In the original tales of Mulan, she usually has a little brother who's personality is "I mess up everything for my big sister, because I'm just an annoying little brother." Both characters suck, but then Disney comes in and geniusly turns him into a dopey adorkable puppy in their animated film, that Mulan simply calls "Little Brother." FIXED Why did they need to change something that was already improved?
LEIONEEL SJW happened People who didn’t get jokes got a platform happened Movie company’s catering to bitchy parents happened Fake girl power happened Things changed I remember when I was like 5 I thought there would be flying cars in the near future I got this..
“It’s not less empowering if she has help” SAY IT FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK! Giving Mulan superpowers was the STUPIDEST move, it completely removed the whole point and yes the HEART of the original.
The original reflects the pass, this is year 2020, at least the directors themselves do not feel like women struggling for power reflects current year. This 2020 Mulan reflects the view of the female director, who was given position of power via diversity quota. She failed to command respect or feel she didnt earn the job. So this movie is her power fantasy. It doesn't make sense Mulan starts out with no power, because certain females in current year are simply given power just for below women. This is not my view, this is the view of this movie!
@@ellichacon8840 I think it would've been fine if they added some genuine Wuxia elements called Chi, and not some Superman power or fairy magic renamed to Chi. But this Chi issue is only part of the problem of the whole movie. I've seen many people commenting about the movie being boring, editing sucks, pointless scenes, inconsistent logic etc. It's still a bad movie even without the Chi mis-representation.
@@garytsang5673 the point is, this movie 2020 Disney wanted to match the Mulan ballad more instead of the cartoon.. The ballad, Mulan ALSO starts off strong, but difference is, she didnt have freaking superpowers. So Diseny still didn't really follow the ballad
what upsets me is that part of the WHOLE POINT of the original Mulan was that because she wasn't particularly strong or athletic, she thought outside of the box an outsmarted every situation. Can't climb the pole with weights? Use the weights themselves to hoist you up. Only one canon left to attack with? Use it to create an avalanche and bury your opponent. Can't infiltrate the palace with soldier gear? Dress as women using your knowledge of gender stereotyping. It seems like this movie was stripped of that message and seems to fall into that classic "chosen one" trope ://
I agree with the cartoon mulan's ability to outsmart, especially the avalanche scene. In the live movie, Mulan was a terrible strategist. The avalanche actually almost killed Cricket and the other good guys
this is exactly right! i want to watch it for myself before i form an opinion but it seems a lot of the actual battles don't include those clever moments
well, technically Mulan and Li Shang don't start "dating" until the fighting is over and he's not her commanding officer anymore. *shrug* Lol maybe I'm just salty because Li Shang is one of the hottest disney guys.
I hate that people keep conveniently forgetting that Li Shang was no longer her superior officer the moment Mulan was found out to be a woman and he was about to EXECUTE her on the spot.
What I hate is that everyone was like “mushu isn’t there bc it’s gonna be a realistic version” then they had to just BRING IN SOME WEIRD BIRD WOMAN LIKE TF WE WANT MUSHU NO EXCUSES ANYMORE
In Chinese culture dragon is a masculine symbol whereas phoenix is often a symbol of femininity. They probably removed him for the sake of respect towards the culture (or because it would have looked funny if there was constantly a tiny CGI dragon talking to Mulan)
The most unforgivable thing to me is the fact they made her a “chosen one” and that she was born with powers. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Seeing Mulan climbing the pole with the two weights revolutionised my thinking process as a child. That was the moment I learned what strength, determination and resilience looks like in a woman! That movie overall taught me many things, and is truly one of Disney’s best works, so it makes this remake especially disappointing because of how much the butchered the emotional core of the original Mulan. Also, the montage of Mulan preparing to leave for the army STILL gives me the chills when I think about it. Truly awesome.
Oh god yes. Like the reason I loved the animated and classic Mulan so much is because she was aware she didn’t have a physical advantage compared to men. She used her brain and wits to get her where she got.
I think they were trying to make it historically accurate since chinese people used to look down on women. This is the reason why there were a lot more female orphans in China back then (or even right now I'm not so sure). There are different expectations for women than men. Maybe that's why they were portrayed like that.
I mean, slightly more accurate. Chinese people back then traditionally did not cut their hair, and the Rourans were more historically accurate than the Western term "Huns". With that said, they just fixed like two things and then added a lot more BS to compensate. Good job Disney.
@Epic Rhino Films the animated surname of Mulan was in Cantonese hence the use of 'fa'. However, in the original poem (yes a 360 word poem), her surname is 'hua', hence the discrepancy. The Chinese symbolism of phoenix has nothing to do with the resurection stuff (instead it's relevant to Chinese monarchy and is related to virtues and grace) so I don't know why it's even in the movie
Honestly, the historical accuracy aspect was the only thing that slightly got me interested when announcements of this movie first came out, so it’s disappointing that Disney couldn’t even do that right... Then again, after the actress’s Hong Kong tweets, I decided that I wasn’t even going to see this movie in the first place (and I’m getting sick of live action remakes)
One of the problems is that in the original movie Mulan was NOT a fighter at first. She was a “normal” girl, and was in fact somewhat shy and pretty clumsy, whereas in this movie she kind of starts off as a badass warrior-like person. But I think her being a normal girl in the animated version makes her sacrifice to her family even more significant because she immediately knows she’s completely out of her depth. Changing her to be more athletic and a natural warrior instead of a sympathetic reluctant hero kind of takes the heart out of the character in my opinion.
I think that most of the reviewers totally miss an important point. The first Milan was about a normal girl who blossoms and develops using hard work and intelligence to do something amazing, but the new Mulan falls way short because that isn’t the story they are trying to tell. The new Mulan is about someone who is special but they are told that special thing is bad by their culture, and her bravery is not in overcoming physical obstacles, but in embracing who she is honestly and without fear of the consequences. And maybe still being ethical or good unlike the other “witch.” We might or might not find that particularly noble, but if we are going to criticize that plot point, I think we should see it more clearly.
This is actually a concept in a hero's journey story, the hero is supposed to be reluctant about their journey, they are supposed to hesitate and fail. The live action remake does none of that.
Plot twist: Disney actually made the live action Mulan in a complicated scheme to promote the original animated Mulan by making it look even more incredible by comparison.
History: Many examples of women warriors, generals, leaders, pirates, etc. Disney's Mulan (2020): Lol. Women can't compete with men unless they have "Special Chi" superpowers. Don't be silly!
it's actually much less empowering than just keeping it about a girl who worked for her position. i think stories of "gifted people" tell you that you should be born into your power, stories of hard working individuals tell you that you should be hard working and determined. much better for children to watch.
If anything the animated version gets it right because there Mulan is just a girl, out of her depth but striving to do the right thing and proving to be capable, and lucky enough to save China.
@@jimmylu1352 Yes, I thought her use of a woman's accessory as a weapon to turn the tables on Shan Yu was particularly indicative of how heroic she is. Shame we got her flip kicking an arrow into the baddie on the ground instead. Superchigirl FTW!
The chi storyline is kind of insulting to ancient eastern religion because they’ve always said chi is the energy in everyone, and it was never excluded to men. This is weird lol.
THEY DID NOT OMG! In the original, the bad guy gives no s*it about the fact she's female when he sees her with the emperor, he just recognize the soldier that attacked them, and it's important because the Huns historically HAD female warriors.
It wasn’t even that she cut her hair. It was how. Roughly, with her father’s sword. That scene perfectly showed what she was sacrificing and who she was doing it for.
Yeah for all this talk of how Chinese audiences didn't like the original animated film because it emphasized individual goals over family values, this one didn't do EITHER. I BARELY understand Mulan's motivation because it's not like she ever acts like she wants or needs anything.
@@Rikku147 Also, she already wanted to fight in the live action version and was told to "bury her chi". Animated Mulan's act was 100% sacrafice and unselfish for her to go to war. In the live action film it was an amazing excuse to unleash her burried super power.
@@TheDawnofVanlife THIS Mulan learns how to fight and shoot arrows...except that if she just turns on her qi, she'd be able to do it perfectly? And she goes ham on the one guy that's been nice to her in the entire regumen because she's losing a sparring match with him? Girl
@@TheDawnofVanlife yeah, you're right. Which, if that was the point of her character, it would be... Fine, I guess. It'd be fine if I felt like her great power mattered to her or that she wanted to show off her abilities but it doesn't seem like she places any value in them or finds strength through her abilities. She's just Awesome and that's it. She doesn't bond with the witch over it, she doesn't resent that she's not appreciated because she's a woman, she doesn't hate that she has to limit herself. She doesn't care about anythingggg.
Mulan didn't want to be a warrior. She wanted to save her father. She didn't end up being empowering because she wanted to show how much of a bad-ass she was. she wanted to save her family and got stronger as a result of that. her relationship with Sheng was fantastic because they started off as him being a mentor, and then she proves herself to him by becoming the best warrior in the battalion, later she saves his life and he has to trust her to save the emperor after he had to wrestle with his own judgement and biases. They were both thrust into situations that they weren't ready for with him suddenly having to lead the front lines and her having to fight as a soldier, to boil their relationship down to "oh but her was her superior" is reductive and insulting. She bonds with her fellow soldiers and together they become a team and face all these obstacles together and get stronger together. It's just so condescending and unnecessary to take all these relationships out because the emotional core of who Mulan was is taken away completely. She wasn't strong because she was independent, she was strong because of the relationships she built and i am just so disappointed that all that is thrown away in an attempt to be more "empowering"
Exactly Trying to make Mulan into a "strong independent woman" was a doomed concept from the start. Where in the original did you get that she was independent exactly ? She needed the people just as much as they needed her and even though the men from her battalion were not the main character, they still got a lot of development and were treated with lots of respect both by Mulan and the writers. Trying to pull everyone down so that she could be the only one shining was a stupid idea alone, it is truly a dumbing down of the movie and it's message (because even though relationships with other people and forming tight bonds to help each other is not the main aim of the original, it was still there, but now they just stripped it of completely). And Mulan also appears much much less sympathetic without all of these bonding scenes as well. There are many more problems with this movie but this one pisses me off, I loved the creation of this group of yes, friends, in the middle of hardship, it was so wholesome to see and added substance to the movie above the main focus of Mulan's personal quest, so seeing it stripped off feels insulting
Mulan never tried to be an “empowering woman” she tried to saver her family- and she did. In terms of gender, she NEVER tried to be better than the men, she tried to be as good, and was, and saved China. The new move is... no....
This! She wasnt an empowering character because the movie told us she was or because she wanted to be. She was empowering because of how well and realistically she was written and because of how she over came her struggles that had nothing to do with "empowerment".
@@ramu-silly Gender roles? What kind of reactionary bullshit is that? We're not in the 50s anymore, women can do think outside of the kitchen you know?
The Shang thing bothered me because as a little girl I saw their relationship as the most healthy and respectable one. They don't start off as starstruck lovers, they butt heads and grow to respect each other. Shang develops feelings for Mulan before even knowing she is a SHE. His attraction goes beyond physical. He feels hurt and betrayed when her lie comes to light but still dosn't follow the rules and lets her go and later very quickly puts aside his own position of power and pride and follows her lead into battle this time. Woman or not there is so much respect and trust there that he ignores society, power and structure to follow a woman into a fight. For Mulan though she might have hinted to liking Shang she's not blindly following after him to get his approval, or trying to apologize for her actions to make him feel better. She finds him to warn him of a national threat then says 'okay fine you big baby fuck you' and runs off to save the day without him. Later they don't kiss or even hug Shang is flustered and awkward and stumbles when talking to a girl he really likes. Mulan again takes the lead and asks HIM to dinner and they just smile at each other, happy. It was the most RESPECTABLE relationship I feel Disney had ever done and was super 'female power fuck yeah!' and their love felt like a natural normal progression. Removing it seems like a major over correction to a problem that wasn't even a problem in the original. They are just throwing out woke ideas for the sake of it. 'Look we got rid of the yuckie romance guys! How problematic was THAT? Yeah.....' without realizing that no one ever had an issue with it.
What film were you watching? The romance is the exact same. They butt heads, they find they have similar core values, he grows to greatly respect her and that grows to romantic interest in a very respectful way at the end. At what part of them holding hands gently for a prolonged time did all of you see this as purely platonic?
@@selty The dude was already paired off to another woman in his home town and couldn't wait to marry her. They're not supposed to be romanticalky involved with one another, just the dude having this some sort of small crush and admiration towards her.
Like it's great to have single girl characters in Disney but I love films that have a powerful female and a male love interest that is supportive, caring, maybe a bit of a jerk sometimes lol but is there for the female character I feel like Disney is sorta losing that. They are losing what makes them feel magical and what makes them great just for some woke points. I don't care for this single tough lady thing it's great I mean Merida was great but give me more of that Princess and the Frog and Tangled vibes but overall idc for the live actions they aren't my cup of tea
@@ロロノアゾロ-h4m It's left pretty open ended, actually and insinuates romantic interest pretty strongly to me and everyone I was watching the film with and many articles. As well as the actor who played Honghui who said the relationship plays the same as the cartoon albeit less overt. So... Like of all the things to be criticising, Shang being replaced with an equally respectful male character is just bizarre to me. I get how people hate how they handled Chi, I don't but.. this? Come on.
