The Controversy Surrounding the Live-Action Remake of “Mulan”

After many delays, the highly anticipated, live-action remake of the beloved movie "Mulan" was released exclusively on September 4th to Disney Plus. The animated classic follows the mission of a young girl, Hua Mulan, who challenges the patriarchal rules of the Chinese regime during the Sui Dynasty. The conflict is introduced when Mulan’s father is drafted into the Chinese army. Mulan knows that her father is not fit to go to war in his physical condition, so without her parents’ permission, she leaves home and poses as a male soldier in place of her father. Mulan’s goal becomes restoring honor to her family name. But prior to the release of the 2020 live-action remake of "Mulan", both Disney and actress Liu Yifei have sparked many controversies in relation to human rights issues.

Liu Yifei’s first mistake came when she made comments and posts displaying her support for Hong Kong’s police force. Hong Kong’s police force received backlash in 2019 for the use of excessive force like tear gas against pro-democracy protesters. The protestors took to the streets to fight for their limited democracy freedoms in Hong Kong against the communist government of China. On a Chinese social media platform called Weibo, the Chinese-American actress reposted a viral post reading: “I support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now”. In addition, Yifei added a comment of her own in Chinese stating, “I also support the Hong Kong police”. Rather than being in support of justice and human rights, Yifei chose to put her support behind Hong Kong’s police department.

As if a humanitarian controversy surrounding “Mulan” wasn’t enough, much of the movie had been filmed in Xinjiang, China, an area now associated with the detainment of Uigher Muslims in camps. In Xinjiang, it is reported that around 2 million Uigher Muslims have been brutally terrorized for their Islamic faith since 2015. Allegations of abuse include forced sterilization, sexual abuse, organ harvesting, torture, and even death. These concentration camps continue to commit terrorist acts today, with ongoing defiance from the Chinese government. During the final credits of the film, Disney publicly thanked the Chinese government agency allegedly involved in this abuse for their assistance in the production, which resulted in immediate outrage. Disney’s only reply to the public uproar is that the film was shot mainly in New Zealand and 20 other areas in China which fails to acknowledge the Uigher genocide. What Disney did state was the fact that the film had “generated a lot of issues” for them.

Overall, Disney’s live action remake of the cherished 1998 film “Mulan” was affected by a series of issues surrounding human rights, specifically through showing support of those responsible for the abuse. Due to these controversies, many people online have called for the boycott of this film with the hashtag “#BoycottMulan” trending. Although the film has received its share of profits, many definitely thought twice before watching and supporting this controversial film, despite it being a reminder of childhood days for many.