Mulan (2020) - Chink War Movie

Read up on some Chinese criticisms, For all their pandering to Winnie the Flu, it's clear that this is Western made to the Chinese audience with only surface level knowledge of Chinese culture/elements. The worst offender is the way chi is portrayed. Instead of it being something that gifted people are born with (like Mulan), the Chinese believe that everyone has it, and that it can be cultivated by hard work (training montages in kung fu/wuxia films). Not only does the mouse betray the original animated film with that "I'll make a man out of you" training compilation, but they disrespect the intended Chinese audience by magically giving her chi superpowers without any training at all.

Another one I read is that Mulan's actress is apparently considered to be one of China's worst actresses, only good for looking pretty and making no facial expressions. Perfect for the "Wahmen/Mary Sue" like Captain Marvel or Rey, not what the Chinese like. Add to the fact that they already made a big budget Mulan film in 2009, no wonder this is garbage.

SteelPlatedHeart said:
Found a long thread of someone live tweeting the movie, in case you want to see just how bad it gets without watching it.

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She's pointing out all the stuff other Chinese are saying as well. Amazing. Lol, " they really are going with the very Western trope of "person is born with uncontrollable, demonized superpowers" this is just not a thing i see that often in Asian stories? Asian protagonists actively work and work hard for their abilities". Western modern feminist icons btfo.
 
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The story of Mulan has been rendered in live action before, specifically I am thinking of the 1964 Shaw Brothers Huangmei opera film, Lady General Hua Mulan , starring Ling Po as Mulan, who had become a big star after starring in The Love Eterne and starred in most of SB's Huangmei opera movies, often in roles which required her to be dressed like a man.

It is totally different from either Disney adaption, Mulan has been trained in her family's spear style and her father hopes she can beat his kill count as a proud martial artist. At one point he gives her the advice "If you see two, kill two."

 
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The funniest thing about making Mulan a powerful asskicking warrior is that she earned the respect of her peers by using her wits. She passed hot dude Captain's test because she realised it was a riddle rather than a test of strength.

She was also kind and sweet, I remember when she hugged the Emperor, people in the theatre laughed or awww'ed.

The scene when she presents her father the Emperor's sword and he just tossed it away really touches a nerve of how much he values her. A brief scene, but very telling and full of heart.
 
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Slimy Time said:
Read up on some Chinese criticisms, For all their pandering to Winnie the Flu, it's clear that this is Western made to the Chinese audience with only surface level knowledge of Chinese culture/elements. The worst offender is the way chi is portrayed. Instead of it being something that gifted people are born with (like Mulan), the Chinese believe that everyone has it, and that it can be cultivated by hard work (training montages in kung fu/wuxia films). Not only does the mouse betray the original animated film with that "I'll make a man out of you" training compilation, but they disrespect the intended Chinese audience by magically giving her chi superpowers without any training at all.
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There is a pretty clear mindset in modern filmmakers, that for all talks about equality, the only people allowed to be important are those that are born special and never need to work for it. It's a massive contradiction that really shows how the people responsible for films see themselves as a different class to the plebs and use the idea of equality as a way to justify why they deserve to be on top.
 
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screencapture-twitter-ToyAngel-status-1302621687956090880-2020-09-07-16_53_58.png

Ah, the taste of schadenfreude
 
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Positron said:
That's why you can never be a world-renowned film critic:
View attachment 1576083

View attachment 1576084
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Except Chinese people aren't fond of this adaptation for that very same fucking reason, MovieBlob.

As a sidenote, as poor in characterization and emotion as Christopher Nolan's films are, plot, puzzles, themes and near-real special effects, which is the appeal for Nolan's films, which is why I'm going to try to see TENET in theatres this week. I think it's moot to compare TENET to Mulan. And whatever characterization Nolan has is better than MaREY Sue/Captain Marvel/modern Mulan/"feminist icons".

Xerxes IX said:
The Chinks could make a film like better themselves, and this is supposed to appeal to them? If this is the best Disney can do at making a wuxia film it's like the cringe inducing Western attempts at making anime from the 2000s.

Disney's China appeal angle makes even less sense when their attempts to make the movie more Chinese are handled shoddily.

Kung Fu Panda is a better western made wuxia movie than this is. And the Chinese audience liked that one, leading to the third one being co-produced in China.
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Kung Fu Panda doesn't take itself so darkly and seriously and has a lot of personality, and it was animated too, which is why it was so successful. The same thing goes with the original Mulan.

