Banning the Barbie Movie: A Work of Fiction

When the new Barbie movie was banned in Vietnam for purportedly showing a map with China's 9-dash line eyebrows were raised in the Philippines as everyone expected the MTRCB to follow suit. One Senator, without having seen the film, said it was a matter of national prestige. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1204936

A senator urged the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) on Wednesday to block the upcoming screening of Warner Bros. Pictures' "Barbie" movie after the film’s digital illustration of a scene with the so-called "nine-dash line" claim of the Chinese government of their supposed militaristic expansion in the entire South China Sea (SCS) region, including the zone along the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

In an interview with CNN Philippines, Senator Francis Tolentino warned that allowing the local screening of the film will only lead to "injurious" consequences to the prestige of the Philippines.

“This will not just be an injurious to the Republic of the Philippines but would be contrary to what our country fought for and achieved under that Arbitral Ruling in 2016,” Tolentino said.

“What the effect would be? Something that would dilute our sovereignty,” he added.

Is this guy for real? All the problems in the nation and he thinks one picture in a movie will be injurious the prestige of the Philippines? How about all the people killed in the drug war? Duterte's foul mouth? Troubles at NAIA? Crimes committed against tourists? Corrupt politicians and police? Pollution? Poverty? 

Is he also aware that Duterte called the arbitral ruling a piece of paper that could be thrown away? 

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/5/6/Duterte-PH-arbitral-win-vs.-China-a-piece-of-paper.html

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday called the country's arbitral victory against China's claims in the West Philippine Sea a piece of paper that he can throw away in a trash bin.

In his second late-night address this week, Duterte said the ruling affirming the Philippines' sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone is just a piece of paper that led to nothing.

"Nag-file sila ng kaso nanalo tayo... Sa totoong buhay, between nation, 'yang papel wala iyan...Actually... bigay mo sakin iyan sabihin ko 'P*t*ng-ina papel lang iyan'. Itatapon ko iyan sa waste basket," he said.

[Translation: They filed a case and we won. In real life, between nations, that paper is noting. Actually, if you give that to me, I will tell you 'Son of a ***** that is only a paper.' I will throw that in a waste basket.]

And it's not as if Marcos has been pressing China to abide by the ruling either. He is very chummy with Xi Jinping. 

Well, it turns out the MTRCB gave the movie a viewing and decided that it did in fact NOT depict China's 9-dash line. 

https://entertainment.inquirer.net/508818/mtrcb-approves-ph-screening-of-barbie-with-pg-rating

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has allowed the local screening of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” saying that the cartoonish map does not depict China’s nine-dash line but the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie.

“Having conducted two review sessions, thorough deliberations, and consultations with relevant government agencies, including a legal expert on the West Philippine Sea, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has given the film ‘Barbie’ a Parental Guidance (‘PG’) rating, which means viewers below thirteen (13) years old must be accompanied by a parent or supervising adult,” MTRCB said in a statement released on Wednesday, July 12.

“Considering the context by which the cartoonish map of the character ‘Weird Barbie’ was portrayed in the film, the Review Committee is convinced that the contentious scene does not depict the ‘nine-dash line,'” it further read. “Instead, the map portrayed the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie from Barbie Land to the ‘real world,’ as an integral part of the story.”

MTRCB said it “exhausted all possible resources” before it decided on the matter, stressing that the board did not show hesitation in sanctioning previous “filmmakers/producers/distributors for exhibiting the fictitious ‘nine-dash line’ in their materials.”

“The Board sternly warns all filmmakers, producers, and distributors that it will not hesitate to sanction and/or ban films that exhibit the ‘nine-dash line’ for being contrary to law, pursuant to Section 3(c)(d) of Presidential Decree No. 1986, the Republic Act No. 9522, otherwise known as the Philippine Baselines Law, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s South China Sea Arbitration Award, whose anniversary we, as a nation, are celebrating today,” it added.

This was not good enough for Senator Tolentino who fired back with:

Tolentino  lamented the board’s decision to screen the full movie, particularly in light of the seventh anniversary of the landmark judgment from The Hague disproved China's claim that it has historical sovereignty over the waters within its "nine-dash line" boundary.

[Translation: We respect the MTRCB whether it is an eight-dash line, seven-dash line, or nine-dash line - what we see here is China's continued encroachment on Philippine waters. And this is a clear violation of the rights of our fishermen, even of the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard.]

