Mulan (2020) - Review by Jared Rabinovici

History of Mulan

Mulan (2020) is a live action remake of the 1998 animated Disney film which goes by the same title. Disney made this movie as part of a series of live action recreations of their previously successful animated features. Mulan (2020) was intended to be a box office hit, with expectations that it would be a massive success in both America and China. However, Mulan ended up being a huge flop. The movie’s downfall began when a controversy arose concerning the fact that parts of it were filmed in the Xinjiang region of China, where the Chinese Communist Party is detaining Uighur Muslims and sending them to mass internment camps (Qin 2020). In light of this information, in addition to a few other controversies, Mulan’s reputation grew increasingly unfavorable. The reaction to this film can be best illustrated by looking at its financial success. While Disney spent a whopping 200 million dollars to produce the movie, they were only able to rake in 66.8 million dollars in the box office (IMDb 2020). Mulan has not been well received by the public, and this is not only because it is a subpar movie.

Historical analysis of Mulan

From a historical perspective, Mulan was an absolute mess. The movie, which is meant to take place during the Northern and Southern dynasty in China, is so riddled with anachronisms that one would be hard pressed to discern which period in China’s history the film is attempting to depict. In addition to this, it appears as though the film panders with orientalist tropes; this is in a brazen attempt to appeal to a Western audience through taking outdated, stereotypical beliefs about Chinese culture and using them in a - supposedly - historical fiction. The director herself noted that she was not concerned with historical accuracy, as she wanted to make the film have the most widespread appeal possible (Li 2020). Failing to make the movie historically accurate for the goal of gaining popularity among a Western audience, is, in a way, whitewashing history. It is unfortunate that this film, which had so much potential, was not able to live up to the expectations audiences had for a remake of the beloved original.