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Walt Disney Studios
“Mulan” was remade into the 1998 Disney cartoon, adapted from the classic long-narrative folk song “Mulan Ci” of the Song dynasty in China.
Disney’s American film “Mulan” (Mulan) opened in Taiwan on September 4. However, because Chinese-American actor Liu Yifei, the protagonist of the film, supported Hong Kong police on Weibo during the Hong Kong protests in 2019, netizens from Taiwan who supported the Hong Kong demonstrations and Huang Zhifeng, General Secretary of the dissolved democratic organization “Hong Kong All Chi”, and others initiated a boycott of the film.
However, the box office of the film in Taiwan is striking, which seems to show that the people of Taiwan have accepted “Mulan”.
Furthermore, since the film was released, Xinjiang’s public security units were found to appear on the credit list at the end of the film, sparking controversy. However, the Internet boycott appears not to have achieved the expected results.
However, the film will open in Hong Kong on September 17, and the outside world is concerned about whether the boycott will get the attention of the Hong Kong people.
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Disney
The new version of “Mulan” refers to the Chinese market. The film’s heroine Liu Yifei was caught in a Hong Kong demonstration and sent a Weibo “supporting the police” to get netizens to call for a boycott of “Mulan.”
Taiwan’s box office shines
“Mulan” has amassed more than 33 million Taiwanese dollars (approximately 8.7 million Hong Kong dollars) at the box office since its premiere in Taiwan. She is Taiwan’s “new movie” champion this week, second only to British director Christopher Nolan’s “new movie”. “Beginning”.
The director of a well-known film distribution company in Taipei, Mr. Bai (with a pseudonym on request) explained to the BBC in Chinese that although the epidemic in Taiwan is well controlled, cinemas are still heavily affected. Compared to 2019, theaters have lost two-thirds of their box office revenue this year. For this reason, he believes that within days of the premiere of “Mulan”, the theater should have a box office of 30 million NT dollars, and the theater should be considered satisfied: “From the perspective of the theater operators, they don’t want it to be boycott any movie. This box office is acceptable for the theater. “
Bai said that he believes that most audiences who enter the cinema to see “Mulan” are family audiences, rather than young people from Taiwan who know something about film controversies. He said because this film can be entered in Taiwan as long as it is six years old or older. In addition, the epidemic in Taiwan is well controlled and public places, such as theaters or concerts, have remained open.
Affected by the pneumonia epidemic, Disney announced on August 4 of this year that “Mulan” will not be released in theaters in the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries, but will be available on online audiovisual platforms.
However, according to statistics from the US movie website, “Mulan” was the champion in Singapore and Malaysia, beating out “Tian Neng” released during the same period.
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Disney
Originally, “Mulan” was scheduled to be released globally in March this year, but it was postponed until September to begin its release on broadcast platforms and cinemas in Taiwan due to the epidemic.
Liu Yifei supported Hong Kong police in triggering a boycott
This film, which claims to have been produced in hundreds of millions of dollars and which featured the participation of renowned Chinese actor Gong Li and others, began to generate controversy after Chinese actress Liu Yifei supported the Hong Kong police on Weibo in August 2019.
In August last year, protests in Hong Kong were spreading due to the amendment to the Fugitive Criminal Ordinance. On August 14, Liu Yifei forwarded a Chinese state media post “People’s Daily” on Weibo. The post contained online tags such as “I also support the Hong Kong police” and “I support the Hong Kong police, you can beat me.” The English words “What a shame for Hong Kong” (the Hong Kong incident is despicable) drew criticism from people who supported the Hong Kong rally.
Originally, “Mulan” was scheduled to be released globally in March this year, but due to the epidemic, it was postponed until September to begin showing on broadcast platforms and cinemas in Taiwan. Last weekend, Huang Zhifeng, general secretary of Hong Kong’s dissolved democratic organization “Hong Kong All Wills”, posted a post in English on Twitter calling for a boycott of “Mulan.”
He said: “Because Disney bows to Beijing, Liu Yifei openly and proudly supports Hong Kong police violence. I beg all people who believe in human rights to boycott this film.” She also added the hashtag “#BoycottMulan” to her tweet.