@@selty so you're saying that cheating is better? he had a girl in his home town and they made it seem like he liked her and wanted to marry her but then he just likes mulan because she kicked some asses? that doesn't sit right with me dude
8:20 No, you're not reading too much into it. In ancient China, hair has symbolic meaning of respect and filial piety. If you look into ancient Chinese hairstyles, a lot of female hairstyles are elaborate and requires very, very long hair. Girls are not allowed to style their hair until they are married, so it's usually kept neat and long, that's why in the animated film, you see the mother and grandmother had their hair tied into a bun while Mulan's hair was long and straight. While cutting your hair is frowned upon even for males, to cut your hair in the animated film is to symbolize the rejection of traditional female role in the family, meaning Mulan, with her cut hair, can no longer be wed into another family. It's a symbolic gesture of her determination. There's no longer backing out of her decision. So, yes, you did read into the symbolic gesture of the animated film correctly. If you read into the history of ancient China, the only people who would have their hair cut are prisoners and monks. Monks cut their hair because they see no value in having hair. Prisoners have their hair cut by officials and left to be unkempt is a form of punishment. So having messy and unkempt hair is equivalent to a person of no value to the society, ie. a useless person or a criminal.
If I remember correctly, during the Qing dynasty (which is much later than the mythical 'ancient' China of Mulan tho) there was even a law that heavily punished men who didn't style their hair in a specific way; I'm talking jail time up to even death sentences
@@thomaskole9881 Yes, I did mention "cutting your hair is frowned upon even for males", but the whole cutting hair sequence is more of a film's symbolic meaning than historic accuracy, which most people can forgive. It's pretty on the nose, but people get the message. It's like watching scenes of people throwing rings into a river to symbolize giving up a marriage - realistically, people don't actually throw rings into rivers to divorce.
"It's not less empowering if she has help" Holy shit, yes. People have forgotten this so much. Asking for help is NOT a bad thing! Admitting that you can't do something alone and relying on other people is actually really brave. It takes making yourself vulnerable to others. People complain so much about female leads that can't do everything on their own without help from anyone. They say it makes them less independent or less empowering, which is such bull.
Mulan is a strong, independent woman, but she isn't afraid to ask for help. Her needing help doesn't mean she isn't a strong, independent woman. Like, she literally saved China.
Exactly! I daresay that it's actually the opposite. Humans need help to do things. Overpowered main characters can be entertaining, but they aren't, and will never be empowering because if they are seen as models, then automatically everyone comes short of those standards. It's the same principle as the unattainable beauty standards in both men and women- it's okay to enjoy series where the characters have unrealistic body types. But the moment we start seeing those body types as goals... that's where EDs, plastic surgery obsession and steroid overuse happen.
I think people confuse the "you can't do it so let me do it for you" kind of help with the "I support you and want you to succeed" kind of help. The two are very different, and accepting the latter doesn't lessen an empowering message, in fact it often enhances it.
Mulan didn’t just ask for help, either. She lead a group of her peers- people who she had earned the trust of- into battle. She asked for help AND she was a leader. It’s not either/or.
One hundred percent. Look how good Moana was good when they put in the effort. But for some reason they have this obsession with going for these not so great remakes.
disney with his feminist agenda just creats shitty movies. Dont try to make manly women, try to make strong good developed women, they dont have to be men in order to be strong.
@@AUisGoLd98 the phoenix is literally one of the most important symbols in Chinese culture THROUGHOUT history, and has been used in imagery as the female counterpart to the dragon, a traditionally male entity... for a really long time... I don't know where you got the notion that... Chinese culture doesn't have phoenixes but okay
Its not because its a phoenix that is the problem its just that they make it out to be some greater magic force its just SUCH a disney movie and disney just cant do proper realism like this. Also Witches?? thats european lmao.
The stupidest part of this movie HAD to be the Chi plot line. Not only did they make Mulan “not like other girls”, but it’s not even accurate to Eastern Asian culture. Chi is supposed to run through everyone, your special on HOW you use your chi, not that you have it. And I’m some random white person on the internet who had an Ancient Chinese phase in middle school. If a middle schooler can be more culturally accurate then a studio full of top paid writers, directors, producers and actors, then that’s just really sad
I mean - I'm not deep into that. Just having a small feng shui booklet and I instantly thought about this like : Chi and men and women? So more the teaching of Yin and Yan? Like ... men are hot and women are cold and so on (Which would be great to use that - I mean like - Mulan bringing up a little bit more of a softer flow sort of fighting into it or something like that, while the guys would be more of the traditional fighting or something like that .... It's late and English is a foreign language for me so I hope you understand what I mean)
Lily Snape yeah, they should’ve gone with the yin and yang angle instead, that would’ve been interesting. Plus, they could’ve broken down some common misconceptions about yin and yang(like that yang equals good and yin equals evil. That’s a western conception and I hate it.) And don’t worry, your English was fine
@@suckit1335 As a random person of chinese ethnicity on the internet, i would rather Hollywood to STOP YEETING CHI OR YIN AND YANG INTO EVERYTHING REMOTELY EAST ASIAN. Just, stop LOL. I cringe everytime they appear on Hollywood movies. Even low budget historical Chinese shows with bad scripts don't often talk about them. I even had an american approach me to talk about "chi" during my summer exchange. Help.
And all other remakes. That was my biggest criticism of the 2016 Ghostbusters movie, and why I haven't been able to bring myself to watch any of the live action Disney movies.
One of the most powerful scenes for me in the original Mulan was when, in her final fight scene, she uses her fan to disarm the bad guy. She is completely Mulan in that moment, dressed as a woman and using an object that is traditionally a female item and beats the enemy. I always thought that was so cool, disappointed not to see it in the new film.
Yeah I always loved that. She embraces her femininity instead of shying away from it. She doesn't need to be more manly or less feminine to be a badass warrior.
also, just before this, the BOYS do the same thing. that’s a powerful thing to see as a young boy especially when toxic masculinity says femininity as a whole is bad and shameful
A comment on the cutting her hair part. In old Chinese culture, cutting your hair was not something done to either men or women, since it was seen as dishonourable to your family. The cutting hair scene was a method of showing her transition from woman to man influenced by western understandings of gender; long hair is purely feminine and shorter hair is purely masculine. So maybe the live action tried to be more respectful to Chinese culture in that regard (it was still a very powerful scene in my childhood and I personally interpreted it as; Mulan starting from a place of dishonour, having failed to be a good traditional daughter and continuing to go against the status quo by lying her way into the army. So she needs to reclaim her honour, both for herself and her family; as her hair grows back, she will grow as well). That said, it's actually disappointing that a lot of the live action film, in my opinion, was not respectful to the legend of Mulan or what it meant to a lot of young Chinese girls. Mulan was not a superpowered being, there was nothing separating her from other women. She was a woman willing to risk her life because of her love and devotion to her family, just as many other women would. And she excelled in a male-dominated field, not because of magic, but because of her skill, intelligence, and courage, just as many other women would.
The most disappointing part of this movie was that they downplayed the importance of Mulan's decision to replace her father's place in the military. They made it seem like she wanted to join the army only so she could prove her father wrong about her instead of willingly sacrificing her life to keep her father safe.
So, let me get this straight- They really made her ‘special’ and ‘magical’ with chi?? Is that supposed to empower normal women? It’s fucking tone deaf Mulan was an average woman who was incredibly brave and learned, trained and fought for place in the army. She used her head and some athleticism to get jobs done and was incredible at tactics. She is a hero and a champion of the people, self made and still proud of her femininity afterwards, fighting adversity and danger every step of the way. But no. That’s not empowering enough for women. Let’s make this bitch ✨m a g I c a l✨ because that’s achievable and realistic for modern women. Ffs I know this movie would be shit...
mulan was an average lady who decided to excel in something alien to her to save her family and serve her country. the original mulan was never born special, she worked her butt off to get where she wanted to. it said 'it doesnt matter if you are born special or not, if you work hard and persevere you will become special and thats great on its own'. the live action was 'ye magic girl, if you arent born w it you are worthless'
Not only she worked her butt off but she also was know for her INTELIGENCE and strategy. Yeah. This Mulan was an poor adaptation from a watered down adaptation.
Yep. The original was about working hard, being true to herself, and using her brain to succeed. In this one, apparently true heroes have magical powers, and that's what makes them special. Great 'empowering' message. Thanks Disney.
Nobodylikesbad rappers wow “Feminazi” in 2020. Piss off. Is it bad to inspire and empower people? By that logic, Men have TONS of films that reinforce strong Male protagonists. They don’t need anymore. Men have enough and don’t need them. No one is allowed to make men feel good about themselves or have a strong male protagonist anymore. It isn’t even about feminism, it’s about the absurdity of taking a grounded, relatable and powerful character and making it worse by making it magic. Male or female, that would still piss people off because it’s a dumb decision. And no, men and women do not have a completely even playing field yet, so fuck you, friend.
Another funny thing that when Mulan came home, her sister said: “I’m matched and he is so shy but..bla bla” It was so funny! Is that so important? She should have said to Mulan “Are you alive? Is it real?what happened to you? something like that” The script is just so.....🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
So basically what you’re telling me is that this is another soulless remake of a classic that I loved. And it’s gonna cost me $30 to rent. Yeah, that’s gonna be a hard pass.
My mother was born with only one arm, and this was in the 60's when it was almost considered a stigma. She had a hard hard life. To the point where I almost wasn't born. She fought and struggled, but was determined to give me and my brother a good life even as a single mother. Now she's the head of a state branch of a major company and has succeeded more than hardly anyone I know. She's literally my hero. Yet to this day, she asks me to open pickle jars for her. My point being, she is not some super human who was just born with the ability to do everything. She struggled and failed and, yes, asked for help. But she's still a hero to me.
to each their own, “girl power” could be a problem but since women have been historically oppressed and looked down upon, i don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. the OG mulan did a good job of encapsulating “girl power” without it being toxic.
Disney: This movie is gonna be mature, realistic adaptation that will be close to the original legend Also Disney: Chi Powers, Phoenix and Shapeshifting Witch.
The "a girl?" a woman." part pisses me off so much because a) it's lame and cheesy b) I'm pretty sure the Mongols or (was it the Huns?) did not discriminate with their warriors and c) because Shan Yu did not care (he just calls her "the soldier from the mountains"), that made him more threatening because that meant he wouldn't be holding back against her. Meanwhile, Bori Khan is setting himself up to be defeated by assuming he'll win because woman Also, the "witch" thing bothers me so much because witches (with the connotation it has in the West) are not a thing in the East!! Just say that people will call chi women evil spirits or demons!
@@ロロノアゾロ-h4m If they go through all the trouble to make sure all the actors are the correct race, make these beautiful ass sceneries, and all that in order not to offend anyone, then won't changing certain historical details in order not to offend anyone, still be considered offensive? Am I making any sense? It's 2:30 am and I'm totally sleep deprived lol
I don't know why "women's empowerment" so often means being embarrassed that a woman is a woman and just making her unrealistically over-powered or in this case "magical". The original Mulan acknowledged that Mulan WAS in fact WEAKER than the men. She couldn't rely on brute strength (or magic). Instead, she had to learn how to make herself useful to the army by pushing herself and learning ways to use her petite body most effectively, as well as focusing on strategy. That's not so common nowadays. They don't like to lean into the women as women and think about how a woman could realistically fight and win battles, particularly against men. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be "fun" movies with women who are unrealistically capable of fighting, but in terms of "empowerment", I think taking their female form head-on and depicting badass women winning fights in realistic ways, even if that means using their brains and smart strategy more than their legs and fists, is more empowering...
exactly.....offlate women empowerment movies show an impeccably perfect female lead who has no fears. But then, how would that even be empowering?? In my opinion, no female oriented movie shall be taken from the perspective of a male script writer. Men just don't understand the fears women have.
Right! One of the great moments of the animated movie for me was Mulan figuring out ON HER OWN how to get the arrow at the top of the pole-showing that not only was she tenacious but industrious and ingenious as well-and it came full circle as it was the way they were able to break into the palace WITH THE BOYS IN MOTHEREFFING DRAG. The GENIUS of Mulan essentially being a drag king throughout the movie and then Yao, Ling and Chin Po being in DRAG at the end! You strength (and chi apparently) is not the only thing that makes you a good soldier/warrior-your brains and creativity make you a good soldier.
The thing that upsets me the most is that in the original mulan, although she was mentally strong to make the decision to fight for her father, physically she wasnt. But she got off her ass after she was warned and put in more effort than everyone to become a proper solider. That showed me as a kid that I could become good at anything if I just put in the effort to be good. This? oh, she was born with chi? she was great from the start and could do it all already? gotcha. way to ruin a good message disney.
In my opinion, this is way worse, because this movie removed the actual and valid Feminist message of the older version and turned Mulan into a Mary Sue. Mulan's individuality was taken away just so they can insert this overpowered bland version of this character. Shame on Disney. Shame. And if you also research the issue as to where they filmed the movie in China, Xinjiang, you will clearly see that Disney is just making these remakes for the sake of profit. They don't give a single fuck about the actual message, so they just use these controversial buzzwords to market their films. And also, I want to insert that scene from Star Wars here with Han Solo, "That's not how the Chi works!"
