BabybetterDisney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2018
Disney’s Mulan life action is coming out next month. As a Chinese American, I think it’s a mistake. All my instincts tell me that this movie is not going to work.
From the American point of view, this movie is departing sharply from the Disney tradition of the princess movie. The original Mulan cartoon follows the Disney formula: the girl, the handsome hunk, the comical dragon character, the catchy songs. And it was successful. It was not authentic, but I liked it. For the new movie, however, Disney is getting rid of all of that because they want to break into the Chinese movie market as well. So all the original Mulan fans are left out in the cold.
Disney got rid of the comical dragon and replaced it with the witch that turns into a bird, to be more authentic to the original story. But there is no witch in the original Mulan story. The Mulan legend is recorded in the Mulan Ballad. I was required to memorize it in its entirety when I was in junior high; I can still recite parts of it. It wasn’t hard; the thing is only one page long. It doesn’t mention anything about witches, or that Mulan even knows how to fight or did any fighting.
Mulan is considered a historical figure in China, similar to George Washington. Every child in China knows the name Hua Mulan. Watching the Mulan preview, I felt really weird. Imagine a Chinese made movie about George Washington. The British bad guys are scaling the walls of Lexington like it’s flat ground and they have a witch that can turn into a bird, but George Washington pounded them all anyway. As a non-Chinese American, how would that make you feel? Wouldn’t you think, why are the Chinese doing this?
To be clear, a traditional Chinese woman is never supposed to bring honor to the family from outside the home. That’s a man’s job. If a woman tries to do a man’s job, she is considered out of bounds. A woman is supposed to be obey to her father when she is at home, obey her husband when she is married, and obey her son when she is widowed, and never get remarried. A woman achieves virtue by following the above rules. Mulan’s dressing as a man is only accepted because she is saving her father from military duty, so it’s an exception, not the rule. Notice that Mulan is the only one in the entire history of China that dressed as a girl and joined the military. There is another lesser-known legend of a beautiful girl named Meng Li-jun who dressed as a man and aced the imperial exam to eventually become the prime minister under emperor. She did it to avoid an undesirable marriage. Eventually, she had to beg for imperial pardon for lying to the emperor. She was pardoned and allowed to marry the man she loved.
Disney doesn’t understand the Chinese culture. No Westerner understands the Chinese and never will. At the least, that the current belief in China, which will be confirmed by the Mulan movie:
Mulan‘s father says, “I am blessed with two daughters.” No Chinese would say that in the olden days. It’s more like “My worthless daughters do not deserve mentioning.”
Understanding, however, is not required for the Chinese people to appreciate Disney movies. The Avenger End Game and Frozen 2, for example, did well in China. The Rise of Skywalker did terribly, but that’s only because that movie is completely incoherent and incomprehensible; the Chinese people can only be pushed so far. But generally, Disney movies are popular in China. There is no reason for Disney to try to dominate the Chinese market by pretending to be what they are not. They are Disney; they should stay true to themselves and continue to make Disney movies.
In the mean time, Americans don’t care about Asian movies. In the last 20 years, no Asian movie has hit it big in the US besides Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And that movie is better than anything Disney can ever produce. There are many kungfu movies that enjoys some market share, and indeed, Disney made the kungfu movie Around the World in 80 Days with Jackie Chan, but they were always just OK, nothing special. That’s why I think Disney sinking big money into creating an Asian movie is a huge financial mistake. Americans don’t like foreign films.
Asians really care about plot; Disney is weak in plot development (but extremely good at visuals.) Being that they normal produce kids movies, that’s not a problem. But now Mulan with it’s PG13 rating is good for neither kids nor adults, neither Americans or Chinese. It pretends to be Brave Heart but really isn’t. Brave Heart has Mel Gibson. Pirates of the Caribbean has Johnny Debb. Mulan has no one; nobody has heard of the Asian stars. To this day, not a single Asian star has made it big in Hollywood. Jackie Chan or Jet Li are nothing compared to Mel Gibson or Brad Pitt.
Disney is showing tremendous arrogance through the Mulan movie: we dominate the American market, and we are going to dominate the Chinese market at the same time! But by trying to please both, Disney will end up pleasing neither.