Huang Zhifeng’s post received a response from the “Milk Tea Alliance” with Hong Kong, which is an online community made up of young people from Taiwan and Thailand. Many posts in Chinese, Thai, English and other languages appeared on Twitter, calling for a boycott of “Mulan.”
In February this year, Liu Yifei accepted an interview with the American magazine The Hollywood Reporter. Besides hoping that the epidemic would end soon, she said when speaking of the boycott: “Obviously, this is a very complicated situation. I am not an expert. I hope. Everything can be resolved quickly. This is a very delicate matter.”
Film critics of the “New York Times” also praised the film, saying it is loyal to women’s empowerment and bravely confronts traditional culture and social constraints.
Taiwanese netizens have mixed reactions
“Mulan” had a huge box office in Taiwan’s first week, sparking debate about why the online boycott didn’t work.
Mr. Bai told BBC China that most Internet boycotts only ferment in the stratosphere, and that the boycott message may not spread outside the stratosphere: “Some friends still ask me, what happened to Liu Yifei? “
Furthermore, according to Taiwanese media reports, some Taiwanese also said「Politics belongs to politics, movies belong to movies」I don’t think that just because the heroine Liu Yifei publicly supported the violent crackdown by the Hong Kong police, she wouldn’t go to see this movie.
Taiwanese media “Dongsen American TV” interviewed Liu Yifei in the United States and said that this film is a story about love and courage. Convert the filial piety of little love into great love. Jet Li, a well-known Chinese movie star in the same film, said that “Mulan” inspires young people to bravely face the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures and venture into the world with courage.
“But personally, I have heard that the film is related to the Xinjiang police in recent days. For myself, I myself will start to consider whether to buy a ticket to see it,” Bai added.
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BBC / Human Rights Watch
It is understood that in recent years, approximately 1 million Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang have been detained in strict “re-education camps”.
The well-known Taiwanese Facebook group “Irdemean Villagers Group” was surprised that “Mulan” won the title of the new movie of the week in Taiwan. Before that, he posted: “I’m dumbfounded … Hong Kong friends, I’m so sorry.”
Many Taiwanese netizens also pointed out that celebrity involvement in politics does not mean that they will lose support in Taiwan.
For example, in recent years, Ruby Lin and Huo Jianhua and his wife, due to the South China Sea arbitration case, responded to the “China, No Less” post campaign on Weibo in 2016. The post considered Taiwan as a province of China and provoked Taiwanese netizens criticized the couple. However, Ruby Lin was still popular in Taiwan and continued to request tens of millions of Taiwanese dollars to subsidize her film and television work from the Ministry of Culture.
“Judy”, a supervisor who has crossed the Taiwan Straits and worked for many years in a television production company, told BBC China that Taiwanese agents would carefully choose scripts or directors for fear that Taiwanese artists lose the mainland Chinese market. Also, celebrities must post articles on social media. She and most of the agents will argue, they will try not to touch politics, so as not to be labeled “Taiwan independence” by the little rose and lose the job opportunity on the mainland.
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Reactivate the Xinjiang controversy
In addition, some netizens also found that the final subtitles of the movie “Mulan” are specially marked to thank the Turpan Xinjiang Public Security Bureau and the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee. China. Adrian Zenz, a well-known international scholar on Xinjiang issues, told the BBC that the Turpan Public Security Bureau is responsible for the management of Xinjiang’s “re-education camps”.
He also said that the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee is the department responsible for state propaganda.
According to Reuters, the US government is considering imposing a ban on some or all of Xinjiang’s cotton products. The United States hopes to punish Beijing for alleged human rights violations and will take action as soon as this week.
China is the world’s largest cotton producer. China’s cotton production accounts for 20% of world production, while Xinjiang’s cotton production accounts for 85% of the country. China is both the largest cotton producer and the largest cotton importer.
- “Forced Birth Control and Sterilization of Xinjiang Uyghur Women” in China: Seven Key Highlights of Sensitive Issues
- Xinjiang Reeducation Camp: Documents Reveal How Uighurs Were “Brainwashed”
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fake images
The US government is reportedly considering imposing a ban on some or all of Xinjiang’s cotton products. The United States hopes to punish Beijing for alleged human rights violations and will take action as soon as this week.
