Disney has been on a trail of live-action remakes in recent years, its projects including numerous Disney princesses such as Belle, Cinderella, and Aurora. Looking to continue its streak, Disney released a live-action version of Mulan 22 years after the animated version’s premiere only to face backlash and controversy.
The remake of Mulan was filled with stunning action-packed scenes and breathtaking landscapes, but that seems to be as good as it gets. Upon the first watch, the remake might match the standards of older live-actions and meet the audience’s expectations; upon closer inspection, however, the cracks of flaws in this poorly executed project begin to unravel.
In August of 2019, the hashtag ‘#boycottmulan’ began trending on Twitter. Even before it was released, both the cast and Disney were met with controversy for matters such as supporting police brutality and a lack of representation. The new adaptation of Mulan is one of the most expensive live-action remakes for Disney but has already provoked international criticism.
An obvious yet easily avoided issue is the lack of proper representation in the film. Despite having an all-Asian cast, there is no Asian representation behind the scenes, which is just as important as what is shown on the screen. Disney chose to forgo authenticity and instead hired white directors, screenwriters, composers, editors, and costume designers; even the original animated version had more Asian screenwriters. This poorly executed decision resulted in several dilemmas: The obvious lack of representation and inaccurate depiction of Chinese culture and traditions presents a wrong impression of China toward the viewers.
The cinematic industry in Hollywood has been striving to be more inclusive in terms of storytelling, which is something to root for if it weren’t for their refusal to do the same behind the scenes. As the Chinese put it: Disney is just trying to show face.
Another issue with the new film is a member of the cast—lead actress Liu Yifei, who portrays Mulan. In 2019, Yifei publicly announced that she supported the Hong Kong police through a Weibo post. In the post, she wrote, “I support Hong Kong’s police, you can beat me up now. What a shame for Hong Kong.”.
This post was made after the Central Beijing government proposed a bill that allows them to extradite any person to mainland China. In response to protestors, the Hong Kong police have demonstrated excessive force to shut them down; since then, they have been repeatedly accused of police brutality and unnecessary violence. Due to this, the casting of Mulan is incredibly ironic: Mulan stands against oppression and stereotypes in its raw form, nevertheless, Yifei supports it. The original character refuses to conform with society’s discriminatory standards that oppress others, yet the woman playing her stands high within her privilege to subdue others.
Due to the lack of representation and ignorance in Disney’s actions, many features of the movie are wrongly depicted. For example, the new remake portrays Mulan as some sort of superhero figure, but many Chinese natives have debunked this. Mulan is just an ordinary girl; she is just trying to save her father from the war, and when she returns, the emperor offers her wealth and honor, which she refuses. Instead, she chooses to stay home to find her true self, which the movie did not convey.
Disney also gives the new Mulan a ‘superpower’, which defies the real tale of the Chinese heroine. The superpower depicted in the film is ‘chi’ (if this can’t get any worse, it’s also misspelled—the actual pinyin is ‘qi’), a traditional Chinese idea in martial arts and Chinese medicine about harnessing a person’s energy flow. ‘Qi’ is meant to be a peaceful concept that balances life, not meant for war or killing. But in Mulan, ‘qi’ becomes a magical power that she possesses that is also limited by dishonesty as she is unable to use it until she strips away her disguise.
The tale of Mulan is supposed to be empowering, with the idea that a young woman—who could be any one of us out there—has the capability to do good. By including this nonsensical ‘superpower’, the meaning and value behind ‘Qi’ has been reduced, and so have the reasons behind why the concept is practiced—it’s being degraded to a Westernised superficial power.
The real meaning of the story has also been twisted. The original moral was that if a man can do something, so can a woman. Mulan represents the true, raw power of women, and making her a prodigy at fighting indirectly suggests the women cannot measure up to men without some sort of exterior help or born talent.
Instead of seeing her learn alongside other men (shown in the animated film), Disney chose to show only those who are chosen can compete with a man. Those who are not given this comply with the patriarchal belief that they must be feminine; Mulan’s sister, who gets married at the end, proves this.
In the 1998 film, Mulan is depicted as someone who uses her wits to her advantage instead of traditional brute strength. However, in the remake, it conveys the message that women are only of value if they use their physical strength. The success that Mulan achieved in the animated film suggests that there is an alternative to the masculine way of thinking which is wrongfully shown in the newer version. Mulan’s male accomplices were willing to do drag in the animated film to save the kingdom, again proving that hypermasculinity is not always the correct answer. In the live-action film, none of this is portrayed, hence losing its essence.
A recent Tweet has also revealed that Mulan is seemingly pro-Uyghur genocide. In the last few months, China has been exposed for running ‘re-education camps’, or more accurately, concentration camps, where over a million of Uyghur Muslims are being held against their will and tortured. The captives are being brainwashed, forced to adopt Chinese culture, work production lines, and perform ‘haram’ acts. Women in these camps are also being forced to be sterilized or have abortions.
In the credits, Disney thanked the Chinese Communist Party, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Committee, and the Bureau of Public Security in the city of Turpan. The credits also revealed that some scenes were filmed in Xinjiang, where the Muslims are being held captive. The sheer ignorance of Disney, a multi-million dollar company, should not be ignored.
Despite all of these issues, the one thing that was accurate about Mulan was the absence of a few characters, some of them being Mushu and Li Shang. The new movie is more focused on war rather than the fun, musical animated version. In fact, Mushu was never part of the original ballad or legend and was seen to be trivializing to Chinese culture and ignoring some important aspects of the traditions.
Furthermore, Li Shang has also been removed from the 2020 Mulan; the producer, Jason Reed, says that it’s because ‘in the time of the #MeToo movement, having a commanding officer that is also the sexual love interest was very uncomfortable and we didn’t think it was appropriate.’ Although this is a plausible reason as the character of Mulan is meant to be independent, controversy still stirs.
In the animated film, Li Shang was speculated to be bisexual as he fell in love with Mulan before finding out she was a girl, and by removing him it also eliminates LGBTQ+ representation. However, even if Li Shang were included, people would still claim that Mulan doesn’t need a man and the whole point was to show that women can do something that any man can.
Mulan is the only Disney film with Chinese representation and they could not have done a worse job from the whitewashed casting to the misleading story. Yet again, the company refuses to properly recognize the important aspects of Chinese culture that need to be represented, such as the ballad or the true meaning of the story. It has become very noticeable how often virtue signaling is a part of Hollywood’s agenda—putting on a show for an audience that will see right through it.