Tolentino further said that the MTRCB should have just removed the controversial scene that led Vietnam to ban the live-action adaptation.

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2023/7/11/MTRCB-allows-Barbie-screening-in-PH.html

It also wasn't good enough for Congressman Rufus Rodrigues who is demanding that the entire MTRCB resign. 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/7/13/rodriguez-calls-for-resignation-of-mtrcb-execs-for-green-lighting-offensive-movie-1

A ranking congressman wants officials of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to resign following their decision to allow the commercial release of the movie “Barbie” starting July 19.

Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez is up in arms over the board's decision, since the film reportedly contains a depiction or reference to China’s expansive nine-dash line territorial claim over the South China Sea, including parts of the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

“I am dismayed and disappointed by MRTCB’s decision. The inclusion in the movie of China’s illegal nine-dash line claim is against our national interest, which the board apparently does not appreciate. Those officials should not stay in government any minute longer,” Rodriguez said Thursday, July 13.

Rodriguez said the MRTCB members’ vote to allow the commercial showing of the controversial movie “embarrasses and demeans the country and the administration of President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. before the international community.”

“I have no doubt that President BBM Jr. supports the July 12, 2016 arbitral ruling. He has repeatedly stated so. We should be the first country and people to assert it and to insist that China complies with it because it was our victory in the international tribunal,” said the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments chairman.

He further noted that Vietnam--a country that has also butted heads with China over maritime claims--didn't allow the local release of Barbie.

“If its Vietnam counterpart has found it offensive, why can’t MTRCB? asked Rodriguez.

The MTRCB justified its decision by saying, "The Board believes that, all things considered, it has no basis to ban the film 'Barbie' as there is no clear nor outright depiction of the 'nine-dash line' in the subject of the film.”

Rodriguez said the board’s statement “is an admission that there is a portrayal of China’s claim in the movie, though it was not, to use the agency’s own language, ‘clear nor outright’".

“A direct or indirect insult is still an insult. If you don’t get that, MTRCB, shame on you!” he said the Mindanaoan, who has been a consistent critic of China’s encroachment and aggressive activities in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and the country’s EEZ.

How ridiculous. Vietnam found it offensive so the Philippines should too. Top logic there! And look at how Rep. Rodriguez twists the statement to the MTRCB so that "there is no clear nor outright depiction of the 'nine-dash line'" means there actually is a depiction of the 9-dash line just indirectly. How can one even respond to such stupidity? 

It's funny how these people get all twisted up over a movie but in real life they don't care about the 9-dash line at all. If they did they would be protecting fisherman and not cozying up to China. Philippine fishermen know.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1798133/ph-govt-told-to-popularize-2016-pca-ruling-on-south-china-sea-than-pick-on-barbie

A Filipino fishermen’s group has called on the government to “popularize in different venues” the Philippines’ 2016 arbitral victory in the South China Sea than nitpick on the “Barbie” movie.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) believed that the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should strongly assert the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity instead of yielding to suggestions to ban the fictional film over its depiction of China’s nine-dash line claim.

“A single scene in a film doesn’t have any bearing [on] what the Filipino fishers believe and stand for – that the West Philippine Sea is indisputably ours and ours alone. The Philippine government should instead popularize in different venues the 2016 arbitral ruling, as a way to uphold our national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap said in a statement.

The group added that the administration “would appear much tougher if it confronts China” about its trespasses in the West Philippine Sea.

Several senators were outraged by the depiction of China’s nine-dash line claim in the Barbie movie, with some calling for a ban on its screening in the Philippines.

“The Marcos administration would appear much tougher if it directly confronts China every time the latter causes an untoward incident in our territorial waters, rather than picking on a fictional film. For instance, Marcos should protest the recent harassment of Chinese vessel against Philippine Coast Guard in Ayungin Shoal,” Hicap said.

The Pamalakaya leader refers to an incident when Chinese vessels maneuvered dangerously close to Philippine Coast Guard ships last week.

“As for the Filipino fishers, we won’t be spending even a minute nitpicking on a detail in a fictional film. We’re too busy walking our talk and safeguarding our fishing grounds,” Hicap said.

But let's listen to President Marcos who apparently had a moment of clarity. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1205676

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. assuaged public worries on the controversial foreign movie “Barbie,” saying it is a “work of fiction.”

