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I kind of appreciate the gamer-style review of Mulan, just, like, not having as much difficulty or leveling up in the live-action version. Putting it in that wa

I kind of appreciate the gamer-style review of Mulan, just, like, not having as much difficulty or leveling up in the live-action version. Putting it in that way makes a meaningful point and is something that can actually be fixed. What can't be fixed, unfortunately, is Disney's enslavement to China. The classic Disney narrative was at one time was aimed at selling the American Dream. Which, bullshit as it may have turned out for most pepole, at least vaunted (can you use that as a verb?) the advancement of the underdog and, like, bootstrapping peasants or immigrants into responsible leadership by their talents. (It was a Universal film, but "An American Tail" was the only movie my parents took us to see TWICE in the theater when I was a kid). I think you could trace the decline in meaningful storytelling to a political posture in China that is deeply at odds with anything that smacks of peasant uprisings, or power to the people, which in spite of its corporate undertones in production Hollywood writers actually used to somewhat be allowed to champion. Remember that even though these are huge multinational corporations, most actual screenwriters were for all functional purposes extreme liberals or communists up until they were killed and replaced with regurgitating AI bots in the mid-2000s.

bawolff 5y ago
> I think you could trace the decline in meaningful storytelling to a political posture in China that is deeply at odds with anything that smacks of peasant uprisings, or power to the people The first disney mulan is a story about a girl who overcame discrimination and gender roles to come into a position of great honour to the state. Propping up the state is basically the opposite of a peasent uprising.
- noduerme 5y ago
  >> Propping up the state is basically the opposite of a peasent uprising. True, and fair. I didn't mean to cast Disney as some kind of revolutionary force for anti-authoritarianism at any point in its history. But the Joan of Arc myth means different things to different people, and it's inherently dangerous to the status quo even if it's used for the glory of the state. Such a legend could not be told now in China, because there's too much room for subversion in the individual's self-empowerment.
_tik_ 5y ago
I think this argument is overstretching into a political argument. The live action Mulan movie is consider a flop in China. The Chinese audience hate it. It is more successful in Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Disney remove one of main major male character to be aligned with the MeeToo movement. For the Animation version the Chinese complained for their foreign looking character and it is too different from myth. China love Kung Fu panda. The find kung fu panda show a sincere love to Chinese culture without over trying too be a chinese.

bawolff 5y ago

> I think you could trace the decline in meaningful storytelling to a political posture in China that is deeply at odds with anything that smacks of peasant uprisings, or power to the people The first disney mulan is a story about a girl who overcame discrimination and gender roles to come into a position of great honour to the state. Propping up the state is basically the opposite of a peasent uprising.

noduerme 5y ago
>> Propping up the state is basically the opposite of a peasent uprising. True, and fair. I didn't mean to cast Disney as some kind of revolutionary force for anti-authoritarianism at any point in its history. But the Joan of Arc myth means different things to different people, and it's inherently dangerous to the status quo even if it's used for the glory of the state. Such a legend could not be told now in China, because there's too much room for subversion in the individual's self-empowerment.

_tik_ 5y ago

I think this argument is overstretching into a political argument. The live action Mulan movie is consider a flop in China. The Chinese audience hate it. It is more successful in Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Disney remove one of main major male character to be aligned with the MeeToo movement. For the Animation version the Chinese complained for their foreign looking character and it is too different from myth. China love Kung Fu panda. The find kung fu panda show a sincere love to Chinese culture without over trying too be a chinese.