Mulan Case study

• Mulan released


  2020
• Director

  Niki Caro (a woman)
• Mulan is said to have cost around $200 million to produce
• Disney attempted to show cultural sensitivity in its depiction of China in Mulan


  It has been criticised for a couple of reasons
• Some Asian countries called for a boycott of the film after the lead actress, Liu Yifei, spoke out in support of the Hong Kong police who have been accused of violence against pro-democracy protestors
• Mulan had a 46% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
• The movie was met with criticism from both China and America, despite efforts to synergize Western and Eastern elements of the Disney-adapted Chinese story
• Mulan brought in $70 million, half of which came from China alone
• Mulan had an estimated loss of more than $180 million
• The film was released in the thick of the pandemic


  It hampered its box office earnings
• After several delays, Disney opted to release it on its streaming service, though many countries outside the US did enjoy a theatrical run
• Disney has been accused by fans on social media of gently censoring films – by tweaking scripts and character nationalities – to please the Chinese government and ensure distribution in China
• China is now the second-biggest movie market in the world so to maximise profits in that territory, they have to portray China in a favourable light
• Disney merely make reference to issues or criticisms that could have been made of their historical content and attempts to be more racially sensitive or feminist are tokenistic
• Rather than genuinely attempting to tackle issues with inequality, they add 'a coat of girl boss paint' to appear more woke and therefore more marketable to the younger generation
• The fact that disney is relying on creating a live action remake of the disney film shows that they conform to maximising profit and minimnising risk, the lack of creativity and the injustice to the original animation film made people angry
• The release of mulan was during the start of covid, which also impacted box office earnings greatly
• During this time the western audience was surrounded by controversial news about china, which might have also impacted the film