In a chance interview on the sidelines of his official engagements in Northern Samar on Friday, including the inauguration of the 11.607-kilometer Samar Pacific Coastal Road project in Laoang town, Marcos echoed the earlier expert opinion of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that a scene in the movie has nothing to do with nine-dash line claim of China in the disputed South China Sea.

In 2016, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled as illegal the so-called nine-dash line, which Beijing uses to illustrate its claims on at least 80 percent of the South China Sea, and that the invisible demarcation overlaps with the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

“Maganda raw eh, sabi nila (It’s a good one, according to them),” Marcos said of the film.

In response to concerns regarding the alleged tackling of China’s territorial claims, Marcos said the depiction of the boundary line is part of the movie.

“Ang sagot ko doon (My reply to that), what do you expect? It’s a work of fiction,” he said.

The MTRCB thinks the Barbie movie is a good film? It doesn't matter anyway because we all know the black market will be flooded with bootleg cam versions of this film. 

Kandahar Movie Poster: Filipino Edition

Kandahar is a 2023 film starring Gerard Butler as a freelance agent whose cover is blown and needs to be extracted from a hostile nation. It's a standard action film and a passable way to spend two hours. But I am not here to review this film. I want to talk about this strange movie poster I saw at Ayala. 

That is most certainly not the official poster for Kandahar. From the looks of it this movie takes place in a city while Kandahar takes place in the desert. The tag line makes it appear that the movie is about stopping a nuclear attack.

No hostile country can go nuclear. 

When the government has no jurisdiction... 

They send their best man from the outside to do the job.

Here is the same poster at the Mall of Asia in Manila.

https://dprime.kr/g2/bbs/board.php?bo_table=movie&wr_id=2830063

However, the Facebook page for The Cinema Exhibitors Association has an altogether different movie poster  for Kandahar.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=813535470358494&id=100451381666910

No hostile country can go nuclear.

When the government has no jurisdiction, they send their best man from the outside to do the job.

Why are they publishing that tagline when the movie poster says:

The only thing more dangerous than the mission is the escape.

It's weird but it gets even more bizarre. The picture of Gerard Butler being used in this movie poster is from the movie Plane!

https://www.sortiraparis.com/en/what-to-do-in-paris/cinema-series/articles/287504-mayday-the-action-movie-with-gerard-bultler-review-and-trailer

It's known as Mayday in France but it's the same movie. A close look at the hand holding the gun shows that it is definitely photoshopped over this picture of Gerard Butler. There are tattoos on the fingers. 

So, why does the Philippine movie poster for Kandahar feature a wrong tagline, a wrong picture of Gerard Butler, and a wrong setting? The movie poster database has several editions ofthe Kandahar movie poster none of them look like the Philippine version. 

https://www.movieposterdb.com/kandahar-i5761544?v=posters

 It is all rather strange. 

Directors Guild of the Philippines Says Banning Movies Violates Free Speech

Let it be known I criticized the movie Plane before it was cool. Though it was tounge-in-cheek because it's an OK movie and represents Jolo as well as a Hollywood movie can be said to represent Jolo. Now Senator, actor, and pardoned criminal Robinhood Padilla wants the movie banned and condemned because he says it represents the Philippines in a bad light. According to Padilla the MTRCB said they would enact his proposal. 

https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/movies/2023/02/19/2246107/robin-padilla-says-mtrcb-commits-ban-movie-plane

Senator Robin Padilla on Saturday said that he received a response from the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to ban the movie "Plane" from screening in local theaters.

"Yes. They told me, they talked to the distributor. And now we want to write to the producer himself," Padilla said in an interview with DWIZ.

The former action star said he met with the agency headed by chairperson Diorella "Lala" Sotto-Antonio in his office last Friday.

Holy moly they are going to be writing to the producer??  That would be.....a whole bunch of people including the star of the movie!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_(film)

Will Padilla and the MTRCB really be writing to and perhaps speaking with them? And what will each party say?  It's too ridiculous to comprehend especially since the movie has made double its budget and a sequel is in the works. 

The most interesting response to Padilla's call to ban the movie is from the Director's Guild of the Philippines. Note how Philstar uses the same graphic to illustrate both of these articles.  But admittedly they do have the better headline. 

https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2023/02/20/2246350/why-trolls-historical-revisionism-allowed-filipino-directors-question-banning-hollywood-film-plane

The Directors' Guild of the Philippines (DGPI) opposed the government’s plan to stop the theatrical release of the controversial Hollywood movie “Plane.”