Biggest mistake: The lack of affection between father and daughter. The scene after the matchmaker, under the sakura tree, shows a loving father who doesn't care if she failed or not, but is interrupted by the army caller. This scene alone makes their relationship and later when he yells we get that's more of emotions going waywire and we are basically waiting for them to be okay after Second biggest mistake: Taking away Mulan's actual 'power': BEING SMART. Though all the animated movie we see Mulan doing things in a diferent but smart way - feeding the chickens with the dog, having a second cup of tea, cheating effectively on her arm instead of the fan and most of all using the weights to climb the pole. THAT is her power: BEING SMART. That's way it's Mulan and only her who thinks of using the last firework to cause an avalanche. Instead we have this second-rate super-hero movie that totally lacks any understanding of Chi or the actual myth of Hua Mulan
Re: the line "why wouldn't you believe Fa Mulan" WHY IN HELL WOULD THEY TAKE THAT LINE FROM MULAN AND GIVE IT TO A DUDE?!?!?! Do they not get the connection here? By having a man speak that line they've changed it from the soldiers realizing their own internal bias... to a guy needing to step in and say "she's cool guys, we should let her in the clubhouse." GAAAAAHHHHHH
EXACTLY. while trying to be more PC they actually made it LESS PC!!! you took away a woman standing up for herself to make the men dismissing her go “oh shit you’re right” to a man speaking FOR her. that’s the exact opposite of good!!! if i was living 30 years in the future and had no idea which came first, i’d genuinely have been convinced the animated version came after because it’s WAY more feminist and PC in general, even with the twisting of a major chinese story to be americanized (especially since from what i’ve seen they didn’t even fix a lot of that and even CREATED A NEW AMERICANIZED STORYLINE BY TURNING CHI INTO A POWER AND NOT ESSENTIALLY YOUR BLOOD). they also removed the whole beat of the boys learning to accept and appreciate femininity AS A WHOLE in the fight to protect the emperor even if it could lean a little problematic, but a couple rewrites and it’d be fixed. this movie pisses me off an i haven’t even seen it yet
all my family fell asleep in the middle, the only one awake was 6 and she was pissed we picked this instead of the movie she wanted so she watched it angrily
I always appreciated the beautiful relationship that exists between father and daughter, that the animated Mulan illustrated. You could understand why she would sacrifice herself for someone who was kind, patient, understanding, and loving. It's truly a shame that those crucial moments aren't properly spotlighted in this adaptation, as they remain the heart of her motivations. The ending scene always made me cry as you see where his priorities have and always will lie; in the *love* of his family
Nah, Milan’s motivation now is to throw off the shackles of patriarchal oppression that made her suppress her chi super powers. Her father is an afterthought.
honestly it’s pretty messed up that in the remake she’s op and does everything on her own when some of the nice parts of the original movie was seeing a rag-tag group of people bonding and learning to follow orders in order to support one another and basically coming to see each other as equals with their own particular strengths and weaknesses. it was a side plot but it helped with the idea of anyone can be useful to their community if you put in the work to do so just like mulan.
Carlissia Wilkins Right. And what annoys me more is that in the original, Li Shang is an integral part of Mulan’s character development. He doesn’t take away her “girl power” he refined it and makes the warrior she is. I just don’t get the point they were trying to make by taking him out.
@@addictedtoprocrastination9986 I love movies that have strong female characters and male characters that empower them and support them but noooo its 2020 stuff like that's bad and not empowering enough and we gotta have magical powers and take away things that made the movie good. Also how the hell do they take out Mushu, Li Shang and the musical parts but add in a Phoenix and a witch? That makes no sense.
"I'll make a man out of you" is my favorite thing about Mulan They strip Mulan of her weakness, strip the group of their arc, strip the song out of the film
• her character is so bland and serious and boring and perfect she’s not the same person from the original • she reveals that she’s a girl because she wanted to and not because shes gotten caught which felt so anticlimactic • the other soldiers not knowing she’s the one who saved them is also anticlimactic and if that really happened how would they really acknowledge her worthiness of a soldier •that her punishment was just getting kicked out and not executed
"They made Mulan without the heart" I feel like this is pretty much a summary of almost every live action Disney remake. High budget, fine acting, but no heart. It's all an obvious cash grab at this point and I don't why people continue to get excited or support something that we all know won't be that great in the end.
In my opinion, I think the Cinderella live action was the best adaption of an already cliche Disney princess. The high budget, fine acting, and no heart came after the Beauty and the Beast live action.
Ok, but honestly, *why* is there a character named Cricket in this movie? Out of all the baffling decisions this movie made, that was by far the weirdest. Oh, that and Mulan taking off her armor IN THE MIDDLE OF BATTLE -
@@ロロノアゾロ-h4m which is weird considering the fact that there are three human comedy relief characters already, so adding another one and naming it after the cricket doesn't even work
Another woman did a video where she discussed all the cultural things The Mouse got wrong in this movie, I am still stuck her describing the witch's actor as "who can step on me".
1998 Mulan: Ordinary young woman who preserveres and succeeds in her field, despite her gender and superior's doubts holding her back. 2020 Mulan: She's basically Superman with inexplicable superpowers!😂💪
@@judegross7624 Ripley in Alien is my counter to that. Love Sigourney Weaver. The problem is that Rey has no arc and let's face it, the Disney remakes and Star Wars are ultra garbage tier.
@@judegross7624 did you stop watching Citizen Kane? Did we discard the concept of montage from Battleship Potemkin? Are we ignoring the masterful interviews in Shoah? Are we discarding 2001 A Space Odyssey, because the year 2001 came and went? Are we no longer discussing Apocalypse Now? No? We're talking about all these old films? Heck, we're still talking about the Original Star Wars. So... Shut the hell up with your absolutely gobsmackingly stupid, room-temperature IQ takes on this subject.
The thing about the hair is that in the time period of Mulan men wore their hair long, so there is no reason for her to chop it off. But you know what else is inaccurate for Chinese culture? The entire concept of witches. And chi being a superpower (it's just part of you like blood). And magic women being ostracized-- they were honoured !
"the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all." this was like my all time favorite quote growing up, that scene with the father cheering her up was unforgettable to me. kinda bummer they ommited that
They weren't remaking the original they were adapting the original legend. But it still sucks because no-one has a personality other than mulan and Mulan's personality isn't that good either
@@chrisp.9385 Yeah, I know, but it's Disney so I thought everyone would understand the context of my comment. In fact, there have been some very good mulan movies in the past.
considering their budget, this is just pure trash garbage fyi i love chinese history so it really hurts. heck small budget chinese drama has better costume and some of the set, well they use the same palace studio set
Animated Mulan: A completely average woman has to grow and get stronger in order to save her home and family from a terrifying villain through her wit and determination. Also, the music SLAPS. Live Action Mulan: The Chosen One™️ who is better than everyone since she was a little magic child grows up and fights a sexy witch, makes friends with the sexy witch, and the villains are morons and responsible for the avalanche that causes their own demise. After the witch dies, the emperor saves himself by catching an arrow, and Mulan saves the day by swinging on a cgi log. The music is only backing tracks and it’s BORING. The only good thing to come out of the movie was the sexy witch. Thank you for acknowledging how hot the witch was. I’m super gay for the witch. I’ll accept you, sorceress! Please run your fingers through my hair, you absolute magic mommy.
Another weird thing about the Witch. It's clear that she's a marginalized outsider who is being oppressed by the state and by society for being different and all of her actions are motivated by a desire to be treated humanely without having to change who she is. So it really rubbed me the wrong way when, after the Witch asked Mulan, who has faced similar oppression at the hands of the system, to join her, Mulan responded by saying her duty was to defend the very system that was the source of her oppression. And to add insult to injury, the Witch is then killed off at the end of her redemption arc, almost as if to pay for her crimes against that same system. It was like the movie was saying that marginalized and oppressed people deserve equal rights, but only specially picked marginalized ppl deemed worthy by the system that is oppressing them.
Yes !! This is a frustrating trend I've seen in mainstream pseudo progressists movies/series : be a rebel because it's cool, but not an actual opponent to the system trying to change it because that's a crime ...
wow, you didn’t get it at all, did you. the witch is the loner, because she wasn’t as fortunate as Mulan and didn’t have the accepting family. when she encounters Mulan for the first time, she nudges her into the right direction: to accept herself. when the witch meets Mulan for the second time, when Mulan is in exile, she offers herself as a companion, buddy, friend (all the while seeking family for herself). but their agendas are too different, so Mulan rejects her. when the witch meets Mulan in the third time, Mulan has gotten her inner strength and harmony. so the witch sees that femininity is not a curse or a burden - and Mulan being a successful case of a woman with purpose, ambition and a mission to complete - she protects her from the asshole killer, because people should stick for each other. not everything is about the system, you know.
YES! I couldn't put into words why the treatment of her character bothered me so much but this is it. It's like it's telling us "be a good little oppressed, mistreated marginalized person and only then will you be treated with basic respect by your oppressors." Animated Mulan called out the system for its bullshit. She never would have revealed herself because she KNEW she'd be judged unfairly and she wasn't going to let them destroy her.
The heavy heavy focus on the “Well GiRLs can’t do THaT!” Strips away the empowerment that the original Mulan achieves. The only aspect that existed there was “Women aren’t allowed in this military” and everything else was her using her own strength and it never hinges on her being a man or a woman, she won their respect regardless of her gender.
Heather Baker Except the original does hinge on Mulan being a woman. Your argument is the typical, “I don’t see colour” stuff. Her obstacles and conflicts ARE tied to who she is physically: a woman. She didn’t earn their respect as a woman, she did when she deceived them as a man. She almost gets executed for it. Mushu also points this out when they’re in the imperial city and Mulan tries to convince everyone that the Huns are still alive and in pursuit: “What? Did you say something? Oh, right! You’re a GIRL again remember”. And it’s not until the final conflict that her comrades do help her and they do it even though she’s a woman. The original even points that out with a joke by making her comrades crossdress (not subtle at all). The original Mulan depicts the disadvantage women face in not only ancient China but modern society too. Gender DOES play a role in how women are perceived and what can they do within society, Mulan (original) breaks that mentality aka female empowerment.
Hi, Nice To Meet You Think what they’re trying to say is that the original breaks down gender norms and shows that they aren’t all encompassing or a set rule
@@srfrid it’s doesn’t break female empowerment because she risked her life for her father with the possibility of dying and never returning, and she used her smarts to get her out of situations she couldn’t get out of otherwise.
"Did 'show don't tell' get cancelled when I wasn't looking?" For real though. Something about the safe, strong female character in the last few years that always seems to result in writers forgetting basic things that made stories good.
Just so everyone knows, Disney thanked the officials in China who are running the Xinjiang Uighur concentration camps for their help in filming this movie. Check it out in the credits.
I'm sorry but this (movie) is just a horrible message. Fun for kids, sure... but the whole message and the art style of the original Mulan is just gorgeous. Not only did it keep historically accurate with "women are 2nd class, you will marry" but the original Mulan actually TRIED to be a "traditional woman" before she decided "actually, maybe I can bring honour to my family by protecting my ill father and saving China" and then, as you said, we get this entire emotional moment with the FANTASTIC music and that hair cut scene... she was set and ready to go but you SEE that brief hesitation before she does it. It's a beautiful scene. This Mulan and her whole existence is BARELY through effort... she is literally born with the gift and the way of life from the start and then told to hide it. It's quite sad to be honest because Mulan (animation) is just far superior in terms of being a role model than Live Action Mulan. Animation Mulan teaches you "Even if you fail at one thing, you can still find a purpose elsewhere" Live action Mulan teaches you "As long as you are born with everything, everything will work out"
@@Antonio-gg4vv Exactly. So Mulan was already a warior... There is nothing wrong with that. Mulan's main strugle was always about gender roles. How she was doing something that by society standards was wrong, and that was present in the live action. Infact, in the animated movie she was discovered, but in this movie she openly accepted her true self and wasn't afraid to show she was a woman and was ready to die for lying to them.
They remade the Frozen plot again. Mulan has a power "Chi" that she is good at but can't use because of some kind of reason and later in the movie she embraces her power and becomes powerful.
Okay right off the bat I notice a couple things; Old Mulan: “I fought in the war because my father was supposed to but I’m willing to sacrifice myself and my family’s honor to keep him alive. In the process I show everyone a girl can be just as powerful as a man” ((of course not completely historically accurate, but a wonderful premise)) New Mulan: “I fought in the war because girl power” ((I hate it)) Also there’s no Mushu >:(
For that moment to work Mulan has to actually HAVE friends in this movie 😂 The message of men and women being able to be peers and equals feels so hollow because she never seems to connect with anyone...no heart indeed. The message of this movie is more "If you fight real good the boys will have to let you on their team!" Like, it's not BAD but it'd be much better if there was that trust and friendship between Mulan and the soldiers.
8:30 You weren't looking too deep into the hair cutting part actually! A woman/man cutting off their hair is actually symbolic for entering a new, strenuous journey or the beginning of character growth. I noticed this in the anime movies and this movie which I watched a lot when I was little, and my mother told me that in many religions and in even Confucianism, it's symbolic and means rebellion, growth or despair, even. Well done!
Exactly. Hair cutting symbolises change, even to this day. That scene in the original where she cuts her hair and puts on the armour still gives me the shivers.
Re: the phoenix instead of a dragon thing. The words "Dragon" and "Phoenix" evoke very different images in the minds of Westerners and Easterners. The western image of dragons is inherited from Medieval Europe, whose dragons were big round scaly beasts with bat wings and firey breath. The western image of a Phoenix is inherited from Egyptian mythology, where the idea of death and rebirth as it related the setting of the sun each night and rising of the sun each day was culturally important, so the phoenix is a red and yellow bird that explodes into flames and is reborn from the ashes. Chinese mythical beasts are totally different. First off, dragons and phoenixes and the like are very Chimeric in nature. Dragons have the elegant body of a snake, the sagacious horns of a deer, and the wise beard of a goat. Depending on the region they might also have the hardy shell of a turtle or the proud mane of a lion. Phoenixes are also Chimeric; they'll have the colorful tail of a peacock, the long legs of a crane, the swift wings of a swallow. The most symbolically meaningful and visually distinct elements or different animals are merged together to create an image of grace and power. A lot of Chinese mythology centers on the idea of balance; this is what the Yin-Yang symbol indicates. Dragons are associated with Yang; a masculine symbol of power and grace. Phoenixes are associated with Yin; a feminine symbol of power and grace. This gendered association is probably what drove the change from dragon -> phoenix in the new movie. Unfortunately, when it came to actually implementing the Phoenix, the writers totally fucked it up. The phoenix in Mulan 2020 is not really chinese at all; it's red and yellow and very fiery, for one thing, instead of gold with a multicolored tail. There's also a line in the movie about rebirth, but Phoenixes as a symbol of rebirth is a western idea. In the east Phoenixes are a symbol of prosperity, luck, and heavenly favor, and so they're immortal because it's not exactly good if your symbol of luck just dies at random. I mean I guess this disconnect is what happens when 0 out of 4 writers for you movie based on Chinese culture are actually Chinese or even Asian at all.