If Mulan ends up being successful at the box office, all is well. But if it isn’t, I hope Disney does not create excuses:
1. The Americans don’t like Chinese actors because the Americans are racists.
2. The Chinese don’t like American movies because the Chinese are racists.
3. The coronavirus made people not watch movies.
From the American point of view, this movie is departing sharply from the Disney tradition of the princess movie. The original Mulan cartoon follows the Disney formula: the girl, the handsome hunk, the comical dragon character, the catchy songs. And it was successful. It was not authentic, but I liked it. For the new movie, however, Disney is getting rid of all of that because they want to break into the Chinese movie market as well. So all the original Mulan fans are left out in the cold.
Disney got rid of the comical dragon and replaced it with the witch that turns into a bird, to be more authentic to the original story. But there is no witch in the original Mulan story. The Mulan legend is recorded in the Mulan Ballad. I was required to memorize it in its entirety when I was in junior high; I can still recite parts of it. It wasn’t hard; the thing is only one page long. It doesn’t mention anything about witches, or that Mulan even knows how to fight or did any fighting.
Mulan is considered a historical figure in China, similar to George Washington. Every child in China knows the name Hua Mulan. Watching the Mulan preview, I felt really weird. Imagine a Chinese made movie about George Washington. The British bad guys are scaling the walls of Lexington like it’s flat ground and they have a witch that can turn into a bird, but George Washington pounded them all anyway. As a non-Chinese American, how would that make you feel? Wouldn’t you think, why are the Chinese doing this?
To be clear, a traditional Chinese woman is never supposed to bring honor to the family from outside the home. That’s a man’s job. If a woman tries to do a man’s job, she is considered out of bounds. A woman is supposed to be obey to her father when she is at home, obey her husband when she is married, and obey her son when she is widowed, and never get remarried. A woman achieves virtue by following the above rules. Mulan’s dressing as a man is only accepted because she is saving her father from military duty, so it’s an exception, not the rule. Notice that Mulan is the only one in the entire history of China that dressed as a girl and joined the military. There is another lesser-known legend of a beautiful girl named Meng Li-jun who dressed as a man and aced the imperial exam to eventually become the prime minister under emperor. She did it to avoid an undesirable marriage. Eventually, she had to beg for imperial pardon for lying to the emperor. She was pardoned and allowed to marry the man she loved.
Disney doesn’t understand the Chinese culture. No Westerner understands the Chinese and never will. At the least, that the current belief in China, which will be confirmed by the Mulan movie:
Mulan‘s father says, “I am blessed with two daughters.” No Chinese would say that in the olden days. It’s more like “My worthless daughters do not deserve mentioning.”
Understanding, however, is not required for the Chinese people to appreciate Disney movies. The Avenger End Game and Frozen 2, for example, did well in China. The Rise of Skywalker did terribly, but that’s only because that movie is completely incoherent and incomprehensible; the Chinese people can only be pushed so far. But generally, Disney movies are popular in China. There is no reason for Disney to try to dominate the Chinese market by pretending to be what they are not. They are Disney; they should stay true to themselves and continue to make Disney movies.
In the mean time, Americans don’t care about Asian movies. In the last 20 years, no Asian movie has hit it big in the US besides Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And that movie is better than anything Disney can ever produce. There are many kungfu movies that enjoys some market share, and indeed, Disney made the kungfu movie Around the World in 80 Days with Jackie Chan, but they were always just OK, nothing special. That’s why I think Disney sinking big money into creating an Asian movie is a huge financial mistake. Americans don’t like foreign films.
Asians really care about plot; Disney is weak in plot development (but extremely good at visuals.) Being that they normal produce kids movies, that’s not a problem. But now Mulan with it’s PG13 rating is good for neither kids nor adults, neither Americans or Chinese. It pretends to be Brave Heart but really isn’t. Brave Heart has Mel Gibson. Pirates of the Caribbean has Johnny Debb. Mulan has no one; nobody has heard of the Asian stars. To this day, not a single Asian star has made it big in Hollywood. Jackie Chan or Jet Li are nothing compared to Mel Gibson or Brad Pitt.
Disney is showing tremendous arrogance through the Mulan movie: we dominate the American market, and we are going to dominate the Chinese market at the same time! But by trying to please both, Disney will end up pleasing neither.
If Mulan ends up being successful at the box office, all is well. But if it isn’t, I hope Disney does not create excuses:
1. The Americans don’t like Chinese actors because the Americans are racists.
2. The Chinese don’t like American movies because the Chinese are racists.
3. The coronavirus made people not watch movies.
