Disney utilizes its global influence to portray Chinese culture fallaciously without thoroughly understanding it. The historical inaccuracy and plot holes are strong indications that the studio was not inherently interested in learning and presenting authentic Chinese culture.
Evidently, Disney succeeded in pandering to a westernized audience but failed to impress the people of the culture it should have represented. If Disney wanted to make profit off of my culture and history, they should at least show respect and present an accurate story.
Saratoga High School » Saratoga, California. September 17, — by Serena Li. Sometimes these changes are benign attempts to heighten the drama or make a simpler narrative. However, certain movies misrepresent the past in ways that can be dangerous. It was the first film ever shown in the White House, and the movie's racist propaganda inspired thousands of Americans to show their patriotism by joining the KKK. The film in famously shows a Black character played by a white actor in blackface who preys on a white woman, then heroically frames the KKK for lynching this man.
Beyond its glorification of white supremacist terrorists, The Birth of a Nation perpetuates the racist stereotype that Black men are sexually more violent, which continues to contribute to today's prejudice against African-Americans in the form of lynching, mass incarceration, and more. Every so often, a theory emerges that William Shakespeare might not have authored his plays. Some scholars believe his wife assisted him, while others claim his friend-turned-rival Kit Marlowe co-wrote some productions.
If only someone told that to the crew working on Anonymous. This theory is not new and has been discredited long before the film was even greenlit. There is nothing remotely historical about The Patriot, besides the weapons and costumes.
Everything from the battles to the soldiers' motives is so poorly handled that the script should have been loaded into a cannon and fired at the director. What makes The Patriot particularly dangerous is how it reinvents American revolutionary history. Set in South Carolina, The Patriot erases almost all signs of racial oppression, having only three racist characters despite racism being the era's norm.
Backlash over filming 'Mulan' in Xinjiang 'generated a lot of issues,' admits Disney. Director Niki Caro said she wanted to create a strong female lead in her version of "Mulan.
By removing Mulan's agency in the telling of her own story, Caro gives us a character stuck in the patriarchal system she is born into rather than the empowered character Caro imagines Mulan to be. Relying on outdated orientalist tropes about Asian loyalty to the family, Caro again reinforces rather breaks down deeply engrained gendered stereotypes about the role of women and the family in East Asia.
Perhaps one of the biggest missteps was a departure from the well-received cartoon version of the movie. Viewers in both China and the United States noted the absence of Mulan's dragon companion, Mushu, and the comic relief he provided in the cartoon version.
Without Mushu, the movie relies on lame jokes made by Mulan's male soldier companions about outdated gender roles in marriage to try to bring levity to an international audience. They were cringe-worthy and fell completely flat. Historical inaccuracies are forgivable, unless you are making claims to authenticity. In this regard, "Mulan" fizzles so badly that both American and Chinese viewers can see right through Disney's efforts to position the film as either authentic or empowering.
As Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, said at a Disney expo event last year, according to state-run news agency Xinhua, "We spent a lot of time in the beginning with scholars, experts and people from the region. And we spent a great deal of time in China. Get our free weekly newsletter. Back in March, the movie was applauded by some for its all-Asian cast.
Here, Mulan commits suicide rather than live under a foreign ruler, meeting a tragic end. This version played on gender as well as ideas of national identity against a complicated political backdrop, and some have argued that the renewed interest it sparked in the Mulan story was partly due to its nationalistic overtones and critique of the occupation. Looking back at the original Mulan legend helps explain the criticism over certain stylistic choices in the film, such as the costume and the architecture.
For some, the questions over adaptation and historical accuracy are inextricable from the issue of representation, both onscreen and behind the camera. For others, the strength of the adaptation lies in how well the film conveys the message of the Mulan story. Contact us at letters time.
By Suyin Haynes. A painting of Mulan on silk from the eighteenth century. A still from "Mulan Joins the Army," from
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