In a statement released on their Facebook page, DGPI said that the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) already approved its release but politicians are just opposing it. 

“A proposed ban on the public exhibition of the film 'Plane' has been making the rounds of the news cycle,” DGPI said.  

"The Directors' Guild of the Philippines (DGPI) opposes to stop the showing of this movie, as we believe agency and free choice must remain with the public, rather than imposed by politicians. To out rightly ban the film, especially one already approved the MTRCB, is a cure much worse that the illness itself, injurious to free expression and sets a precedent for films to be held hostage by imagined slights to our country’s reputation,” it added.  

The DGPI also compared the movie to the fake news and troll armies who are revising history. 

"If the state can tolerate free expressions for trolls, fake news, and historical revisionism without worrying about their effect on the country's prestige, then the state can do the same for a work that members of the foreign press have regarded as mindless B-movie entertainment rather that a reliable commentary on our country's affairs,” it said.  

“We support allowing the film to screen, informing the public of any problematic claims it makes, inviting open debate, or simply ignoring the film altogether. But we stand against censorship or banning the exhibition of this film from screening,” it added.  

The petition was signed by DGPI president Mark Meily, board members Carlos Siguon-Reyna, Perci Intalan, Ed Lejano, Marlon Rivera, Roni Berfubi, Keith Sicat and Remton Zuasola.

What? Banning a movie is a free speech issue? Where were these guys when the MTRCB banned Uncharted, Abominable, and that Netflix show Pine Gap because they BRIEFLY showed China's 9-dash line?? Why can't the state tolerate China's 9-dash line being shown briefly in a film?  In some cases it was very relevant. But since these directors cannot be called upon to uphold free expression at all times they are not relevant at all. 

Action Movie "Plane" Insults the Philippine Government and Military

The movie Plane starring Gerald Butler is very much in the mold of Die Hard with one good guy versus a whole bunch of bad guys. There are some differences of course. 

The premise is rather simple: after being struck by lightning a plane crash lands and the crew and passengers must survive. The twist is that the plane lands on the island of Jolo which, according to the movie, is run by separatists and outlaws.  Now, we know that means Abu Sayyaf but the group is never named. We do learn that this group kidnapped missionaries for ransom and then killed them when the ransom was not paid. 

That is the modus operandi of Abu Sayyaf except they behead hostages rather than shoot them. 

When the corporate bigwigs at Trailblazer, the airline who owns the plane, find out that the plane was able to crash land safely the CEO says they should contact the Philippine government and they will send in local authorities with search and rescue. But the man he has brought into handle the situation says it's not so simple because there is no authority on Jolo Island and the military won't even go there because they've "got their asses kicked so many times." Instead he sends in his own paramilitary squad.

It's amazing this movie has not been called out as a complete insult to the Philippines and the Armed Forces of the Philippines and banned by the government as happened with Uncharted for showing a one second clip of China's 9-dash line on a map. One reviewer did have this to say:

Aside from showing a turbulent peace and order situation in the southern Philippines to the international audience, the film practically accused the Philippine government of not only poor emergency responsiveness, but outright cowardice for allegedly refusing to engage with the rebels at all because they kept losing. To further prove the mistrust, the airline actually had to hire American mercenaries to conduct the rescue operation! 

https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/01/15/23/review-gerard-butler-battles-jolo-rebels-in-plane

Is this reviewer completely unaware that the Philippine government actually does have "poor emergency responsiveness." Stereotypes exist for a reason. 

Imagine if the Department of Tourism created this movie. After the plane crash landed it would be immediately surrounded by smiling and happy Filipinos waiting to help out. The authorities would show up not with guns blazing but with hugs and smiles and everything would turn out just fine. Of course that would be fiction but so is the movie which has NO ONE noticing this plane crash except one opportunistic guy and Jolo rebels speaking Tagolog instead of Tasuig!

A Filipino Remake of The Lord of the Rings

The new Rings of Power TV show is set to debut on September 2nd and the whole world is excited. Even the fan boys who have examined every detail of every frame of the trailer and of the cast interviews and absolutely hate it are excited. They are going to meme the heck out of it.