Honestly,‘I get cutting out Mushu, the cricket, and the ancestors. That stuff any not have been sensitive. But why did they cut out her friends? Why did they remove all humor? It’s a Disney movie for children, not a biopic. A humorous uplifting moment can help make the painful scenes even more gutting. That’s why “A Girl Worth Fight For” is so perfect. Why you cut away to the destroyed village, it hurts a lot more because of levity of the song just a few seconds prior.
Mulan didn’t start off as a bad ass...she made herself one through hardship and shiz Also, ARMOR IS IMPORTANT, DONT JUST THROW IT OFF FOR “EMPOWERMENT” Tfw the more progressive movie is the older one Disney stop trying to be woke and just be ...you know good? Also, was the witch a replacement for the villains bird? I swear he had one
Disney Classic Mulan: Women, you can be the equal of in the arduous tasks, lead them even, through sheer dedication and hard work. Remake Mulan: Women, you better be freaking magical if you want any chance to anything other than a housewife.
The whole “Chi is only for men” thing was real dumb. I definitely agree that there was no heart at all and I wasn’t attached to any of the characters in the end, not even Mulan. I missed the characters they left out like Grandma and Shang. All in all, would not recommend, let’s stick with the original and maybe let’s stop with the live action remakes for a quick cash grab, Disney ☕️
The only sis I cared and liked was the WITCH LADY! She was pretty, the only one with an interesting goal and a totally BAD B! With how bad all the other characters were, I was hoping, PRAYING that Mulan would betray over and become lesbians with her lmaoooo. It probs would have been more interesting than what we got 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
It's like they literally said men are better than women naturally, Mulan is just an exception. It was really confusing like the whole chi thing didn't feel like it promoted feminism at all. That meant all the other common women in the film were justified in being treated as lesser cause chi... just why? It's not empowering to women or girls if the only women in the film who are empowered are actually already born super powerful.
Cyneawyn Gaelhove THIS. If Mulan is the exception to the rule that only men can be great warriors, why bother with the movie at all. It goes against the message the original was trying to convey.
Wait, the whole “you trusted dude Mulan, so why not trust her now” line was said by Mulan in the original, wasn’t it? I feel like it was much more powerful when she said it because now it doesn’t seem like she proved anything but that a man convinced other men that they should give a woman a shot
蠢蠢欲動 it’s kinda wild how people are treating the animated Mulan as the source material, when this seems to be a different telling for a different audience
@@simmerway right!! Especially it seems like some people are mad for Disney for not making the live action an excat copy of the animation when even the animation is REAALLY altered compared to the original story. Are people mad because of the changes (because then they should hate the animation just as much) or are people mad because their nostalgia is taken away?
everyone in the comments: i cant believe this movie *proceeds to tell empowering story of how the original changed their lives* me: but what about s h a n g
You know, considering how the movie ended up, I think we should be grateful Shang wasn't in it (the love interest in this 2020 Mulan film has no character!). Disney butchered Mulan so I don't trust them handling Shang, they're just gonna _make a mess out of him_
The original Mulan has a strong female character with actual character development, the live action felt like a forced strong female character. The movie was constantly going "look how strong, awesome and independent Mulan is!!".
@@yukikanegawa7470 The romantic connection was there in the original, but for a majority of the movie, they were just platonic. Like, only at the end ("you fight good" and "would you like to stay for dinner?" "WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY FOREVER") is when Shang and Mulan start having a romantic connection. *After* the power dynamic was gone.
Bruh I loved the original Mulan character because she was a badass woman who was also clumsy and fun-loving and funny. It's like Disney tried to make her more empowered by taking out all the parts that make her interesting and likeable.
One of the most appealing elements of Mulan's character arc wise how she overcame her physical limitations by using her brain to think her way around a problem that she couldn't just punched the real with brute force. They stole that from her by making her better because..... reasons. Studios need to remember what makes a strong character.
I love how you quoted the lines of the “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” song from the original Mulan and incorporated that into your monologue; that was pretty good.
Everytime I see people talking about this live action Mulan, it makes me want to go rewatch animated Mulan again. Now that movie was great. One of my favourite Disney movies when I was a kid.
Me too. That's why I was looking forward to the live action Mulan. I dread when Pochahontas will become a live action Disney film (let's hope that doesn't happen)...
I also agree with you with Mulan's hair. You can see the pain and hesitation in her eyes before she does it. She knows that after she cuts her hair this is really happening. She's really going to war. After she cuts her hair she knows that there is no return. All of that shows in her eyes in that single moment in the animation.
not to mention that scene is undeniably ICONIC! i get it’s not a shot-for-shot remake but that scene is the first thing i think of when i think of mulan.
Yes, it's such a poignant moment, as Mulan cutting her hair symbolises her division from the graceful, elegant lady of society that she's been pressured to be, and the brave, courageous soldier that she eventually becomes to take her father's place. 🗡️
Looking through the comments seeing how important that part was for people, there really is nothing like chopping off your hair 😅 I chopped mine off in two braids. Best feeling ever.
There was a comment I saw somewhere that I forgot to get a screen cap of, but it explained how her cutting her hair, while it was normal for both Chinese men and women to wear it long, was a sign of rebellion and a new journey in religions and Confucianism. The reason why a lot of Chinese audiences disliked it in the original wasn’t because it was inaccurate, but because it showed that Mulan was putting forward her individual values as opposed to traditional family ones
The "phoenix" was a strange choice. I thought, at first, that the dragon might have been replaced, because it was considered a symbol of royalty in China. Then I found that the fenghuang, the immortal bird if Chinese legend that is arbitrarily given the name "phoenix" in English, is also a sign of royalty! So... I'm not sure of the reason. Maybe to try and fail at seeming less culturally ignorant? This introduction of insta-chi, is just a strange mashup of titan/great (wo)man view of storytelling and history. The idea that everything occurs because of an extraordinary person, whose capabilities are far beyond that of the masses. A chosen one, as others have said. It's a weird modern mashup with populism you see become really popular in capitalist literature: the superhero. A person that can come from humble beginnings, but superior to those around them in some major way. It encourages the idea of social mobility and breaking taboos/norms, but just so the elite can assume their proper place in society. I hate it. It's not about perseverance and more about chance or birthright.
I read a few Chinese novels and one theme is the phoenix being a sign or the empress while the dragon is a sign of the emperor. But I'd have to fact check that...
"It encourages the idea of social mobility and breaking taboos/norms, but just so the elite can assume their proper place in society." That sounds like exactly what the current Chinese government would want to impart on their citizens, "no point trying to change the country or ruling class for the better because we have the mandate of heaven on our side..." -_-
@@redrefrigerator8458 Woah! The idea of the Mandate of Heaven is an antiquated concept of the Imperial family, which is reviled in China today. You can certainly disagree with the actions of the Chinese government, but don't be offensive.
Nothing feels earned here; Mulan's decision to go to war, her friendship with Yao, Po, and Ling, her progression as a soldier, her virtually non-existent romance with Honghui, none of it
Everyone does, but it's like the force here. In Star Wars (which is actually based on Chi) the life force is within everything, but some have a "chi boost" or are "strong in the force". But some people are random soilder number 4 and some are Anakin (Mulan) Skywalker.
It's funny how the 1998 movie managed to be more grounded and realistic despite having a talking dragon, spirits and all. All Disney needed to do was follow the same formula. They did it with their other remakes(which to me weren't that good either) but Mulan for me is special and has a much better story to follow..than whatever this movie tried to be.
@@rosiel1277 from how she explained it in the commentary, everyone has it but only men can tap into it? If women tsp in, and show it, there are considered witches 🤷♀️
According to your description, the Witch was supposed to be the main character. Mulan seems like a piece of wood compared to her character arcs (was betrayed, why was she evil, why did she sacrifice herself?). Besides, I actually asked myself whether or not the funny trio of short, thin, and big-hearted trio would be there as well. I do not know the details, but apparently, the short one who was mean to Mulan (skinny, weak, disguised male soldier recruit) and bullied her is NOT in the movie. And their character arc was one of my favorites, Mulan earning his respects as a leader and capable comrade in war. Besides, I do think that he apologizes in his own ways and Mulan accepting his apology and even becoming good friends.
I haven’t watched this movie, but from reading the comments and watching your video I think they forgot about Mulan’s creativity and out of the box thinking as her largest talent. One thing that is shown from the beginning of the animated movie is how she was resourceful in getting her chores done and creative in the was she solved problems. This later translates into her using her last rocket to cause an avalanche and defeating the villain on the rooftop with her fan. This always stuck with me as a kid about how she used her own abilities and ideas in the darkest hours to make it through. Super powers or the use of “chi” really cheapens this point and makes her differences to her community less relatable.
@Tim Krigers i 100% agree with you on this chick (idk her name) and brie larson, but daisy ridley did pretty good at rey. rey is meant to be a closed off person who doesn't show her emotion. we see her struggle to maintain her leadership and try not to freak out on people when she's really struggling, so it makes sense for her to be a little more subtle with her acting. but the rest can go tbh
The ending of the moving was so bland. In the cartoon version its such a touching moment when she brings her father these gifts as proof of honor towards her family from the freaking emporer himself and he just through it to the ground and hugs her. Now that's an emotional scene. Somehow the OG Mulan was way smarter, darker, and more complex. Almost like they didn't dumb it down for kids.
Mulan's sister: Hi, my personality is scared of spiders
This made me laugh so hard! 😂😂😂
To be fair, that's 1 more personality trait than most of the other characters got.
In the original tales of Mulan, she usually has a little brother who's personality is "I mess up everything for my big sister, because I'm just an annoying little brother." Both characters suck, but then Disney comes in and geniusly turns him into a dopey adorkable puppy in their animated film, that Mulan simply calls "Little Brother."
FIXED
Why did they need to change something that was already improved?
"Hi, I exist so Mulan can actually succeed at something she "fails" at!"
@@thechad4485 why, that would mean they did some research. What a novel concept.
Animated: Mulan the underdog
Live-action: Mulan the "I'm not like other girls" chosen one
It's like evolution, but backwards.
R/notlikeothergirls
Will forever scar me
I'm not like other girls.
I can turn into a bunch of birds
@@genericname2747 👏
Yes, very weird how a cartoon from 1998 was more grounded in reality than a live action in 2020. wtf happened
LEIONEEL
SJW happened
People who didn’t get jokes got a platform happened
Movie company’s catering to bitchy parents happened
Fake girl power happened
Things changed
I remember when I was like 5 I thought there would be flying cars in the near future
I got this..
“It’s not less empowering if she has help” SAY IT FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!
Giving Mulan superpowers was the STUPIDEST move, it completely removed the whole point and yes the HEART of the original.
The original reflects the pass, this is year 2020, at least the directors themselves do not feel like women struggling for power reflects current year.
This 2020 Mulan reflects the view of the female director, who was given position of power via diversity quota. She failed to command respect or feel she didnt earn the job. So this movie is her power fantasy. It doesn't make sense Mulan starts out with no power, because certain females in current year are simply given power just for below women. This is not my view, this is the view of this movie!
The chi aspect could have worked but the writers very clearly were lazy. It's an interesting concept and could have added a new element to mulan.
@@ellichacon8840 I think it would've been fine if they added some genuine Wuxia elements called Chi, and not some Superman power or fairy magic renamed to Chi. But this Chi issue is only part of the problem of the whole movie. I've seen many people commenting about the movie being boring, editing sucks, pointless scenes, inconsistent logic etc. It's still a bad movie even without the Chi mis-representation.
@@garytsang5673 the point is, this movie 2020 Disney wanted to match the Mulan ballad more instead of the cartoon.. The ballad, Mulan ALSO starts off strong, but difference is, she didnt have freaking superpowers. So Diseny still didn't really follow the ballad
@@dark3031 yah. I think Disney tried way too hard to make this film "just right"
THEY TOOK OUT GRANDMA!? DISHONOR ON YOUR WHOLE FAMILY
Seriously, imagine taking out the grand matriarch out of a Chinese family
Does Chinese culture (in 1500) respect wowmen like that? Or is joke?
I WAS SO ANGRY TOO, WE WERE ROBBED OF A CUTE POH POH or NAI NAI
@@kronosbach5263 you're not asian are you?
Grandmothers are highly honored even now especially in conservative Chinese families
DISHONOR ON YOU! DISHONOR ON YOUR COW!
@@kronosbach5263 I mean, isn't Mulan's ballad literally from then?
what upsets me is that part of the WHOLE POINT of the original Mulan was that because she wasn't particularly strong or athletic, she thought outside of the box an outsmarted every situation. Can't climb the pole with weights? Use the weights themselves to hoist you up. Only one canon left to attack with? Use it to create an avalanche and bury your opponent. Can't infiltrate the palace with soldier gear? Dress as women using your knowledge of gender stereotyping. It seems like this movie was stripped of that message and seems to fall into that classic "chosen one" trope ://
please don't call the Disney's animation the original Mulan, since it's not. Disney didn't came up with the story.
I agree with the cartoon mulan's ability to outsmart, especially the avalanche scene.
