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Mulan poster Photo: Maoyan
A call from Hong Kong separatist Joshua Wong to boycott the Disney film Mulan starring Chinese-American actor Liu Yifei faced a strong backlash online on Sunday, with many netizens saying it gave them one more reason to watch the film.
Hong Kong separatists have been inciting the public to “boycott Mulan” since last year after Liu made supportive comments for the Hong Kong police on the Chinese social network Sina Weibo, similar to Twitter.
In his tweet on Friday, Wong tried to incite the public to boycott the film under the premise of “human rights” and “freedom”, saying: “Disney bows to Beijing and because Liu Yifei openly and proudly supports police brutality in Hong Kong. ., I urge all who believe in human rights to #BoycottMulan. “
However, the so-called boycott appears to have incited a sense of patriotism on Chinese social media, as many netizens said they decided to buy a ticket for Mulan to counter the Hong Kong separatists.
“I didn’t want to see this movie, but after Wong’s comments, I decided to watch it,” said a netizen on Weibo.
“The purpose of these separatists is not to resist Mulan at all, but to use the name ‘Mulan’ to promote so-called democracy and freedom and to discredit China!” said another.
Shi Wenxue, a Beijing-based film critic, told the Global Times on Sunday that if Hong Kong separatists generated very strong resistance online, it would inevitably boost the sense of patriotism among Chinese audiences and add momentum to the box office. of the movie.
The film opened in the US on Friday and will officially open in mainland China on September 11.
The film received a score of 79 on Rotten Tomatoes and the good reviews were widely seen on the Internet.
“The ‘boycott’ was only a small part of the people who tried to politicize the film and it is unlikely that it will have a great influence on its final box office.”
Shi said that the quality of the film itself will be the final word in its popularity.
After the Global Times reporter Fu Guohao and a tourist were beaten up by violent gangs of radical protesters at the Hong Kong airport in August last year, all walks of life in Hong Kong and mainland China began to strongly condemn this heinous act and demanding that the Hong Kong Police strictly enforce the law and uphold the rule of law in Hong Kong.
Actress Liu re-posted police support content on her personal Weibo, annoying some extremists in Hong Kong who later called for a boycott of Liu, Disney and Mulan.
The live-action version of Mulan starring Liu, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, and Gong Li was originally scheduled to be released in North America on March 27, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