One of the things about this new series we keep hearing about is "representation" meaning, "We need more people of color in the show." But why? Do people have to look like you in order for you to enjoy or relate to a show? Squid Game was a massive worldwide success and it's a South Korean TV show. I enjoy the films of Akria Kurosawa and I am not Japanese.  Neither are the many Weebs who binge anime!

That is all a prelude to this, a Philippine version of the Lord of the Rings.

https://interaksyon.philstar.com/breaking-news/2018/04/03/123785/abs-cbn-remake-lord-of-the-rings-poll-facebook/

ABS-CBN seems to be delegating casting decisions to social media in conducting informal polls on a supposed Filipino remake of “The Lord of the Rings” franchise.

Last week, the Kapamilya network polled Facebook users on actors and actresses they think would be best to play the main characters in JRR Tolkien’s classic trilogy — Lady Galadriel, Arwen Undómiel, Legolas Greenleaf and Frodo Baggins — if a remake were in the works.

"Among these Kapamilya actresses, who would you like to play Galadriel if there is a remake of 'The Lord of the Rings'?" one of the posts says.

ABS-CBN, however, has yet to formally announce if there is any serious pursuit to produce a Filipino version of the epic. The polling came ahead of the network’s Holy Week Filipino-dubbed television broadcast of Peter Jackson’s acclaimed trilogy.

Whether ABC-CBN was serious about remaking the Lord of the Rings or not is moot now since the bootlickers in the Duterte administration denied them a franchise renewal. 

But what is important to note is that Filipinos, who are not British, and anyone who knows Tolkien knows he wrote the Lord of the Rings as a myth and legend for his own country of Britain, care about his world. 

While many chose their picks, not everyone welcomed the idea. Fans questioned the television giant’s ability to equal the award-winning production.

“Dear ABS-CBN, please don’t ruin the movie. You will just humiliate yourself. I’m pretty sure you cannot give justice to it,” commented one Facebook user.

Another Facebook user asked to respect the vision of the author: "LOTR is the best movie with good graphics and good story. If you can't match it, don't remake it!"

Just look at those comments. These people know what's up. Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film series was a flash in the pan. It was lightning in a bottle. It will never be repeated. Yeah he changed some things because that is what happens during an adaption but the Spirit is there. Christopher Tolkien hated them but of course he would since he was the gatekeeper of his father's life work. Sadly Simon Tolkien, the grandson of Professor Tolkien, who is the new gatekeeper says Peter Jackson was too faithful which is why he wanted him to have nothing to do with the new Rings of Power series. 

Facebook ABS-CBN

What's important to note here is this work of fiction is beloved by so many people all around the world. People that nave nothing to do with the ethnic group for whom Tolkien wrote. This is because the themes are universal and timeless. In fact Tolkien confessed that it is a Catholic work and there are billions of Catholics. The world does not need a black elf or the first black female dwarf to be able to get lost in Middle Earth.  All we need is a cozy nook in which to crack open Tolkien's books. The magic works all on its own. Even, perhaps especially, in the very Catholic Philippines.

Every Hollywood Film Playing in Philippine Theaters is Chinese Propaganda

Oh look, it's another movie banned from Philippine theaters because of a blink-and-you-miss-it two second blip showing China's nine dash line on a map.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/829853/philippines-pulls-out-uncharted-in-cinemas-for-showing-china-s-nine-dash-line-map/story/

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has pulled out action-adventure film "Uncharted" from Philippine cinemas due to a scene that showed China's nine-dash line map encroaching on Philippine waters.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the scene from the movie containing an image of China's map of the South China Sea is "contrary to national interest" prompting it to request the MTRCB to review and prohibit it from being shown in local theaters.

"Uncharted" is topbilled by actors Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg.

"In its response to the DFA, MTRCB stated that it had ordered Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. to cease and desist from exhibiting the said motion picture, unless and until they are able to remove the objectionable scenes," the DFA said.

"MTRCB further reported that Columbia has since complied with its order and has pulled out the movie from the cinemas."

"Contrary to national interest?" What a joke. This film is so far from being contrary to the national interest that it's basically tourism propaganda. The second half of this film takes place in the Philippines and shows beautiful scenery like Palawan. Of course it's all digital Hollywood magic because no principal photography was shot in the Philippines due to COVID.