In the live movie, Mulan was a terrible strategist. The avalanche actually almost killed Cricket and the other good guys
this is exactly right! i want to watch it for myself before i form an opinion but it seems a lot of the actual battles don't include those clever moments
蠢蠢欲動 yes I understand, I was referring to the film since that’s what this video is about
@Epic Rhino Films Have you just been replying this under every comment? (No hate. You have good points and the frequency is amusing)
well, technically Mulan and Li Shang don't start "dating" until the fighting is over and he's not her commanding officer anymore. *shrug*
Lol maybe I'm just salty because Li Shang is one of the hottest disney guys.
And one of the most realistic when it comes to flirting: "You fight good" :)))
@@Linhdoesstuff *"oh god I'm so gay for him"*
@@KarakuriBurst Yessssss
I hate that people keep conveniently forgetting that Li Shang was no longer her superior officer the moment Mulan was found out to be a woman and he was about to EXECUTE her on the spot.
He’s my favorite ❤️
What I hate is that everyone was like “mushu isn’t there bc it’s gonna be a realistic version” then they had to just BRING IN SOME WEIRD BIRD WOMAN LIKE TF WE WANT MUSHU NO EXCUSES ANYMORE
@Epic Rhino Films You've given one hell of a review on this. I'm gonna come back and read this once I've gotten some sleep.
I mean they could replace mushu with another animal but still the same character
In Chinese culture dragon is a masculine symbol whereas phoenix is often a symbol of femininity. They probably removed him for the sake of respect towards the culture (or because it would have looked funny if there was constantly a tiny CGI dragon talking to Mulan)
Yeah I want him back. He's more entertaining compared to the Phoenix.
Apparently Mushu was offensive and that's why they decided to remove him but I may be wrong
The most unforgivable thing to me is the fact they made her a “chosen one” and that she was born with powers. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Seeing Mulan climbing the pole with the two weights revolutionised my thinking process as a child. That was the moment I learned what strength, determination and resilience looks like in a woman! That movie overall taught me many things, and is truly one of Disney’s best works, so it makes this remake especially disappointing because of how much the butchered the emotional core of the original Mulan.
Also, the montage of Mulan preparing to leave for the army STILL gives me the chills when I think about it. Truly awesome.
my thoughts exactly, thank you for wording this so well
Who is
That girl I see
Staring straight
Back at me
@@sacktea1325 :)
@@noahkarpinski1824 *cries in reflection*
Vote this comment up up and upper!
Mulan live action rlly said “Woman aren’t as capable of men unless they’re magical”
That's modern feminism.
Women are already awesome, it's men who are keeping them back.
Yeah. Feminists aren't smart people
Oh god yes. Like the reason I loved the animated and classic Mulan so much is because she was aware she didn’t have a physical advantage compared to men. She used her brain and wits to get her where she got.
I think they were trying to make it historically accurate since chinese people used to look down on women. This is the reason why there were a lot more female orphans in China back then (or even right now I'm not so sure). There are different expectations for women than men. Maybe that's why they were portrayed like that.
@@cute911ish you dont know what you're talking about
@CravingPretzels Even then, there was no need for the magical bullshit?? The animated version represented that just fine
Disney:" It's going to be historically accurate "
The movie: Is the exact opposite of accurate
That Phoenix shit character is this movie's Giant Enemy Crab.
Their idea of historical accuracy is saying the word ‘auspicious’ 800 million times
I mean, slightly more accurate. Chinese people back then traditionally did not cut their hair, and the Rourans were more historically accurate than the Western term "Huns".
With that said, they just fixed like two things and then added a lot more BS to compensate. Good job Disney.
@Epic Rhino Films the animated surname of Mulan was in Cantonese hence the use of 'fa'. However, in the original poem (yes a 360 word poem), her surname is 'hua', hence the discrepancy. The Chinese symbolism of phoenix has nothing to do with the resurection stuff (instead it's relevant to Chinese monarchy and is related to virtues and grace) so I don't know why it's even in the movie
Honestly, the historical accuracy aspect was the only thing that slightly got me interested when announcements of this movie first came out, so it’s disappointing that Disney couldn’t even do that right... Then again, after the actress’s Hong Kong tweets, I decided that I wasn’t even going to see this movie in the first place (and I’m getting sick of live action remakes)
One of the problems is that in the original movie Mulan was NOT a fighter at first. She was a “normal” girl, and was in fact somewhat shy and pretty clumsy, whereas in this movie she kind of starts off as a badass warrior-like person. But I think her being a normal girl in the animated version makes her sacrifice to her family even more significant because she immediately knows she’s completely out of her depth. Changing her to be more athletic and a natural warrior instead of a sympathetic reluctant hero kind of takes the heart out of the character in my opinion.
Oh i have a dejavu (looks at ray from star was 7-9)
very well said :D
I think that most of the reviewers totally miss an important point. The first Milan was about a normal girl who blossoms and develops using hard work and intelligence to do something amazing, but the new Mulan falls way short because that isn’t the story they are trying to tell. The new Mulan is about someone who is special but they are told that special thing is bad by their culture, and her bravery is not in overcoming physical obstacles, but in embracing who she is honestly and without fear of the consequences. And maybe still being ethical or good unlike the other “witch.” We might or might not find that particularly noble, but if we are going to criticize that plot point, I think we should see it more clearly.
This is actually a concept in a hero's journey story, the hero is supposed to be reluctant about their journey, they are supposed to hesitate and fail. The live action remake does none of that.
Epic Rhino Films Is this your English essay or something?
Plot twist: Disney actually made the live action Mulan in a complicated scheme to promote the original animated Mulan by making it look even more incredible by comparison.
Nice one
I don't think that's gonna be worth the 200 mil it took to make the remake.
If they actually release the original again... XD
Kinda like the Cats live action movie, to show the magnificence of the original ones by releasing trash
History: Many examples of women warriors, generals, leaders, pirates, etc.
Disney's Mulan (2020): Lol. Women can't compete with men unless they have "Special Chi" superpowers. Don't be silly!
it's actually much less empowering than just keeping it about a girl who worked for her position.
i think stories of "gifted people" tell you that you should be born into your power, stories of hard working individuals tell you that you should be hard working and determined. much better for children to watch.
@Aj Raven
Wow... I hope that assessment is wrong because that's a sad message to put on little girls...
If anything the animated version gets it right because there Mulan is just a girl, out of her depth but striving to do the right thing and proving to be capable, and lucky enough to save China.
@@Nightlightknight not only that, she makes use of her skill set and intelligence to win battles instead of brute strengthing everything.
@@jimmylu1352 Yes, I thought her use of a woman's accessory as a weapon to turn the tables on Shan Yu was particularly indicative of how heroic she is. Shame we got her flip kicking an arrow into the baddie on the ground instead. Superchigirl FTW!
The chi storyline is kind of insulting to ancient eastern religion because they’ve always said chi is the energy in everyone, and it was never excluded to men. This is weird lol.
They had to make Mulan ~special~ somehow
and it also makes it wayyy less empowering tbh.
Agree 1000%. Appropriating Eastern spirituality by contorting it to use as a plot device
Yeah cuz no asian at all working behind the scene, so like.. they have absolutely zero idea about asian culture and history.
@@SafirAksel no wonder the movie turned into the way it is
THEY DID NOT OMG! In the original, the bad guy gives no s*it about the fact she's female when he sees her with the emperor, he just recognize the soldier that attacked them, and it's important because the Huns historically HAD female warriors.
Exactly. That single scene was more empowering than the entire new movie.
He literally says “the soldier from the mountain” with fear and hatred. He doesn’t go “THAT GOTDAMN BITCH” and I respect him for that lol
It wasn’t even that she cut her hair. It was how. Roughly, with her father’s sword. That scene perfectly showed what she was sacrificing and who she was doing it for.
Very well put!
Yeah for all this talk of how Chinese audiences didn't like the original animated film because it emphasized individual goals over family values, this one didn't do EITHER. I BARELY understand Mulan's motivation because it's not like she ever acts like she wants or needs anything.
@@Rikku147 Also, she already wanted to fight in the live action version and was told to "bury her chi". Animated Mulan's act was 100% sacrafice and unselfish for her to go to war. In the live action film it was an amazing excuse to unleash her burried super power.
@@TheDawnofVanlife THIS
Mulan learns how to fight and shoot arrows...except that if she just turns on her qi, she'd be able to do it perfectly? And she goes ham on the one guy that's been nice to her in the entire regumen because she's losing a sparring match with him?
Girl
@@TheDawnofVanlife yeah, you're right. Which, if that was the point of her character, it would be... Fine, I guess. It'd be fine if I felt like her great power mattered to her or that she wanted to show off her abilities but it doesn't seem like she places any value in them or finds strength through her abilities. She's just Awesome and that's it. She doesn't bond with the witch over it, she doesn't resent that she's not appreciated because she's a woman, she doesn't hate that she has to limit herself. She doesn't care about anythingggg.
Mulan didn't want to be a warrior. She wanted to save her father. She didn't end up being empowering because she wanted to show how much of a bad-ass she was. she wanted to save her family and got stronger as a result of that. her relationship with Sheng was fantastic because they started off as him being a mentor, and then she proves herself to him by becoming the best warrior in the battalion, later she saves his life and he has to trust her to save the emperor after he had to wrestle with his own judgement and biases. They were both thrust into situations that they weren't ready for with him suddenly having to lead the front lines and her having to fight as a soldier, to boil their relationship down to "oh but her was her superior" is reductive and insulting. She bonds with her fellow soldiers and together they become a team and face all these obstacles together and get stronger together. It's just so condescending and unnecessary to take all these relationships out because the emotional core of who Mulan was is taken away completely. She wasn't strong because she was independent, she was strong because of the relationships she built and i am just so disappointed that all that is thrown away in an attempt to be more "empowering"
100% couldn't agree more
Exactly
Trying to make Mulan into a "strong independent woman" was a doomed concept from the start. Where in the original did you get that she was independent exactly ? She needed the people just as much as they needed her and even though the men from her battalion were not the main character, they still got a lot of development and were treated with lots of respect both by Mulan and the writers. Trying to pull everyone down so that she could be the only one shining was a stupid idea alone, it is truly a dumbing down of the movie and it's message (because even though relationships with other people and forming tight bonds to help each other is not the main aim of the original, it was still there, but now they just stripped it of completely). And Mulan also appears much much less sympathetic without all of these bonding scenes as well.
There are many more problems with this movie but this one pisses me off, I loved the creation of this group of yes, friends, in the middle of hardship, it was so wholesome to see and added substance to the movie above the main focus of Mulan's personal quest, so seeing it stripped off feels insulting
@@sephikong8323 yes, we agree 100%
The original story is so much better and beautiful than this hot mess
Mulan never tried to be an “empowering woman” she tried to saver her family- and she did. In terms of gender, she NEVER tried to be better than the men, she tried to be as good, and was, and saved China. The new move is... no....
This! She wasnt an empowering character because the movie told us she was or because she wanted to be. She was empowering because of how well and realistically she was written and because of how she over came her struggles that had nothing to do with "empowerment".
@@ramu-silly Gender roles? What kind of reactionary bullshit is that? We're not in the 50s anymore, women can do think outside of the kitchen you know?
And the witch does it better anyway.
Always disappointing when a movie with a hot evil lady turns out underwhelming 👊😔
I am a firm believer in the inherent eroticism of hot evil ladies
That’ll be so cool if they made a movie about the witch. Kinda like with the maleficent movies.
@@cloud77hot40 maleficent with Angelina jolie🔥🔥
I love your videos 🥺
fancy seeing you here
The Shang thing bothered me because as a little girl I saw their relationship as the most healthy and respectable one. They don't start off as starstruck lovers, they butt heads and grow to respect each other. Shang develops feelings for Mulan before even knowing she is a SHE. His attraction goes beyond physical. He feels hurt and betrayed when her lie comes to light but still dosn't follow the rules and lets her go and later very quickly puts aside his own position of power and pride and follows her lead into battle this time. Woman or not there is so much respect and trust there that he ignores society, power and structure to follow a woman into a fight.
For Mulan though she might have hinted to liking Shang she's not blindly following after him to get his approval, or trying to apologize for her actions to make him feel better. She finds him to warn him of a national threat then says 'okay fine you big baby fuck you' and runs off to save the day without him. Later they don't kiss or even hug Shang is flustered and awkward and stumbles when talking to a girl he really likes. Mulan again takes the lead and asks HIM to dinner and they just smile at each other, happy. It was the most RESPECTABLE relationship I feel Disney had ever done and was super 'female power fuck yeah!' and their love felt like a natural normal progression. Removing it seems like a major over correction to a problem that wasn't even a problem in the original. They are just throwing out woke ideas for the sake of it. 'Look we got rid of the yuckie romance guys! How problematic was THAT? Yeah.....' without realizing that no one ever had an issue with it.
What film were you watching? The romance is the exact same. They butt heads, they find they have similar core values, he grows to greatly respect her and that grows to romantic interest in a very respectful way at the end. At what part of them holding hands gently for a prolonged time did all of you see this as purely platonic?
@@selty The dude was already paired off to another woman in his home town and couldn't wait to marry her. They're not supposed to be romanticalky involved with one another, just the dude having this some sort of small crush and admiration towards her.
Like it's great to have single girl characters in Disney but I love films that have a powerful female and a male love interest that is supportive, caring, maybe a bit of a jerk sometimes lol but is there for the female character I feel like Disney is sorta losing that. They are losing what makes them feel magical and what makes them great just for some woke points. I don't care for this single tough lady thing it's great I mean Merida was great but give me more of that Princess and the Frog and Tangled vibes but overall idc for the live actions they aren't my cup of tea
@@ロロノアゾロ-h4m It's left pretty open ended, actually and insinuates romantic interest pretty strongly to me and everyone I was watching the film with and many articles. As well as the actor who played Honghui who said the relationship plays the same as the cartoon albeit less overt. So...
