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It seems the House of the Mouse has gotten into trouble with what was supposed to be another blockbuster. The live-action remake of Mulan has entered that unfortunate territory of nobody’s liking.
While Western audiences compare the film unfavorably to the animated version, Chinese audiences dislike the film’s questionable themes and design options.
Many critics consider it morally wrong that the film was shot in a region where human rights violations are reportedly rampant. In response, the Chinese authorities have completely banned media coverage of the film.
With all the fuss, one must wonder how did Disney manage to do such an injustice with the classic Ballad of Mulan?
In the simplest terms, the centuries-old ballad tells of a maiden who disguises herself and secretly takes her father’s place in the army.
Interestingly, while the events of the ballad take place in China, it is likely that Mulan, assuming she existed, was not Han Chinese at all.
Most versions of the story place her in the North Wei state at a time that was known as the North and South Era (420-589AD). This period followed the brief Jin Dynasty, which rapidly imploded after the Three Kingdoms period ended.
During the fall of Jin, nomadic tribes from the north invaded the weakened empire and established their own kingdoms in the northern half. The Northern Wei was one of these kingdoms, created by a nomadic group called Xianbei.
Interestingly, there is historical evidence to suggest that these northern nomads were more egalitarian in terms of women in combat roles.
It should also be mentioned that there have been cases of Chinese women taking up arms alongside men, particularly Fu Hao and Princess Pingyang.
Disney’s version of Mulan, both the animated and live-action versions, are set in dynasties that are not clearly established and actually combine various aspects of different dynasties.
The animated version shows Mulan fighting the Huns, a great threat to the Han Dynasty (202BC-220AD), with gunpowder weaponry from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and then killing their leader in the Forbidden City of the Dynasty. Ming (1368-1644). .
Just for clarity, there is more than a millennium between the Han and the Ming. It is similar to a movie set in Europe in the Middle Ages, where every gentleman and peasant has a smartphone. Disney was aware of the historical inaccuracies and claimed that the live-action version would fix these issues. Failure.
The Chinese who saw the trailer asked why Mulan, a Northerner from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, lives in a Hakka circular house from the Southern Song Dynasty.
The armor and costume are based on designs from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), but the antagonists are said to be the Rouran, a nomadic group wiped out a century before the Tang.
The film also has wide shots of the city that is presumably Chang’an, the imperial capital of the Tang Dynasty; what the public sees is really accurate in terms of architecture.
But given that the city was home to three million people at its peak, it seems a bit disconcerting that a later scene showed an assembly of all the city’s guards, around 150 people.
The importance and role of the emperor in Chinese history is also clearly under-researched.
In one scene, the emperor, played by Jet Li, is interrupted during an argument with his chancellor by a private, which would have been a serious violation of protocol.
When in the presence of the emperor, extreme deference to him was required in almost every way imaginable. Even walking normally before him would be viewed as disrespectful, one required to jog.
In another scene, the emperor is challenged to a duel with the leader of the Rourans and actually agrees.
Chinese emperors generally did not have a place on the battlefield due to their importance in the central bureaucracy.
Accepting a duel with another head of state is certainly on the list of things a Chinese emperor would never do.
Another central female character, besides Mulan, is a witch played by Gong Li, which left Chinese viewers scratching their heads as well.
Witches, as interpreted by Western culture, do not appear in tall tales. In fact, Chinese fortune tellers were highly respected.
Her ability to transform into a bird also raises the question why the filmmakers didn’t just turn her character into a spirit animal, as they are common in Chinese stories.
A choice of plot is considered particularly obvious. In both the original story and the animation, Mulan is an ordinary woman who through hard work and sacrifice increases her strength.
In the live-action movie, Mulan is told that she comes from a family blessed with “qi,” or life force, which enables her to perform great physical feats.
This is not at all what qi is all about, and the fact that the concept is presented as similar to The Force from Star Wars is culturally insensitive.
Mulan is something of a feminist icon: she wasn’t born a warrior, she worked hard to become one.
Giving her special powers to explain her martial skills does a disservice to the women’s empowerment message.
Given that the live-action movie was supposed to “fix” the flaws of the animated classic, it has certainly failed in that regard.
At the very least, the animated film was not intended to be historically accurate, so it can be judged with much less scrutiny.