I would've loved to have come and shoot in the Philippines. Unfortunately, we've been dealing with this global pandemic, so traveling was a little tricky. We sent a small crew out there to film your beautiful coastline instead, so that we can recreate it in our digital world.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/showbiz/showbizabroad/822333/tom-holland-mark-wahlberg-and-director-ruben-fleischer-on-uncharted-their-latest-action-movie/story/

I cannot think of a single major Hollywood film with stars as big as Tom Holland and Mark Whalberg where the Philippines plays a major role. 

The map with the nine dash line isn't shown until the movie is more than halfway over at the 1:10:16 mark during an Indiana Jones inspired travel sequence.

Unless you know what the nine dash line is you would never know what this map is showing. This movie was released in Philippine cinemas on February 23rd and it's only now getting pulled. That means no censor caught this when they initially reviewed it. The last time a show was censored when the nine dash line appeared on screen was the Netflix show Pine Gap and it was essential to the plot. It was necessary to be there because in the story CIA agents are monitoring China's movements. Before that the film Abominable showed the nine dash line and it was pulled from cinemas. I did not see that film but judging from the scene and the plot it would appear to not be necessary to the story.

It's rather obvious that Uncharted and Abominable added the nine dash line to please Chinese censors. It's not a geographical feature but serves to delineate China's perceived territory. Unless one is sailing in the area or monitoring it like in Pine Gap it's inclusion on a map is superfluous. 

Here are two more images from Uncharted.

Someone took a lot of time to produce this prop which is supposed to be the journal of Juan Sebastian Elcano, the man who took over after Magellan was killed by Lapu Lapu. If Spiderman's hand was not in the way we would be looking a drawing of the Battle of Mactan. 

What this really boils down to is not offense at the nine dash line but the DFA wanting to appear they are taking a stand against China. What a farce! For the past six years China has been getting more and more aggressive as the Duterte administration has done nothing but issue diplomatic complaints and allowing China to do as it pleases. Never forget that Duterte called The Hague ruling a piece of paper he could throw away. 

Perhaps DFA Secretary Teddy Boy Locsin is unaware but China is the world's biggest film market, surpassing Hollywood in terms of box office results.  Not only that but China also invests in Hollywood productions. That means every film coming out of Hollywood has to be friendly to China. Case in point the movie Moonfall which had major Chinese financial backing and paints China as a friendly ally willing to help the USA which is far from the truth.

The truth is every single Hollywood film playing in Philippine theaters is in some small way Chinese propaganda. Will the DFA be requesting Hollywood to stop plying its wares in the Philippines? Not likely.

The Influence of Netflix on Philippine Politics

As improbable as it seems Netflix is having an influence on political discourse in the Philippines. Remember this photo showing Duterte watching Django Unchained on Netflix?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/world/asia/duterte-philippines-absence-health.html

There is nothing wrong with watching a good movie or show. The problem is when fiction begins to influence one's political or world view. Remember during the martial law hearings before the Supreme Court when Justice Bersamin was worried that scenarios like those in White House Down and London Has Fallen could come true if martial law were lifted?

“How can the republic survive if there was another kind of threat worse than rebellion or invasion,” a Supreme Court Associate Justice asked Tuesday as he noted that President Rodrigo Duterte’s martial law is already emasculated compared to that of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. 

“Oh I watched so many movies like White House has fallen, London has fallen. These are very terrifying realities that could happen in a few years’ time,”  Bersamin said, adding that the framers crafted a constitution “that constricted the use of the ultimate power to actual invasion and actual rebellion.”

“What if these [movies] become a reality,” Bersamin asked. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2019/09/filipinos-and-movies.html 

Then there was Senator Lacson who, after watching a show on Netflix, actually introduced legislation inspired by that show.

Legislation loosely based on a popular Netflix political thriller called the “Designated Survivor” have been filed in the Senate and the House of Representatives to deal with such a situation. 

In the show, actor Kiefer Sutherland plays Housing and Urban Development Secretary Tom Kirkham, who is hidden away during the State of the Union. He was thrust into the US presidency when the Capitol building is bombed during the address, killing the president and everyone in it. 

The Philippine proposal is called the Presidential Succession Act, referred to simply as the designated survivor bill.

Sen. Ping Lacson wrote the Senate version of the bill, while Quezon City Rep. Precious Hipolito introduced the House counterpart proposal. 