Honestly, a lot of Chinese shows/movies, particularly those of recent times, have been generic as hell. They're either wuxia, historical or modern and are more than oftan romances between a person of high status and a person of low status. They have the opposite problem as African shows; they're too high quality. Annoyingly high quality in a technical perspective, with things like constant zoom-in shots and unnecessary music playing in the background. I've been watching a ton of them since the pandemic and noticed this trend. You're never going to see a Game of Thrones-esque or Ghost in the Shell-esque Chinese multimedia property in the making, at least for some time.

But then there are movies like Croughing Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, Fearless and Ip Man that kinda destroy this generic nature. Jackie Chan said at one point that it took him months to film one scene to ensure that it's perfect with no CGI, shaky-cam or cuts that destroy continuity.

But what you basically have is what is now a generic Western adventure film with an ancient Chinese asthetic. And it's a remake. And it takes fun and meaningful elements like Mushu out of the equation. All in the name of money. It's very tragic. The Matrix didn't even do this.

EmpireOfTheClouds said:
That's one of the things that really pisses me off about these remakes, that the directors seem to approach them as though they're fucking Marvel movies.

The Lion King was a perfect example. Near the beginning of the movie, when Mufasa walks in on Scar terrorizing Zazu, the way he says "Scar" is amplified as if Thor is making an off-screen entry and the lighting and musical swell do the exact same thing, like Thor just made his entrance.

The same thing happens near the end when Rafiki sees the stick he uses as a weapon in the climactic battle, the music is suddenly all loud and triumphant as if this was Captain America wielding Mjolnir in Endgame.

Like guys, these properties basically sell themselves. You don't have to make an even harder sell on purpose.
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They did the same thing with Star Wars. Particularly in Solo when they tried to make what is akin to an inter-connected universe, or in Rise in Skywalker when they had this grand Endgame-esque battle towards the end like that was earned throughout the entire main storyline.

They're trying to Marvelize their big properties because the MCU was successful. Except that the formula can only work for the MCU given that you have the time, dedication and respect for the source material.
 
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Slimy Time said:
Read up on some Chinese criticisms, For all their pandering to Winnie the Flu, it's clear that this is Western made to the Chinese audience with only surface level knowledge of Chinese culture/elements. The worst offender is the way chi is portrayed. Instead of it being something that gifted people are born with (like Mulan), the Chinese believe that everyone has it, and that it can be cultivated by hard work (training montages in kung fu/wuxia films). Not only does the mouse betray the original animated film with that "I'll make a man out of you" training compilation, but they disrespect the intended Chinese audience by magically giving her chi superpowers without any training at all.

Another one I read is that Mulan's actress is apparently considered to be one of China's worst actresses, only good for looking pretty and making no facial expressions. Perfect for the "Wahmen/Mary Sue" like Captain Marvel or Rey, not what the Chinese like. Add to the fact that they already made a big budget Mulan film in 2009, no wonder this is garbage.


She's pointing out all the stuff other Chinese are saying as well. Amazing. Lol, " they really are going with the very Western trope of "person is born with uncontrollable, demonized superpowers" this is just not a thing i see that often in Asian stories? Asian protagonists actively work and work hard for their abilities". Western modern feminist icons btfo.
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Kinda reminds me of how in Iron Man 3 there was an entirely new sub-plot about a Chinese doctor who ultimately saves Tony Stark's life added exclusively to the Chinese release, but then all the reviews from the Chinese audience were all "WTF is this shit with this random nobody doctor all about, where's Iron Man?"
 
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One Man Bland said:
Kinda reminds me of how in Iron Man 3 there was an entirely new sub-plot about a Chinese doctor who ultimately saves Tony Stark's life added to the Chinese release, but then all the reviews from the Chinese audience were all "WTF is this shit with this random nobody doctor all about, where's Iron Man?"
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3 was already a mess from what I recall. It was meant to be The Mandarin, Iron Man's most famous enemy, except it was the Extremis storyline and all that marketing was nothing but lies. Ben Kingsley was funny, but damn do I remember being mad watching that film after the fake out was revealed.

I wonder what else they added in/removed for each film in Chinese theatres now.
 
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basil marceaux.DOTCOM said:
Does she even dress like a man in this? I've literally not seen one shot of it, and I thought that was the whole plot of the story.

Here's hoping to a massive bomb. The pandemic finally did something right.
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It's going to be a massive bomb because nobody wants to see a shot-for-shot remake of a classic animated movie with no-name actors. You'd think they'd look back 30 years at the Psycho remake and see how bad that did in the box-office, critics, and movie goers and say "yeah, let's not do that."
 
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Kids aren't interested in live-action flicks, and the people who this film appeals to are bums or people who just pirate movies, so it's a big waste of money. I don't get why they're making these movies since they're all based on folklore and are public domain, so it's not that they're making them to hold onto the IP. Disney is just fucking lazy as fuck.
 
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