I bet you all have seen the animated and original version of Mulan. The new Mulan movie came out on March 25th of 2020 in the Disney Plus platform. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, this movie took Niki Caro as the director of this movie. Fans of the original Mulan movie have waited and is excited for this movie since a year ago when the first trailer came out. But just a couple of days after it came out, people start to find peculiar posts on Liu YiFei, the actress of Mulan’s posts. Small aspects in a movie could still ruin a whole movie. In this case the main actress is the reason this movie is ruined.
Fans found out that the star Mulan, Liu YiFei showed her support in Hong Kong police brutality. It was posted in Liu YiFei’s a social media account alike Twitter in August 2019. The caption was written in Mandarin, “I support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now. What a shame for Hong Kong” wrote Liu YiFei translated from Mandarin. #BoycottMulan backlash trended on twitter in the United States also in Hong Kong.
People are fast to assume that the post was supporting police brutality in Hong Kong. As we all know about the pro – democracy protest and the police brutality violence that occurred in Hong Kong. One of a twitter user account, Nardia Huang wrote “She (Liu YiFei) supports the brutality of Hong Kong Police for beating up people” plus the #BoycottMulan.
Mulan, a movie against unfair suppression and discrimination is contradicting to Liu YiFei’s post if it is certain that sh supports the police brutality. It is known that Disney is developing various of diversity in the movies they produce. Such as Mulan, Pocahontas, Tiana and more. But the entertainment world still lacks diversity. The actress used in the movie Mulan are majority Chinese – American and the workers and creators behind the movie are mostly white Americans. There is still diversity absence in the huge movie industry in America. We need support more international and diverse productions and also movies that exhibits diversity.
The movie Mulan receives backlash after the main actress, Liu YiFei was assumed to support police brutality in Hong Kong. People relates this to how the production team are white and did not use real Chinese actors. In 2020, the world develops and equality is more reachable. It is time for the movie industry, especially in America uses more diverse talents.
References:
Liu Yifei: Mulan boycott urged after star backs HK police. (2019, August 16). Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49373276
Why People Are Calling to #BoycottMulan, and What it Has to Do With the Hong Kong Protests. (2020, March 10). Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://www.slashfilm.com/boycott-mulan-explained-liu-yifei-hong-kong/
Author: Emilles Godnice Hampp | Student of International Undergraduate Program-2020