Like of all the things to be criticising, Shang being replaced with an equally respectful male character is just bizarre to me. I get how people hate how they handled Chi, I don't but.. this? Come on.
@@selty so you're saying that cheating is better? he had a girl in his home town and they made it seem like he liked her and wanted to marry her but then he just likes mulan because she kicked some asses? that doesn't sit right with me dude
8:20
No, you're not reading too much into it. In ancient China, hair has symbolic meaning of respect and filial piety. If you look into ancient Chinese hairstyles, a lot of female hairstyles are elaborate and requires very, very long hair. Girls are not allowed to style their hair until they are married, so it's usually kept neat and long, that's why in the animated film, you see the mother and grandmother had their hair tied into a bun while Mulan's hair was long and straight. While cutting your hair is frowned upon even for males, to cut your hair in the animated film is to symbolize the rejection of traditional female role in the family, meaning Mulan, with her cut hair, can no longer be wed into another family. It's a symbolic gesture of her determination. There's no longer backing out of her decision. So, yes, you did read into the symbolic gesture of the animated film correctly.
If you read into the history of ancient China, the only people who would have their hair cut are prisoners and monks.
Monks cut their hair because they see no value in having hair.
Prisoners have their hair cut by officials and left to be unkempt is a form of punishment.
So having messy and unkempt hair is equivalent to a person of no value to the society, ie. a useless person or a criminal.
Thanks for the reference!
I'm happy for my afro now XD
If I remember correctly, during the Qing dynasty (which is much later than the mythical 'ancient' China of Mulan tho) there was even a law that heavily punished men who didn't style their hair in a specific way; I'm talking jail time up to even death sentences
@@thomaskole9881 Yes, I did mention "cutting your hair is frowned upon even for males", but the whole cutting hair sequence is more of a film's symbolic meaning than historic accuracy, which most people can forgive. It's pretty on the nose, but people get the message. It's like watching scenes of people throwing rings into a river to symbolize giving up a marriage - realistically, people don't actually throw rings into rivers to divorce.
ya ^ this person said
@@thomaskole9881 清朝不留辫子而杀头是因为要压制汉人反抗心理，是一种侮辱和奴役的手段，因为剃发本身对清朝之前的中国人本身就是大逆不道的，这汉人自古的传统不是一回事，我英文不好，看有没有大佬给你翻译
"It's not less empowering if she has help"
Holy shit, yes. People have forgotten this so much. Asking for help is NOT a bad thing! Admitting that you can't do something alone and relying on other people is actually really brave. It takes making yourself vulnerable to others. People complain so much about female leads that can't do everything on their own without help from anyone. They say it makes them less independent or less empowering, which is such bull.
honestly, making help ostracized is what makes people fail.
Mulan is a strong, independent woman, but she isn't afraid to ask for help.
Her needing help doesn't mean she isn't a strong, independent woman.
Like, she literally saved China.
Exactly! I daresay that it's actually the opposite. Humans need help to do things. Overpowered main characters can be entertaining, but they aren't, and will never be empowering because if they are seen as models, then automatically everyone comes short of those standards.
It's the same principle as the unattainable beauty standards in both men and women- it's okay to enjoy series where the characters have unrealistic body types. But the moment we start seeing those body types as goals... that's where EDs, plastic surgery obsession and steroid overuse happen.
I think people confuse the "you can't do it so let me do it for you" kind of help with the "I support you and want you to succeed" kind of help. The two are very different, and accepting the latter doesn't lessen an empowering message, in fact it often enhances it.
Mulan didn’t just ask for help, either. She lead a group of her peers- people who she had earned the trust of- into battle. She asked for help AND she was a leader. It’s not either/or.
they turned an actual empowering movie for girls around the world into a cheap, soulless "girl power!!" movie
Facts
Alice Facts
When Disney Renaissance films turn into post-2016 realistic (or in this case, fake) remakes in a nutshell
@@unrinxs976 just know it's not a witch
Neoliberalism in a nutshell
_disney just needs to stop remaking their classics and make NEW movies._
Amen
Facts
One hundred percent. Look how good Moana was good when they put in the effort. But for some reason they have this obsession with going for these not so great remakes.
disney with his feminist agenda just creats shitty movies. Dont try to make manly women, try to make strong good developed women, they dont have to be men in order to be strong.
E X A C T L Y
Disney: we’re making the new Mulan more realistic
Also Disney: yes yes add a magic phoenix, magic chi, and a magic witch
Lmao you ain’t wrong
@@AUisGoLd98 phoenixes are in Chinese culture
I think only mulan can see the pheonix
@@AUisGoLd98 the phoenix is literally one of the most important symbols in Chinese culture THROUGHOUT history, and has been used in imagery as the female counterpart to the dragon, a traditionally male entity... for a really long time... I don't know where you got the notion that... Chinese culture doesn't have phoenixes but okay
Its not because its a phoenix that is the problem its just that they make it out to be some greater magic force its just SUCH a disney movie and disney just cant do proper realism like this. Also Witches?? thats european lmao.
The stupidest part of this movie HAD to be the Chi plot line. Not only did they make Mulan “not like other girls”, but it’s not even accurate to Eastern Asian culture. Chi is supposed to run through everyone, your special on HOW you use your chi, not that you have it. And I’m some random white person on the internet who had an Ancient Chinese phase in middle school. If a middle schooler can be more culturally accurate then a studio full of top paid writers, directors, producers and actors, then that’s just really sad
I mean - I'm not deep into that. Just having a small feng shui booklet and I instantly thought about this like : Chi and men and women? So more the teaching of Yin and Yan? Like ... men are hot and women are cold and so on (Which would be great to use that - I mean like - Mulan bringing up a little bit more of a softer flow sort of fighting into it or something like that, while the guys would be more of the traditional fighting or something like that .... It's late and English is a foreign language for me so I hope you understand what I mean)
Lily Snape yeah, they should’ve gone with the yin and yang angle instead, that would’ve been interesting. Plus, they could’ve broken down some common misconceptions about yin and yang(like that yang equals good and yin equals evil. That’s a western conception and I hate it.) And don’t worry, your English was fine
@@suckit1335 As a random person of chinese ethnicity on the internet, i would rather Hollywood to STOP YEETING CHI OR YIN AND YANG INTO EVERYTHING REMOTELY EAST ASIAN. Just, stop LOL. I cringe everytime they appear on Hollywood movies. Even low budget historical Chinese shows with bad scripts don't often talk about them. I even had an american approach me to talk about "chi" during my summer exchange. Help.
Emzelf C yeah, that would be idle, but asking Hollywood to stop stereotyping any culture is like asking JK Rowling to stop tweeting
Savage
My opinion: If this Mulan is sooo strong and doesn’t need anyone, then she doesn’t need my $30.00 either.
Facts, don’t pay for this shit just pirate it or something
It missing heart- Amanda sums up why this Mulan live-action remake is bad.
Most of these live action lack heart
And all other remakes. That was my biggest criticism of the 2016 Ghostbusters movie, and why I haven't been able to bring myself to watch any of the live action Disney movies.
Same thing happned with Avatar the Last Airbender live action
At least it wasnt the exact same as the original Ill give it some points for that. But Id rather watch the original.
All live action remakes have this problem
One of the most powerful scenes for me in the original Mulan was when, in her final fight scene, she uses her fan to disarm the bad guy. She is completely Mulan in that moment, dressed as a woman and using an object that is traditionally a female item and beats the enemy. I always thought that was so cool, disappointed not to see it in the new film.
Yeah I always loved that.
She embraces her femininity instead of shying away from it.
She doesn't need to be more manly or less feminine to be a badass warrior.
also, just before this, the BOYS do the same thing. that’s a powerful thing to see as a young boy especially when toxic masculinity says femininity as a whole is bad and shameful
Remembet kids! You can be feminine, and also be a hardcore warrior
A comment on the cutting her hair part. In old Chinese culture, cutting your hair was not something done to either men or women, since it was seen as dishonourable to your family. The cutting hair scene was a method of showing her transition from woman to man influenced by western understandings of gender; long hair is purely feminine and shorter hair is purely masculine. So maybe the live action tried to be more respectful to Chinese culture in that regard (it was still a very powerful scene in my childhood and I personally interpreted it as; Mulan starting from a place of dishonour, having failed to be a good traditional daughter and continuing to go against the status quo by lying her way into the army. So she needs to reclaim her honour, both for herself and her family; as her hair grows back, she will grow as well).
That said, it's actually disappointing that a lot of the live action film, in my opinion, was not respectful to the legend of Mulan or what it meant to a lot of young Chinese girls. Mulan was not a superpowered being, there was nothing separating her from other women. She was a woman willing to risk her life because of her love and devotion to her family, just as many other women would. And she excelled in a male-dominated field, not because of magic, but because of her skill, intelligence, and courage, just as many other women would.
The most disappointing part of this movie was that they downplayed the importance of Mulan's decision to replace her father's place in the military. They made it seem like she wanted to join the army only so she could prove her father wrong about her instead of willingly sacrificing her life to keep her father safe.
What a huge disownment of her bravery!
So, let me get this straight-
They really made her ‘special’ and ‘magical’ with chi?? Is that supposed to empower normal women?
It’s fucking tone deaf
Mulan was an average woman who was incredibly brave and learned, trained and fought for place in the army. She used her head and some athleticism to get jobs done and was incredible at tactics.
She is a hero and a champion of the people, self made and still proud of her femininity afterwards, fighting adversity and danger every step of the way.
But no. That’s not empowering enough for women. Let’s make this bitch ✨m a g I c a l✨ because that’s achievable and realistic for modern women. Ffs I know this movie would be shit...
mulan was an average lady who decided to excel in something alien to her to save her family and serve her country. the original mulan was never born special, she worked her butt off to get where she wanted to. it said 'it doesnt matter if you are born special or not, if you work hard and persevere you will become special and thats great on its own'. the live action was 'ye magic girl, if you arent born w it you are worthless'
Not only she worked her butt off but she also was know for her INTELIGENCE and strategy. Yeah. This Mulan was an poor adaptation from a watered down adaptation.
Yep. The original was about working hard, being true to herself, and using her brain to succeed.
In this one, apparently true heroes have magical powers, and that's what makes them special. Great 'empowering' message. Thanks Disney.
Looks like Disney truly need to leave classics alone
Nobodylikesbad rappers wow
“Feminazi” in 2020.
Piss off.
Is it bad to inspire and empower people? By that logic, Men have TONS of films that reinforce strong Male protagonists. They don’t need anymore. Men have enough and don’t need them. No one is allowed to make men feel good about themselves or have a strong male protagonist anymore.
It isn’t even about feminism, it’s about the absurdity of taking a grounded, relatable and powerful character and making it worse by making it magic. Male or female, that would still piss people off because it’s a dumb decision.
And no, men and women do not have a completely even playing field yet, so fuck you, friend.
Another funny thing that when Mulan came home, her sister said:
“I’m matched and he is so shy but..bla bla”
It was so funny!
Is that so important? She should have said to Mulan “Are you alive? Is it real?what happened to you? something like that” The script is just so.....🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
So basically what you’re telling me is that this is another soulless remake of a classic that I loved. And it’s gonna cost me $30 to rent. Yeah, that’s gonna be a hard pass.
30$ if you don't want to wait for the release on December.
$30 when you already pay for Disney+
And then no Mushu but a fucking Phoenix?
You can watch it for free on sites like soap2day.
deepSea Yeah it’s big dumb- no singing and no Mushu to make it more “realistic”, but they put in the bad cgi phoenix.
I think “girl power” blinds people to actual empowerment and finding yourself through hard work and determination
@hash-slinging slasher Its not even an ego trip
It just feels... Like they're treating us like we're dumb kids.
So right
the Chi thing is crap, it sounds like some California Gwyneth Paltrow type rewrote this movie!
My mother was born with only one arm, and this was in the 60's when it was almost considered a stigma.
She had a hard hard life. To the point where I almost wasn't born.
She fought and struggled, but was determined to give me and my brother a good life even as a single mother. Now she's the head of a state branch of a major company and has succeeded more than hardly anyone I know. She's literally my hero. Yet to this day, she asks me to open pickle jars for her.
My point being, she is not some super human who was just born with the ability to do everything. She struggled and failed and, yes, asked for help. But she's still a hero to me.
to each their own, “girl power” could be a problem but since women have been historically oppressed and looked down upon, i don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. the OG mulan did a good job of encapsulating “girl power” without it being toxic.
Disney: This movie is gonna be mature, realistic adaptation that will be close to the original legend
Also Disney: Chi Powers, Phoenix and Shapeshifting Witch.
They read the wrong book...
IT WAS NOT CHINESE! XD
The "a girl?" a woman." part pisses me off so much because
a) it's lame and cheesy
b) I'm pretty sure the Mongols or (was it the Huns?) did not discriminate with their warriors
and c) because Shan Yu did not care (he just calls her "the soldier from the mountains"), that made him more threatening because that meant he wouldn't be holding back against her. Meanwhile, Bori Khan is setting himself up to be defeated by assuming he'll win because woman
Also, the "witch" thing bothers me so much because witches (with the connotation it has in the West) are not a thing in the East!! Just say that people will call chi women evil spirits or demons!
They changed the Huns to Rourons so they wouldn't offend anyone.
@@ロロノアゾロ-h4m If they go through all the trouble to make sure all the actors are the correct race, make these beautiful ass sceneries, and all that in order not to offend anyone, then won't changing certain historical details in order not to offend anyone, still be considered offensive?
