The boycott centers on two Chinese issues: The treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China's Xinjiang region -- where some of the film was shot -- and China's crackdown of freedoms in Hong Kong.
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.
There were complaints about a lack of Asians among the core creative team; cries of sacrilege that Mushu, a wisecracking dragon in Disney's animated version, had been jettisoned; and grumbles that this telling of the Mulan tale seemed to pander to Chinese nationalism.
The issue was that Mulan was partially filmed in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in close proximity to detention camps for Uighur Muslims, and Disney gave credit to “publicity department of CPC Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomy Region Committee” among other entities.
Wáng Xiāo 王骁, an agitator from the nationalist website Guancha.cn, suggested on Weibo (in Chinese) that Disney had usurped China's “discursive power,” or “the power to interpret our own culture.” This resonated with many viewers, who were angered by the movie's presentation of “a Western understanding of Chinese ...
The cinematography is great and the colors are often vibrant, but the story is pretty dull. The lead actress is awfully bland as well. The action and music are standouts, but get bogged down by some pacing issues. My biggest issue with this film though is Mulan herself.
In the original, the general's son Li Shang trains the recruits and ultimately falls for Mulan. The team behind the new movie explained the change was down to the #MeToo movement - they felt Mulan's officer becoming her love interest felt a bit off given his position of power.
Unfortunately for fans of this princess, Mulan II did terribly. Critics regarded the film as a huge disrespect to the original Mulan. This discouraged Disney from pursuing her story any further, so Mulan III was shelved and Ana Ming never made it anywhere.
The film reportedly grossed between $60 million and $90 million in the United States within the first 12 days of its online release, paling in comparison to its budget. In China, the film took in $23.2 million on its opening weekend, with a sharp 72% decline the following weekend, according to Yahoo Entertainment.
In reality, the filmmakers claimed that they were influenced by the #MeToo Movement, finding it inappropriate for Mulan's love interest to be her commanding officer. Considering how poorly the animated film performed in China, Disney made an active effort to appeal to the Chinese market in its live-action film.
What is the controversy with the new Mulan actress?
Ahead of “Mulan's” Disney+ premiere last week in the U.S., #BoycottMulan trended on social media as activists blasted its Chinese American star Yifei Liu (a.k.a. Crystal Liu) for siding with Hong Kong police over pro-democracy protesters last year during a crackdown on demonstrations.
Scholarly consensus is that Mulan is a fictional character, probably developed in Northern China in response to the greater independence women enjoyed there, whose legend was then revised in succeeding eras to reflect the values and challenges of the times.
On the film's release in September, controversy and calls for a boycott intensified after viewers noted that the film's credits thanked municipal authorities in Xinjiang, where detention camps and human rights abuses of Uighur Muslims have been well documented.
Filming took place in New Zealand and China from August to November 2018. Over the course of production, the film was the subject of several controversies, including changes to the source material and filming in Xinjiang in light of the persecution of Uyghurs in China and Xinjiang internment camps.
As Hong Kong's police force has been accused of violence and brutality towards pro-democracy protesters, Yifei's actions reflected poorly on the film, and the hashtag #BoycottMulan started trending.
The biggest issue is this film features way less action than it's predecessor and way less Mulan (she practically disappears in the middle of the film). Mulan's bickering with Shang is also very badly written.
98° fans, however, will be disappointed to know that there is no new version of their "True to Your Heart." Though not mentioned by Caro in her interviews, another reason that it was decided to cut the songs is to sidestep the more problematic elements of the original soundtrack of Mulan.
"Using it as a silly sidekick didn't play very well with the traditional Chinese audience." But perhaps the most significant reason why the new Mulan film features a phoenix instead is due to the symbolism of the mythical bird for Chinese women in particular — or at least according to Caro's vision.
Many people simply aren't watching it, especially considering the $30 extra fee to stream it on DisneyPlus. However, the high price tag isn't the only reason not to stream “Mulan.” Not only does it not compare to the original, but more importantly, the producers displayed a complete lack of moral regard while filming.
"Written in Stone" is a song that was written for Disney's 1998 animated film Mulan, but was cut from the film when its composer Stephen Schwartz left the project.
The Walt Disney Company owns 43 percent of the resort; the majority 57 percent is held by Shanghai Shendi Group, a joint venture of three companies owned by the Shanghai government.
Disney's classic 'Mulan' flopped in China because audiences didn't think the heroine looked Chinese enough. Although Mulan is the only Disney Princess of East Asian descent, the original Mulan cartoon was a massive flop in China.
The boycott centers on two Chinese issues: The treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China's Xinjiang region -- where some of the film was shot -- and China's crackdown of freedoms in Hong Kong.
For instance, a specific discrepancy in the original film is regarding Mulan's family name. It was changed from what it is commonly known as “Hua” in Chinese households to “Fa” in the film to create a character more comfortable for American audiences.
