It is no surprise when someone says that Disney movies are some of the best movies made today. Between Marvel films and the countless other movies they have created since the beginning all, for the most part, have held high standards. With the recent release of Mulan, Disney’s recent live-action recreation, people have been taken back by the low reviews and confusion among fans.
Fans have stated their opinions on social media and on news outlets and from looking at it, it has not been good. I recently watched the film myself with an unbiased, open-minded opinion, and where there are many points of the film where I found it beautiful, it was a little rough to sit through.
The biggest problem that people have been seeing with this film isn’t the $30 premium access copy on Disney+ (which comes as a shock) but the controversy behind it. A lot of viewers have been questioning how Disney, an overly successful company in which many of us, including myself, know and love, could have messed this up so badly. Mulan is one of the most beloved Disney films. With timeless music, beauty, meaning, and an appealing sidekick, Mulan was something many fans were struck by when they found out Disney was writing it as a new live-action film.
It wasn’t the lack of music and similarity that struck a chord in fans, but the lack of diversity on the team that created the film. As a refresher, Mulan follows a woman who wants to replace her sick father in the fight against the Huns. She disguises herself as a man until the climax of the movie. The original film really brings light to wonderful cultural aspects of China through these years in our world history.
When it came to creating a new film, fans expected the same cultural resemblance, but there wasn’t substance. As Katie Hammond of the CNN opinion section said, “In an era when diversity and representation should mean more than simply putting Asian actors on screen, Disney missed a chance to make a movie that was broadly inclusive and widely appealing.”
In this case, it is easy to say Hammond is right. The crew behind the camera have been seen as being too white and lacking true knowledge about the topic at hand. They wrote afilm about ancient China, but there was no substance to it; it felt bland, and like every other film when Disney could have shown off their live-action and screenwriting skills to make this film the best it could have been. The only culture that was presented in this film was the idea of bringing honor to your family and showing loyalty, just as they were in the original film.
This isn’t the only problem that was found in the film. The star of the film, Lie Yifei, made it known in 2019 that she supports the Hong Kong Police, which sparked a lot of criticism. Emma Specter of Vogue Magazine reminded readers in a tweet from Hong Kong activist, Joshua Wong; he tweeted, “This film is released today. But because Disney kowtows to Beijing, and because Liu Yifei openly and proudly endorses police brutality in Hong Kong, I urge everyone who believes in human rights to #BoycottMulan.”
With this raise of criticism, the film gained a hashtag on Twitter and other platforms; #BoycottMulan has had a raise of interaction when Yifei commented on her support, and the news came out that those who were behind the camera weren’t of Chinese descent.
In the midst of rage and the recently created hashtag, #BoycottMulan, Jeannette Ng brought up an important fact as well. Alex Ward of Vox put Ng’s tweet in an article. The article focuses on human rights and how the film lacks human rights, especially in the credits. The tweet spoke about the concern of filming the movie in the place “where the cultural genocide is happening,’ but they stated in the credits that they filmed in “Northwest China.”
The Xinjiang region of China, where Mulan was filmed, has been the sight of a large attack on the Uyghur Muslim population, attacking, imprisoning, and re-educating them. The human rights violations include lengthy detentions, mass birth control, indoctrination, and abuse at the hands of police officers.
This caused speculation seeing that there is no reason for Disney Executives to recognize the human rights issues happening within miles of their filming locations.
There have been many issues surrounding Disney’s new recreation, and where these are only a few of them, I am sure there are more to come up. The film has been available on Disney+ since Sept. 4, so if you are interested in seeing it, you will need $30 (unless you wait until December where you will only need a subscription).
IMAGE TAKEN from Looper
IMAGE TAKEN from Asia News