Am I making any sense? It's 2:30 am and I'm totally sleep deprived lol
Yea! Mongol women were powerful in the past also!
also chi isn’t a thing.... chi gong is what old people do in the plaza in the morning.... like that really slow movement that looks like you’re stuck
@@ロロノアゾロ-h4m I heard it's actually historically accurate to have Rourans as the enemy considering the setting of the Chinese poem Ballad of Mulan
I don't know why "women's empowerment" so often means being embarrassed that a woman is a woman and just making her unrealistically over-powered or in this case "magical". The original Mulan acknowledged that Mulan WAS in fact WEAKER than the men. She couldn't rely on brute strength (or magic). Instead, she had to learn how to make herself useful to the army by pushing herself and learning ways to use her petite body most effectively, as well as focusing on strategy. That's not so common nowadays. They don't like to lean into the women as women and think about how a woman could realistically fight and win battles, particularly against men. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be "fun" movies with women who are unrealistically capable of fighting, but in terms of "empowerment", I think taking their female form head-on and depicting badass women winning fights in realistic ways, even if that means using their brains and smart strategy more than their legs and fists, is more empowering...
exactly.....offlate women empowerment movies show an impeccably perfect female lead who has no fears. But then, how would that even be empowering?? In my opinion, no female oriented movie shall be taken from the perspective of a male script writer. Men just don't understand the fears women have.
Ok why is she suddenly magical? The fight scenes weren't 100% realistic but she didn't use any magic. Chi is NOT magic
exactly
@@XxBlueEyedxX nah it is
Right! One of the great moments of the animated movie for me was Mulan figuring out ON HER OWN how to get the arrow at the top of the pole-showing that not only was she tenacious but industrious and ingenious as well-and it came full circle as it was the way they were able to break into the palace WITH THE BOYS IN MOTHEREFFING DRAG. The GENIUS of Mulan essentially being a drag king throughout the movie and then Yao, Ling and Chin Po being in DRAG at the end! You strength (and chi apparently) is not the only thing that makes you a good soldier/warrior-your brains and creativity make you a good soldier.
i love how they didn't even bother giving the human "Cricket" character a Chinese name
The thing that upsets me the most is that in the original mulan, although she was mentally strong to make the decision to fight for her father, physically she wasnt. But she got off her ass after she was warned and put in more effort than everyone to become a proper solider. That showed me as a kid that I could become good at anything if I just put in the effort to be good. This?
oh, she was born with chi? she was great from the start and could do it all already? gotcha. way to ruin a good message disney.
So they did exactly what they did to Lion king. They Killed the joy and sucked all imagination out of it.
In my opinion, this is way worse, because this movie removed the actual and valid Feminist message of the older version and turned Mulan into a Mary Sue. Mulan's individuality was taken away just so they can insert this overpowered bland version of this character. Shame on Disney. Shame.
And if you also research the issue as to where they filmed the movie in China, Xinjiang, you will clearly see that Disney is just making these remakes for the sake of profit. They don't give a single fuck about the actual message, so they just use these controversial buzzwords to market their films.
And also, I want to insert that scene from Star Wars here with Han Solo, "That's not how the Chi works!"
When I watched Lion king, I felt like I was watching natural world produced by BBC
Gloria Zzzz exactly, and that’s not the point of a Disney movie
i made it 1k likes yoink
Biggest mistake: The lack of affection between father and daughter. The scene after the matchmaker, under the sakura tree, shows a loving father who doesn't care if she failed or not, but is interrupted by the army caller. This scene alone makes their relationship and later when he yells we get that's more of emotions going waywire and we are basically waiting for them to be okay after
Second biggest mistake: Taking away Mulan's actual 'power': BEING SMART. Though all the animated movie we see Mulan doing things in a diferent but smart way - feeding the chickens with the dog, having a second cup of tea, cheating effectively on her arm instead of the fan and most of all using the weights to climb the pole. THAT is her power: BEING SMART. That's way it's Mulan and only her who thinks of using the last firework to cause an avalanche.
Instead we have this second-rate super-hero movie that totally lacks any understanding of Chi or the actual myth of Hua Mulan
Re: the line "why wouldn't you believe Fa Mulan"
WHY IN HELL WOULD THEY TAKE THAT LINE FROM MULAN AND GIVE IT TO A DUDE?!?!?!
Do they not get the connection here? By having a man speak that line they've changed it from the soldiers realizing their own internal bias... to a guy needing to step in and say "she's cool guys, we should let her in the clubhouse."
GAAAAAHHHHHH
THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING! it took away from her moment cause it's like ok did were they really convinced or did it matter cause a man said it?
Because men won't ever listen to a woman, you silly goose. :)
Also, women can only be soldier if they have magic chi powers (:
EXACTLY. while trying to be more PC they actually made it LESS PC!!! you took away a woman standing up for herself to make the men dismissing her go “oh shit you’re right” to a man speaking FOR her. that’s the exact opposite of good!!! if i was living 30 years in the future and had no idea which came first, i’d genuinely have been convinced the animated version came after because it’s WAY more feminist and PC in general, even with the twisting of a major chinese story to be americanized (especially since from what i’ve seen they didn’t even fix a lot of that and even CREATED A NEW AMERICANIZED STORYLINE BY TURNING CHI INTO A POWER AND NOT ESSENTIALLY YOUR BLOOD). they also removed the whole beat of the boys learning to accept and appreciate femininity AS A WHOLE in the fight to protect the emperor even if it could lean a little problematic, but a couple rewrites and it’d be fixed. this movie pisses me off an i haven’t even seen it yet
I LITERALLY WAS YELLING AT THE SCREEN WITH THAT LINE I WAS SO PISSED
"Your kids will like it"
*Cue to my 11 year old step-siblings being bored out of their minds*
Your step siblings have a good taste in movies.
all my family fell asleep in the middle, the only one awake was 6 and she was pissed we picked this instead of the movie she wanted so she watched it angrily
I always appreciated the beautiful relationship that exists between father and daughter, that the animated Mulan illustrated. You could understand why she would sacrifice herself for someone who was kind, patient, understanding, and loving. It's truly a shame that those crucial moments aren't properly spotlighted in this adaptation, as they remain the heart of her motivations.
The ending scene always made me cry as you see where his priorities have and always will lie; in the *love* of his family
Nah, Milan’s motivation now is to throw off the shackles of patriarchal oppression that made her suppress her chi super powers. Her father is an afterthought.
honestly it’s pretty messed up that in the remake she’s op and does everything on her own when some of the nice parts of the original movie was seeing a rag-tag group of people bonding and learning to follow orders in order to support one another and basically coming to see each other as equals with their own particular strengths and weaknesses. it was a side plot but it helped with the idea of anyone can be useful to their community if you put in the work to do so just like mulan.
And they replaced my first cartoon crush Shang😔. All in the name of "girl power"😩
Carlissia Wilkins 😓 ikr. 😭😭😭😭💔
Carlissia Wilkins Right. And what annoys me more is that in the original, Li Shang is an integral part of Mulan’s character development. He doesn’t take away her “girl power” he refined it and makes the warrior she is. I just don’t get the point they were trying to make by taking him out.
@@addictedtoprocrastination9986 I love movies that have strong female characters and male characters that empower them and support them but noooo its 2020 stuff like that's bad and not empowering enough and we gotta have magical powers and take away things that made the movie good.
Also how the hell do they take out Mushu, Li Shang and the musical parts but add in a Phoenix and a witch? That makes no sense.
"I'll make a man out of you" is my favorite thing about Mulan
They strip Mulan of her weakness, strip the group of their arc, strip the song out of the film
next disney be like enjoy Coco 2 brought to you in partnership with ICE
lolll
Damn that went hard.
They probably would, in the sequel the agents that check if you're in an altar crank up their border game up to 11
OOOOF
JESUS-
• her character is so bland and serious and boring and perfect she’s not the same person from the original
• she reveals that she’s a girl because she wanted to and not because shes gotten caught which felt so anticlimactic
• the other soldiers not knowing she’s the one who saved them is also anticlimactic and if that really happened how would they really acknowledge her worthiness of a soldier
•that her punishment was just getting kicked out and not executed
"They made Mulan without the heart"
I feel like this is pretty much a summary of almost every live action Disney remake. High budget, fine acting, but no heart. It's all an obvious cash grab at this point and I don't why people continue to get excited or support something that we all know won't be that great in the end.
In my opinion, I think the Cinderella live action was the best adaption of an already cliche Disney princess. The high budget, fine acting, and no heart came after the Beauty and the Beast live action.
Ok, but honestly, *why* is there a character named Cricket in this movie? Out of all the baffling decisions this movie made, that was by far the weirdest. Oh, that and Mulan taking off her armor IN THE MIDDLE OF BATTLE -
He was supposed to be the comedic relief. Kind of like the compensation for removing Mushu and the cricket.
Yeah in the place of the actual cricket Mulan used to carry around for good luck I guess ?
@@ロロノアゾロ-h4m which is weird considering the fact that there are three human comedy relief characters already, so adding another one and naming it after the cricket doesn't even work
"So, this witch shows up, and I'm kinda in love with her. It's hard to explain."
Me: *sees witch* No, I get it.
Another woman did a video where she discussed all the cultural things The Mouse got wrong in this movie, I am still stuck her describing the witch's actor as "who can step on me".
As an Ace guy, i am also in love with her. It's weird.
The worst thing is no “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”. Legit one of the best Disney songs ever.
Be grateful because we don't need that song ruined
Sugary Heaven Fair point
Ikr. And no Li Shang.
why are you gay wasn’t that guy that spoke to her right before she rode back to her village Li Shang?
nvm i’m stupid
1998 Mulan: Ordinary young woman who preserveres and succeeds in her field, despite her gender and superior's doubts holding her back.
2020 Mulan: She's basically Superman with inexplicable superpowers!😂💪
Ma-Rey Suuuueeeeeeeeee!
@@judegross7624 Ripley in Alien is my counter to that. Love Sigourney Weaver. The problem is that Rey has no arc and let's face it, the Disney remakes and Star Wars are ultra garbage tier.
Jude Gross Because it’s still a terrible character.
Yep, just like all movies anymore, someone has to be "the one" all the time.
@@judegross7624 did you stop watching Citizen Kane? Did we discard the concept of montage from Battleship Potemkin? Are we ignoring the masterful interviews in Shoah? Are we discarding 2001 A Space Odyssey, because the year 2001 came and went? Are we no longer discussing Apocalypse Now? No? We're talking about all these old films? Heck, we're still talking about the Original Star Wars. So... Shut the hell up with your absolutely gobsmackingly stupid, room-temperature IQ takes on this subject.
The thing about the hair is that in the time period of Mulan men wore their hair long, so there is no reason for her to chop it off.
But you know what else is inaccurate for Chinese culture? The entire concept of witches. And chi being a superpower (it's just part of you like blood). And magic women being ostracized-- they were honoured !
I feel like the Chi part was added because they were trying to tap into the whole superhero trend. I miss protagonists being normal people
@Epic Rhino Films we get it dude please stop spamming it on litterally every comment
@Epic Rhino Films instead of spamming your review in every comment, you could write your very own comment
Then they failed hard there too since they decided to say everyone had Chi, Mulan just had a lot more.
@Epic Rhino Films read about 1/4 of you comment. Good points, but then I saw you were spamming this around. Make your own comment
@@AzureRoxe yeah, like the moral of the story is "Be born special :)"
"the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all." this was like my all time favorite quote growing up, that scene with the father cheering her up was unforgettable to me. kinda bummer they ommited that
Instead we got "I am the father! Know your place!"
Same 😢
@@shoujokadyan5502 tbf there was a similar line like that in the animated movie too
Disney: we want to make s more grounded movie so we'll take the dragon out
Also Disney: proceeds to put a whole magic system into the movie
disney if you hate this remake than please leave
I think Disney's perception of an empowered women is a Mary Sue.
Always has been (yeah I'm speaking of you Ray SkYwAlKeR)
It's pretty bad in fact. Let's be honest. They killed everything that made the original movie good.
They weren't remaking the original they were adapting the original legend.
But it still sucks because no-one has a personality other than mulan and Mulan's personality isn't that good either
@@chrisp.9385 Yeah, I know, but it's Disney so I thought everyone would understand the context of my comment. In fact, there have been some very good mulan movies in the past.
considering their budget, this is just pure trash garbage
fyi i love chinese history so it really hurts. heck small budget chinese drama has better costume and some of the set, well they use the same palace studio set
@@chrisp.9385 Except...... the end product isn't any more like the original ballad of Mulan then the animated version.
Crickets, dragons......HAIR.....
Animated Mulan: A completely average woman has to grow and get stronger in order to save her home and family from a terrifying villain through her wit and determination. Also, the music SLAPS.
Live Action Mulan: The Chosen One™️ who is better than everyone since she was a little magic child grows up and fights a sexy witch, makes friends with the sexy witch, and the villains are morons and responsible for the avalanche that causes their own demise. After the witch dies, the emperor saves himself by catching an arrow, and Mulan saves the day by swinging on a cgi log. The music is only backing tracks and it’s BORING.
The only good thing to come out of the movie was the sexy witch. Thank you for acknowledging how hot the witch was. I’m super gay for the witch. I’ll accept you, sorceress! Please run your fingers through my hair, you absolute magic mommy.
Another weird thing about the Witch. It's clear that she's a marginalized outsider who is being oppressed by the state and by society for being different and all of her actions are motivated by a desire to be treated humanely without having to change who she is. So it really rubbed me the wrong way when, after the Witch asked Mulan, who has faced similar oppression at the hands of the system, to join her, Mulan responded by saying her duty was to defend the very system that was the source of her oppression. And to add insult to injury, the Witch is then killed off at the end of her redemption arc, almost as if to pay for her crimes against that same system. It was like the movie was saying that marginalized and oppressed people deserve equal rights, but only specially picked marginalized ppl deemed worthy by the system that is oppressing them.
