2020’s Most Annoying Controversy (That Has Nothing to do With Trump. I Promise).
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IMAGE FROM UPSPLASH
No Doubt About It: 2020 Sucks!
This year has been a wild ride from start to finish. Nobody can deny that. We’ve had: celebrities dying from fatal accidents, established celebrities with careers spanning decades dying of old age or illness, worldwide attention being brought to black people being hunted for sport by police in the United States, protests across the globe, natural disasters, the impeachment of outgoing President Donald Trump, the American election, countless celebrities being exposed for past misconduct and subsequently cancelled, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and of course, COVID-19. Even with all of that, there’s certainly dozens of other things that I’m not remembering or not even aware of.
There is, however, one controversy that sticks out to me: Mulan.
While many of the events in 2020 were tragic, heartbreaking and world changing; Mulan was just dumb. No, I have not seen the new Mulan. I probably wont ever watch it and I’m going to comment on it anyways. So here we go.
Flawed From the Ground Up
Let’s start with the changes to the narrative. When I heard that they were removing Mushu from the live action version, I was skeptical. Mushu is a huge part of the plot in the original, as well as serving as a very effective comic relief, in large thanks to Eddie Murphy’s energetic performance and good comedic timing. Removing Mushu from the movie felt like taking away what made 1998 version of Mulan so refreshing, but maybe it could work. It could be easy to write around a character that is largely unseen by the majority of the characters in the movie. But then I hear that they split Li Shang in to two separate captains because of the #MeToo movement!? NOPE. NOPE NOPE NOPE. NOOOOOOOPE!
Next, let’s talk about a lack of diversity in the production team. Mulan is supposed to be a movie set in China during the Han Dynasty. There are many Asian actors in this movie, but not many Asian people behind the camera. For example, the director of this movie, Niki Caro, is a white woman. I’m not opposed to a white person telling an Asian story, so long as they tell that story with the same respect and cultural knowledge that an actual Asian person would - although it’s not likely. What I am opposed to is a race of people who could use their knowledge of Chinese culture to bring a sense of legitimacy and historical accuracy to the narrative and the characters being overlooked by Disney. Note that I don’t say entirely overlooked because the powers that be at Disney at least had enough sense in their skulls to cast Asian actors to portray Asian characters in a movie set in an Asian country. Congratulations, you’ve learned something since the bygone era of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Let’s Not Forget…
This movie caused quite a bit of political drama, as well. Yifei Lui, who plays the film’s titular character, made comments in support of Hong Kong police during the Hong Kong riots. This led many to believe that Yifei Lui was in support of police brutality. I can’t say for sure if she does support police brutality just because she supports the police. However, in 2020, it’s a very bad look.
IMAGE FROM UPSPLASH
Next up: filming locations. Mulan was criticized for filming in Xinjiang province in China, where internment camps containing roughly one million Turkic citizens are located. Something doesn’t really feel right about a movie that has a heroine fighting for her country’s freedom in her father’s stead being filmed on land where hundreds of thousands of people have no freedom at all. This led to a majority of the movie being filmed in New Zealand, which I feel is also not the right answer. I’d love to know if filming in another location within China was ever considered.
I think the most ridiculous part of this entire controversy lies in how this movie was released. Due to COVID-19, Disney didn’t get to release Mulan in theatres and make it’s money back. So Disney thought that charging $30 on a streaming service that you already pay for, that has the original, animated version of Mulan, during a time where people are losing their jobs left, right and centre would be an excellent idea. I’m not going to cry for Disney’s lost money, and neither should you.
Garrett Forsyth
Garrett considers himself to be an average Joe who writes, plays video games, is an avid lover of The Golden Girls, and sleeps way too much. He also watches anime, and aspires to become a cat lady before the next apocalypse. He hates people who are misogynistic, racist, homophobic, and trans-phobic, people who wake him up too early, and things that smell bad.
