Mulan Didn't Have A Chinese Creative Team (& It Shows) The people of China haven't been shy about pointing this out in their takes on the film, which accuse Disney of playing off cultural stereotypes, and employing Chinese concepts in a way that doesn't readily make sense.
USC professor Stanley Rosen said the character was seen as trivializing Chinese culture by Chinese moviegoers. "Mushu was very popular in the U.S., but the Chinese hated it," they said. "This kind of miniature dragon trivialized their culture."
Mulan has now been released on Disney+, but protesters have been calling for a boycott of the movie. The boycott stems from actress Liu Yifei's public support of the Hong Kong police. Liu first revealed her support for the police during Hong Kong's pro-democracy and anti-police brutality protests in 2019.
Though the director shared that Mushu was removed to allow Mulan to better enhance her relationships with her fellow soldiers, his absence may have also been more about not offending viewers, who found Mushu to be insensitive in the 1998 animated feature.
If any of you watched Mulan 2, for exapmle buying it on DVD, Mushu turns evil after losing his pedastol, so he tries to tear apart Mulan and Shang, which worked.
When Mulan returns, she finds her father has died while she was away, and her mother has remarried. She is ordered to become a concubine and, unwilling to face such a dishonour, she kills herself. Before she takes her life she asks her younger sister, Youlan, which was to deliver Xianniang's letter to her fiancé.
The live-action movie added a sister to give Mulan another reason to sign up. The sister doesn't actually feature that much, but she is taken from the 1600s novel Romance of Sui and Tang, a well-known version of the Mulan story.
As you might suspect, the reasonings for removing Mushu very much hinged on the fact that this version of Mulan was attempting to be more realistic (after all, it is a live-action movie!).
Li Shang was a popular character in the original "Mulan," and many people considered him bisexual since he was clearly drawn to Mulan while she presented as a male soldier named Ping. However, the character was cut from Disney's live-action remake. The producer Jason Reed cited the #MeToo movement as the reason.
Mulan is a fictional folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century AD) of Chinese history. According to the legend, Mulan takes her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as a man.
Why it was Cancelled. It was cancelled due to the extremely negative reception of Mulan II. John Lasseter called off all future direct to DVD films after being appointed as head of Disney in 2006. The production was left unfinished.
Chinese critics, both at home and abroad, said they were disappointed with the film's inaccurate and stereotypical portrayals of Chinese history and the main character, infused with nationalist tropes. Others were not as bothered.
What is the controversy with the new Mulan actress?
In the lead up to its release, Disney's live-action Mulan has generated a surprising amount of political controversy. First, in 2019, star Liu Yifei spoke out in support of Hong Kong police despite law enforcement's brutal treatment of pro-democracy protesters.
In the cartoon, they used Huns — inaccurate AND racist. Rourans (柔然) are indeed the correct group of nomadic people that Mulan would've fought. But, fun fact: Mulan is most likely from the Northern Wei dynasty, which is established by a nomadic people itself, the Xianbei (鲜卑).
Dark dynasty behind the 'real' Mulan, where girls as young as 13 were married off, forced into prostitution and crippled. A CRUEL, distant dynasty where girls as young as 13 were forced into marriage and sold off for sex... it sounds an unlikely inspiration for a Disney classic.
Joan of Arc seems outwardly similar to Fa Mulan, as they both donned male guise to assist them in joining/serving in their respective royal armies at times when their homelands were threatened, however, the latter preceded the former by nearly a thousand years (albeit only as an epic poem) and thus shares no direct ...
Concubines had their own rooms and would fill their days applying make-up, sewing, practising various arts and socialising with other concubines. Many of them spent their entire lives in the palace without any contact with the emperor.
A clause in Eddie Murphy's contract for doing Shrek 2 (2004) forbade him from reprising the role of Mushu in this film, therefore having his other voice actor Mark Moseley (a man best known for filling in for Murphy's characters like Mushu and Donkey in their TV and Video Game appearances) fill in for this film.
In 1998's Mulan, Imperial China is invaded by Shan Yu and his Elite Hun army - who are based in part on Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire and also on Attila the Hun - and Mulan is forced to join up in the place of her aging father, disguising herself as a man to allow her conscription.
Mushu, the wise-cracking sidekick dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy, and Li Shang, the captain of the Imperial Army and Mulan's mentor, voiced by B.D. Wong. Among those who love the original, there are sure to be some questions as to why these seemingly pivotal characters were removed.
The Emperor offers her a prestigious job as his advisor – but she turns it down, because she knows it would not fulfill her. Her inner fire does more than give her strength; it also illuminates her path.
The Emperor of China : I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan. You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated a soldier, deceived your commanding officer, dishonored the Chinese Army, destroyed my palace, and... you have saved us all.
