Actress Uyen An wearing a Mother Goddess costume in the movie "404 Run Now" is an act of distorting heritage, according to the Department of Cultural Heritage.
Female segment Actress Uyen An wearing the Mother Goddess worship costume added in the advertisement after the Thai movie "404 Run Now", exclusively for Vietnamese audiences.
When the film was released, Uyen An's appearance caused controversy about promoting and using cultural heritage materials.
An audience member sent an email to the Department of Cultural Heritage asking about the image of the heritage costume of the Three Palaces Worship Beliefs appearing in the movie “404 Run Now”, to clarify whether “actress Uyen An’s actions were wrong” and “if wrong, which agency will resolve it”.
The Department of Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) replied: "The use of costumes of the Mother Goddess religion to perform horror scenes in the movie "404 Run Now" is an act of distorting intangible cultural heritage, causing outrage among artisans, practitioners, and the cultural subject community of the heritage and is not suitable for traditional Vietnamese culture."
Accordingly, the costume used in the film by actress Uyen An is one of the traditional costumes of the intangible cultural heritage of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess Worship, which was recognized by UNESCO as a representative of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2016.
To avoid possible misunderstanding of the meaning and value of the intangible cultural heritage "Practice of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess Worship", on January 6, 2025, the Department of Cinema requested the film distributor to cut out the image of the character wearing the Mother Goddess costume played by actress Uyen An, which was advertised after the end of the film, specifically in the introduction after the film.
The distributor used the cut version of the film to continue commercial release.
The response of the Department of Cultural Heritage is based on the provisions of the Law on Cultural Heritage, the Law on Beliefs and Religions and the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage of which Vietnam is a member state.
Accordingly:
- Article 20 of the Law on Cultural Heritage: “Competent state agencies must apply necessary measures to protect intangible cultural heritage, prevent the risk of distortion, loss or transmission”;
- Point a, b, Clause 2, Article 4 of Decree No. 98/2010/ND-CP dated September 21, 2010 of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Cultural Heritage and the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Cultural Heritage: “2. Acts that pose a risk of destroying or reducing the value of intangible cultural heritage: a) Disseminating and practicing incorrect contents of intangible cultural heritage; b) Arbitrarily introducing new inappropriate elements that reduce the value of intangible cultural heritage”;
- Clause 3, Article 5 of the Law on Belief and Religion: “Article 5. Prohibited acts: 3. Insulting beliefs and religions”,
- Articles 13 and 15 of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage;
- Principle 10 of UNESCO's Ethical Principles for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage: “Communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals must play a key role in deciding what risks to their intangible cultural heritage, including conversion, commodification and misrepresentation, are and in deciding how to prevent and mitigate such risks”;
- Paragraph 102 of the Guidelines for the Implementation of the 2003 Convention: “All Parties are encouraged to take particular care to ensure that awareness-raising activities do not: (a) alter the context or nature of the representations and expressions of the intangible cultural heritage concerned; (b) stereotype the communities, groups or individuals concerned as not participating in contemporary life, or in any way prejudice their image;…”.
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