Lacson told reporters on Thursday that his proposal was inspired by the Netflix series.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2019/09/filipinos-and-movies.html 

Lacson is back in the news telling us all that a movie he saw on Netflix has influenced him to now be against the death penalty.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1510389/no-longer-for-death-penalty-lacson-says-netflix-show-changed-his-beliefs-on-capital-punishment

Senator Panfilo Lacson now says that if he is elected president in the 2022 national elections, he will no longer push for the death penalty despite previous statements advocating for the reinstitution of capital punishment.

Asked about how his opinion about the death penalty changed, Lacson attributed this to a movie on streaming site Netflix, which talked about an activist who set himself up for a crime just to prove that innocent people could be punished.

He says that his running mate, Senate President Vicente Sotto III, also shares his views.

“In the course his (Sotto) perspective changed. I’m like that, I’m also a convert. Did you know, did you watch ‘The Life of David Gayle’ on Netflix? "I watched that, that activist, that's where he set-up himself," Lacson told reporters in a media forum on Thursday.

"He was not the one who killed but he set-up just to prove that the innocent man could be executed," he explained.

Lacson admitted that in the past, he has been a stern advocate of the death penalty for certain crimes like plunder, high-level drug trafficking, law enforcers proven guilty for planting evidence, and other heinous crimes.

But the Netflix show changed it all, Lacson claimed, who is now saying that saving the life of a wrongly accused person is more important than executing a criminal.

"That changed my attitude, my outlook, and my perspective on the death penalty. I am also an author, I have been infinite several times, I have even included the plunder and then the various crimes as heinous crimes, which should be punishable by the death penalty, ”he explained.

"But then I realized that it is more important to save the life of an innocent person who has been convicted so that we can execute someone who is really convicted and really convicted. "When I weighed it, I thought it would be more important to save the life of a wrongly convicted person," he added.

Are we really to believe that Senator Lacson, who was once Chief of the PNP and who admits he has written numerous articles advocating for the death penalty, had never considered that an innocent person could be wrongly convicted of a crime and placed on death row until he saw The Life of David Gale!?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_of_David_Gale

This 2003 film starring Kevin Spacey as an anti-death penalty advocate who conspires to get himself executed for a crime he did not commit to show how bad the death penalty is because innocent people could be executed is one of the most ridiculous and convoluted films ever made. It is right up there with Crash which, to the consternation of everyone, won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2006. Roger Ebert thought The Life of David Gale was so stupid that he gave it zero stars.

The secrets of the plot must remain unrevealed by me, so that you can be offended by them yourself, but let it be said this movie is about as corrupt, intellectually bankrupt and morally dishonest as it could possibly be without David Gale actually hiring himself out as a joker at the court of Saddam Hussein.

I am sure the filmmakers believe their film is against the death penalty. I believe it supports it and hopes to discredit the opponents of the penalty as unprincipled fraudsters.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-life-of-david-gale-2003

Unless you are a small-brained normie there is absolutely no way you can walk away from this movie thinking that it is anything like a coherent argument against the death penalty. Sadly it is true that there are and have been innocent men on death row for years. There is a documentary streaming on Netflix titled  Fear of 13 which is about this very subject.

The Fear of 13 is a 2015 British documentary film. It tells the story of Nick Yarris, who was convicted of murder and spent 22 years on Death Row in Pennsylvania. He was released in 2004 when DNA evidence proved he was innocent of the crime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fear_of_13

There are actually a whole lot of documentaries about wrongly convicted people. The Innocence Project has a list. Surely a few of them are streaming on Netflix. But no. The one film that changed Lacson's mind is the impossible fiction titled The Life of David Gale.

There is absolutely no problem with the death penalty just as there is no problem with incarceration. The problem is a corrupt justice system which allows innocent people to be convicted. It is a multifaceted problem involving overzealous prosecutors, corrupt judges, incompetent defenders, and many other factors which I will not be discussing in this article. 

Did Panfilo Lacson, as an officer in one of the world's most corrupt police organizations, not think about these things? Did he not consider that people could be wrongly convicted or wrongly accused? It is absolutely ludicrous that Lacson has changed his mind about the death penalty because he saw The Life of David Gale and thought it had a great message. 

You know what else is absolutely ludicrous? That the DFA got so upset over a Netflix series called Pine Gap that they asked the MTRCB to demand they delete two episodes. The reason? Becasue in those two episodes there is a map of China's 9-dash line.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/01/media/netflix-philippines-pine-gap-intl-hnk/index.html

Netflix Inc has removed two episodes of spy drama "Pine Gap" from its streaming service in the Philippines, after the Southeast Asian country rejected scenes involving a map used by China to assert its claims to the South China Sea. 

