On Friday, Sept. 4, Disney released its live-action remake of the modern classic Mulan. Within the new wave of live-action remakes, Mulan could not be passed up. The original gave representation to Asian culture and a feministic twist on the classic princess-story trope that Disney was prone to fall into. Despite having some of the great benefits of the original, the remake has inspired a variety of controversies.
The first is the price. On Disney Plus, a service that customers are already paying for, the movie costs $29.99 to rent. This price in and of itself may not be a problem for some people, since a ticket to the theater would be approximately the same for 3 people, but for one person that is outrageously overpriced. However, this is the least of our worries, the second of which comes from the lead actress herself, Liu Yifei.
When the movie and cast were announced in 2019, comments resurfaced on an article from the People’s Daily newspaper in which she voiced support for the Hong Kong police and disdain toward the protestors.
The situation in Hong Kong has been at the center of humanitarian discussions for the past few years, discussion which the question of police brutality has played a large part. Liu’s support for the police demonstrating this brutality is something that should not be ignored when considering the purchase of this film.
The newest of the controversies comes in the credits of the movie. Disney thanks the authorities of Xinjiang, a region in which they filmed a portion of the film. This region has been in the middle of a conflict with the Uyghurs, a Turkic group systematically oppressed by the Xinjiang government which placed Uyghurs in “re-education camps,” according to the BBC. Commending a government that commits such atrocities is no mere slip-up; Disney is openly supporting, financially and verbally, the systematic oppression of a people group through this movie. I cannot openly condemn anyone who has purchased this movie because most people are not informed on the topic. However, if you are reading this, I must ask you not to rent this movie; doing so is supporting Disney, a company that endorses a region that oppresses people because of their race and religion, and features an actress so blatantly opposed to the rights of the people of Hong Kong, just to make a profit.
