to be the consequence of decisions made by the China Film Administration, but Vietnam is no stranger to these types of decisions either, with Uncharted only being the latest victim. The sole topic of Taiwan’s recognition as an independent country has sparked endless debates and tumultuous international affairs ever since the island nation was established in 1949, although nowadays claims over the “nine-dash line” section of the ocean - which extends to territory that is also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, including the Paracel and Spratley Islands - has taken up the spotlight as one of the region’s focal points for potential conflict.
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That being said, this particular geopolitical mess is now at fault for getting Uncharted banned in Vietnam. State media reported that “The film was banned from distribution after we watched it and found it contained an illegal image of the infamous nine-dash line.” The ban stems from a scene that features a map showing the area under Chinese control, a portrayal that is deemed unacceptable by Vietnamese authorities that have banned or censored other productions in the past due to similar circumstances.
This is hardly the first time Vietnamese authorities have intervened in such fashion, as blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians was edited to omit a similar map, and Dreamworks’ Abominable was also pulled from theaters over the same reasons. Uncharted premiered in China last week, raking in a reported $15M from the box office for a country where console gaming, and thus the Uncharted games, lack the recognition they have in other parts of the world.
Considering not even Avengers: Endgame, Taiwan’s highest-grossing film ever, only totaled $12.3M in 2019, it’s fairly easy to see why Sony prioritized pleasing Chinese censors instead of Taiwanese ones, as has often been the case for most of Hollywood. In China’s case, the communist nation has refused to recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation since the People’s Liberation Army of the Chinese Communist Party ousted the then-governing Republic of China (Taiwan’s official name) from the mainland.
More recently, John Cena was forced to apologize for mistakenly acknowledging Taiwan as a country, with the Peacemaker actor going as far as posting a video in fluent Mandarin Chinese to address the issue. Suffice to say, China is no stranger to censorship with some of the country’s latest policies geared towards eliminating video game violence and “effeminate men."
Uncharted is currently available in theaters.
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Source: The Hollywood Reporter