The Philippines on Monday asked Netflix to remove certain episodes of the six-part Australian series, saying the map depicted on the show was a violation of its sovereignty.

The second and third episodes of the show were no longer available in the Philippines by late Monday, with Netflix announcing on its platform that those episodes had been "removed by government demand". It did not elaborate.

After a thorough review, the Philippines' movie classification board has ruled that certain episodes of Pine Gap were "unfit for public exhibition", the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement. 

Earlier this year Netflix removed "Pine Gap" from its services in Vietnam following a similar complaint from the country's broadcast authorities. 

The Philippine films board, acting on the DFA's complaint, handed down its ruling on Sept. 

It was not clear why the decision was only made public now. 

The board, according to the DFA, noted that the appearance of the map was "no accident as it was consciously designed and calculated to specifically convey a message that China's nine-dash line legitimately exists". 

The board believes that "such portrayal is a crafty attempt to perpetuate and memorialize in the consciousness of the present generation of viewers and the generations to come the illegal nine-dash line," the DFA said.

The last two paragraphs of that article are very important. The DFA is claiming that the inclusion of a map showing the 9-dash line legitimates China's claim. This is an outright lie. While that line is shown in a map in the background there is nothing to indicate that it conveys "a message that China's nine-dash line legitimately exists." Here is some dialogue from the offending scene in episode 2.

Episode 2 12:28 

 Jacob: Is the Rha Two in Chinese territory?

Gus: Which is disputed territory.

Eloise: Well, they’ve been saying it's theirs since 1948. 

Jasmine: Actually, according to them it’s been theirs since 3,000 BC. They just went to sleep for a hundred years and everyone just took it off them.

Gus: They still lost the court case. 

Eloise: Well, these are the Fiery Cross Islands. Where China’s built a navy base.

Gus: And I love the way they just "take" islands.

Does that dialogue sound like they are giving legitimacy to the 9-dash line? Of course not. And that kind of banter goes on throughout the series. How about this screen cap from episode 3 saying point blank that China ignores international law?

Episode 3 25:16  Will China retract its territorial claims in the South China Sea or continue to ignore the decision of the International Court that America has sworn to uphold? 

Did anybody at the DFA or the MTRCB actually watch the show?  I mean the entire show which is not very kind to China. In this show China is the enemy. If they had watched the show they would know that every single episode except the first one mentions the nine-dash line or shows it on a map. But for some odd reason only episodes 2 and 3 offended them enough to be removed.

The reason the 9-dash line is shown on a map in this show is not because the creators of the show are giving it legitimacy. It's there because China considers it legitimate and these analysts at Pine Gap are monitoring China. It's really that simple. China rejects The Hague ruling and acts in accordance with their claims. They really do see that line as legitimate and one cannot ignore that fact. That is why they continue to build island bases within that area. But the Philippines does not care about that. Instead, while Duterte calls the International Court ruling just a piece of paper he will throw away, the DFA and MTRCB boldly claim that some silly Netflix show which got bad reviews and shows a map of the 9-dash line in two episodes, it actually shows up in five episodes, violates the Philippines' sovereignty.

One idiot, the executive director of the MTRCB Jose Benjamin Benaldo, even calls the removal of these episodes a victory for the Philippines.

“After a thorough review, the Board ruled that certain episodes of Pine Gap are ‘unfit for public exhibition.’ The MTRCB also ordered the immediate pullout of relevant episodes by its provider, Netflix Inc, from its video streaming platform,” the DFA said in a statement. 

In its decision, the MTRCB underscored that “under a whole-of-nation approach, every instrumentality of the government, whenever presented with the opportunity, has the responsibility to counter China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea to assert the Philippines’ territorial integrity.” 

“And we’re very happy Netflix has done that. This is another victory for our country,” Benaldo said.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/11/05/2139086/netflix-appeals-mtrcb-order-episode-pullout

"Another victory?" The only victory so far has been the initial ruling against China. Since the day that ruling was handed down it's been loss after loss as the Duterte administration refuses to even attempt to enforce that ruling. But who knows. Maybe now that these two episodes of a Netflix show depicting the 9-dash line have been removed so only Filipino viewers cannot see them, just maybe China will stop its island building program and vacate the West Philippine Sea.