Disney filmed part of Mulan amidst Turfan’s desert scenery well after it was clear that just around the corner were multiple concentration camps inflicting “transformation through education” upon Uyghurs and other Xinjiang indigenous peoples. The most recent controversy, first on Twitter and then in the New York Times and other publications , is over the credits: Disney thanks security and political authorities in Turfan (Turpan), Xinjiang, for facilitating their filming in the Uyghur Autonomous Region. Perhaps because of the barriers to actually seeing the new Mulan remake (thanks to the pandemic and Disney’s steep charge of $30 plus a subscription fee to its streaming service), commentary about the new film has been trickling out over a few weeks. It is, rather, a commentary on the fruitlessness of war against people who are more like oneself than different, delivered in the voice of a woman who does her familial duty out of necessity and then chucks her medals and goes home-a war-weary expression of truth to power. It is not a thrilling tale of martial valor. It is not a story about self-sacrifice to defend one’s country. Mulan is not originally a story about a patriotic Chinese woman. “Lady (Mulan).” 18th century, British Museum. I think that the film needs to also come with critical conversations on what it means to be watching / supporting it. I don’t really know if moving forward, we’ll end up showing the film. There are aspects - especially the Phoenix stuff and chi stuff - that felt very misplaced when they could have been great tools for showing the greater public about Chinese culture. Certainly, seeing Tzi Ma and Jason Scott Lee are pluses, but there’s a lot that this platform could have done to make it a little less western and more eastern. But, something about it all, just makes it seem like very little steps up from its 20 year old Disney animated counterpart. And she even loses her father’s sword in a forge fight. She rejects the Emperor’s offer to join his guard and go home. In order to break the rules of society, we need to show just how terrible they are.īy the end of the film, Mulan subverts expectations in all aspects. It’s moments like this that make the film acknowledge the toxicity of our culture as well as the need for unfair, unjust, and unpayable sacrifices to be made. And eventually by the end of the film, it’s actually the Witch who sacrifices her life in order to save Mulan. The Witch eventually “kills” Mulan’s male persona, Hua Jun, and allows her to re-awake in her female persona, Hua Mulan. And in the first confrontation between the Witch and Mulan, the Witch shares with Mulan that this is something they both have in common - not being accepted in their respective worlds. When we meet the Witch, her character is introduced as someone who was not accepted by her society. And the settings certainly feel as though they’re closer to realistic Imperial Chinese life (rugged wooden buildings, stones, fields, and even sulfurous wastes) rather than the classic tiled roofs and cement walls.Ī noteworthy side plot occurs when the Witch of Bori Khan, Xian Lang, shares screentime with Mulan. The physical features of both men and women are quite more realistic rather than prince and princess-esq. From the get-go, one of the earliest things that I noticed was definitely the portrayal of characters. And the film starts on a different foot to show Mulan’s youth before she reaches the age of pursuing marriage. From the very beginning, we know that the story is meant to challenge gender roles. It’s not a new story, but it’s portrayal is certainly different. I saw it and here are my initial thoughts. I was curious to say the least, to see if the film was worth all the flaming hoops in the end. And on top of that, the fact that the film has pushed for such a corporate and unforgiving release certainly leaves a bad taste. But, at the same time, Liu Yifei’s comments have led to a widespread boycott of the film due to her stance on Hong Kong. It’s something that we have done in the past with films like Black Panther and The Hate U Give. For one, offering a $30 film to students for free is how we can take down a social justice barrier to accessing media. As I write this right now, our school is a little torn between whether or not we want to offer the film as a movie night. Although Niki Caro is not a Chinese director, considering the controversy around the film as well as its all Asian cast compared with the 1998 Animated Mulan, I wanted to provide my take on the film.
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