Yes !! This is a frustrating trend I've seen in mainstream pseudo progressists movies/series : be a rebel because it's cool, but not an actual opponent to the system trying to change it because that's a crime ...
wow, you didn’t get it at all, did you. the witch is the loner, because she wasn’t as fortunate as Mulan and didn’t have the accepting family. when she encounters Mulan for the first time, she nudges her into the right direction: to accept herself. when the witch meets Mulan for the second time, when Mulan is in exile, she offers herself as a companion, buddy, friend (all the while seeking family for herself). but their agendas are too different, so Mulan rejects her. when the witch meets Mulan in the third time, Mulan has gotten her inner strength and harmony. so the witch sees that femininity is not a curse or a burden - and Mulan being a successful case of a woman with purpose, ambition and a mission to complete - she protects her from the asshole killer, because people should stick for each other.
not everything is about the system, you know.
@@slonmish its an interpretation as much as yours, but sure go off.
Interesting take. Mulan's double standards lmao
YES! I couldn't put into words why the treatment of her character bothered me so much but this is it. It's like it's telling us "be a good little oppressed, mistreated marginalized person and only then will you be treated with basic respect by your oppressors."
Animated Mulan called out the system for its bullshit. She never would have revealed herself because she KNEW she'd be judged unfairly and she wasn't going to let them destroy her.
The heavy heavy focus on the “Well GiRLs can’t do THaT!” Strips away the empowerment that the original Mulan achieves. The only aspect that existed there was “Women aren’t allowed in this military” and everything else was her using her own strength and it never hinges on her being a man or a woman, she won their respect regardless of her gender.
Heather Baker Except the original does hinge on Mulan being a woman. Your argument is the typical, “I don’t see colour” stuff. Her obstacles and conflicts ARE tied to who she is physically: a woman. She didn’t earn their respect as a woman, she did when she deceived them as a man. She almost gets executed for it. Mushu also points this out when they’re in the imperial city and Mulan tries to convince everyone that the Huns are still alive and in pursuit: “What? Did you say something? Oh, right! You’re a GIRL again remember”. And it’s not until the final conflict that her comrades do help her and they do it even though she’s a woman. The original even points that out with a joke by making her comrades crossdress (not subtle at all). The original Mulan depicts the disadvantage women face in not only ancient China but modern society too. Gender DOES play a role in how women are perceived and what can they do within society, Mulan (original) breaks that mentality aka female empowerment.
Hi, Nice To Meet You Think what they’re trying to say is that the original breaks down gender norms and shows that they aren’t all encompassing or a set rule
@@srfrid it’s doesn’t break female empowerment because she risked her life for her father with the possibility of dying and never returning, and she used her smarts to get her out of situations she couldn’t get out of otherwise.
"Did 'show don't tell' get cancelled when I wasn't looking?"
For real though. Something about the safe, strong female character in the last few years that always seems to result in writers forgetting basic things that made stories good.
Just so everyone knows, Disney thanked the officials in China who are running the Xinjiang Uighur concentration camps for their help in filming this movie. Check it out in the credits.
Brett C the Japan Times has a great article on this. I 100% am not paying to watch this movie because of Disney’s ethical ambiguity
@@HTKDblackbelt ABSOLUTELY. F this!!
Yep, Disney is now funding Holocaust-like atrocoties. 2020, this is happening.
So....is Disney gonna be canceled next? 👀
@@skinni_the_P00hBear The movie is already being boycotted and I think some countries even removed it from theaters
I'm sorry but this (movie) is just a horrible message. Fun for kids, sure... but the whole message and the art style of the original Mulan is just gorgeous. Not only did it keep historically accurate with "women are 2nd class, you will marry" but the original Mulan actually TRIED to be a "traditional woman" before she decided "actually, maybe I can bring honour to my family by protecting my ill father and saving China" and then, as you said, we get this entire emotional moment with the FANTASTIC music and that hair cut scene... she was set and ready to go but you SEE that brief hesitation before she does it. It's a beautiful scene.
This Mulan and her whole existence is BARELY through effort... she is literally born with the gift and the way of life from the start and then told to hide it. It's quite sad to be honest because Mulan (animation) is just far superior in terms of being a role model than Live Action Mulan.
Animation Mulan teaches you "Even if you fail at one thing, you can still find a purpose elsewhere"
Live action Mulan teaches you "As long as you are born with everything, everything will work out"
Not even that fun for kids if they have seen the original. Even they can tell when something is off
No not fun for kids. There's no fun in this movie.
@@kristavaillancourt6313 without mushu or the music or anything funny, it becomes a very dull movie to watch tbh
Actually I think the message of this movie was “You don’t have to fit the mold and it’s okay to be different” but everyone has their own opinion.
@@Antonio-gg4vv Exactly. So Mulan was already a warior... There is nothing wrong with that. Mulan's main strugle was always about gender roles. How she was doing something that by society standards was wrong, and that was present in the live action. Infact, in the animated movie she was discovered, but in this movie she openly accepted her true self and wasn't afraid to show she was a woman and was ready to die for lying to them.
They remade the Frozen plot again. Mulan has a power "Chi" that she is good at but can't use because of some kind of reason and later in the movie she embraces her power and becomes powerful.
except the frozen plot made the "superpower" an obstacle and had some passable form of character development/conflict
"It's missing heart" is the perfect way to describe every single Disney live-action remake
@Epic Rhino Films did you seriously just copy paste your essay under multiple peoples comments? wasnt one time enough??
Yes yes yes yes! Where is the heart!❤️
I mean Cinderella was pretty good.... Just me??
Okay right off the bat I notice a couple things;
Old Mulan: “I fought in the war because my father was supposed to but I’m willing to sacrifice myself and my family’s honor to keep him alive. In the process I show everyone a girl can be just as powerful as a man” ((of course not completely historically accurate, but a wonderful premise))
New Mulan: “I fought in the war because girl power” ((I hate it))
Also there’s no Mushu >:(
The old Chad mulan vs The new virgin mulan
She didn't even intend to show off in the original , she just tried to do the best she can to not die.
The Chi is like the Walmart version of the Force.
They legit looked at when Mulan talks to her friends and says, “You trusted Ping. Why is Mulan any different?” And though “nah.”
For that moment to work Mulan has to actually HAVE friends in this movie
😂 The message of men and women being able to be peers and equals feels so hollow because she never seems to connect with anyone...no heart indeed. The message of this movie is more "If you fight real good the boys will have to let you on their team!" Like, it's not BAD but it'd be much better if there was that trust and friendship between Mulan and the soldiers.
Imagine believing men and women are equals, that is like saying you can mix sugar and water,
Some people really can't think.
@@kronosbach5263 i can't even tell if ur being sarcastic :/
@@ey8566 i think its sarcasm
@@ey8566 No, I am a sexist pig.
8:30 You weren't looking too deep into the hair cutting part actually! A woman/man cutting off their hair is actually symbolic for entering a new, strenuous journey or the beginning of character growth. I noticed this in the anime movies and this movie which I watched a lot when I was little, and my mother told me that in many religions and in even Confucianism, it's symbolic and means rebellion, growth or despair, even. Well done!
I mean hell when a samurai was to be dishonored by their lord or were leaving bushido they would be forced to cut off their topknot
@@thomasb7347 yeah exactly!
Exactly. Hair cutting symbolises change, even to this day. That scene in the original where she cuts her hair and puts on the armour still gives me the shivers.
Re: the phoenix instead of a dragon thing.
The words "Dragon" and "Phoenix" evoke very different images in the minds of Westerners and Easterners. The western image of dragons is inherited from Medieval Europe, whose dragons were big round scaly beasts with bat wings and firey breath. The western image of a Phoenix is inherited from Egyptian mythology, where the idea of death and rebirth as it related the setting of the sun each night and rising of the sun each day was culturally important, so the phoenix is a red and yellow bird that explodes into flames and is reborn from the ashes.
Chinese mythical beasts are totally different. First off, dragons and phoenixes and the like are very Chimeric in nature. Dragons have the elegant body of a snake, the sagacious horns of a deer, and the wise beard of a goat. Depending on the region they might also have the hardy shell of a turtle or the proud mane of a lion. Phoenixes are also Chimeric; they'll have the colorful tail of a peacock, the long legs of a crane, the swift wings of a swallow. The most symbolically meaningful and visually distinct elements or different animals are merged together to create an image of grace and power.
A lot of Chinese mythology centers on the idea of balance; this is what the Yin-Yang symbol indicates.
Dragons are associated with Yang; a masculine symbol of power and grace. Phoenixes are associated with Yin; a feminine symbol of power and grace. This gendered association is probably what drove the change from dragon -> phoenix in the new movie. Unfortunately, when it came to actually implementing the Phoenix, the writers totally fucked it up. The phoenix in Mulan 2020 is not really chinese at all; it's red and yellow and very fiery, for one thing, instead of gold with a multicolored tail. There's also a line in the movie about rebirth, but Phoenixes as a symbol of rebirth is a western idea. In the east Phoenixes are a symbol of prosperity, luck, and heavenly favor, and so they're immortal because it's not exactly good if your symbol of luck just dies at random. I mean I guess this disconnect is what happens when 0 out of 4 writers for you movie based on Chinese culture are actually Chinese or even Asian at all.
Mulan Skywalker isn't real, she can't hurt you
Mulan Skywalker:
🤸♀️
😂
Mulan Palpatine
Honestly,‘I get cutting out Mushu, the cricket, and the ancestors. That stuff any not have been sensitive. But why did they cut out her friends? Why did they remove all humor? It’s a Disney movie for children, not a biopic. A humorous uplifting moment can help make the painful scenes even more gutting. That’s why “A Girl Worth Fight For” is so perfect. Why you cut away to the destroyed village, it hurts a lot more because of levity of the song just a few seconds prior.
it’s obviously not for children, it’s for teens/YA
@@slonmish Yeah but even then some humor doesnt hurt
@@slonmish Mulan is a well done princess movie. Kids are a big demographic even if it is mainly for older people with nostalgia.
yuki kanegawa sure. and I think, kids will broaden their horizons with the wuxia aesthetic shown in the film
Stephanie, how so?
Mulan didn’t start off as a bad ass...she made herself one through hardship and shiz
Also, ARMOR IS IMPORTANT, DONT JUST THROW IT OFF FOR “EMPOWERMENT”
Tfw the more progressive movie is the older one
Disney stop trying to be woke and just be ...you know good?
Also, was the witch a replacement for the villains bird? I swear he had one
Exactly! In the scene before she almost got a dagger to the heart but was saved because of armour
Shan Yu has a hawk in the Disney animation. They made the hawk a witch for some reason.
Leigh Needleman I KNEW IT!
@@tommoss5308
Good job! :D
But it's strangely disappointing that they went the dumbass JKR route in regards to the random pet hawk
@@l.n.3372 they pulled the old Nagini
Disney Classic Mulan: Women, you can be the equal of in the arduous tasks, lead them even, through sheer dedication and hard work.
Remake Mulan: Women, you better be freaking magical if you want any chance to anything other than a housewife.
This is the shortest yet best explanation i've seen of the movie
Painfully accurate.
The whole “Chi is only for men” thing was real dumb. I definitely agree that there was no heart at all and I wasn’t attached to any of the characters in the end, not even Mulan. I missed the characters they left out like Grandma and Shang. All in all, would not recommend, let’s stick with the original and maybe let’s stop with the live action remakes for a quick cash grab, Disney ☕️
The only sis I cared and liked was the WITCH LADY! She was pretty, the only one with an interesting goal and a totally BAD B! With how bad all the other characters were, I was hoping, PRAYING that Mulan would betray over and become lesbians with her lmaoooo. It probs would have been more interesting than what we got 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
It's like they literally said men are better than women naturally, Mulan is just an exception. It was really confusing like the whole chi thing didn't feel like it promoted feminism at all. That meant all the other common women in the film were justified in being treated as lesser cause chi... just why? It's not empowering to women or girls if the only women in the film who are empowered are actually already born super powerful.
Cyneawyn Gaelhove THIS. If Mulan is the exception to the rule that only men can be great warriors, why bother with the movie at all. It goes against the message the original was trying to convey.
I feel when you said, "I don't remember the names," that just speaks how memorable the film wasin terms of character development.
They replaced a timeless message of “who am I, how do I want people to see me” to “why can’t everyone see how badass I am?” Hollow and empty.
Wait, the whole “you trusted dude Mulan, so why not trust her now” line was said by Mulan in the original, wasn’t it? I feel like it was much more powerful when she said it because now it doesn’t seem like she proved anything but that a man convinced other men that they should give a woman a shot
The line in the original is "You said you trust Ping, why is Mulan any different?"
@@inarifox8912 Yes, thank you! It’s been a while since I’ve seen it lol
please don't call the Disney's animation the original, since it's not the original. Disney didn't came up with the idea of Mulan.
蠢蠢欲動 it’s kinda wild how people are treating the animated Mulan as the source material, when this seems to be a different telling for a different audience
@@simmerway right!! Especially it seems like some people are mad for Disney for not making the live action an excat copy of the animation when even the animation is REAALLY altered compared to the original story.
Are people mad because of the changes (because then they should hate the animation just as much) or are people mad because their nostalgia is taken away?
everyone in the comments: i cant believe this movie *proceeds to tell empowering story of how the original changed their lives*
me: but what about s h a n g
You know, considering how the movie ended up, I think we should be grateful Shang wasn't in it (the love interest in this 2020 Mulan film has no character!). Disney butchered Mulan so I don't trust them handling Shang, they're just gonna _make a mess out of him_
@@StevannyT same, leave my bicon king alone!
The original Mulan has a strong female character with actual character development, the live action felt like a forced strong female character. The movie was constantly going "look how strong, awesome and independent Mulan is!!".
The WORST decisions the movie made was taking out LI SHANG, and casting LIU YIFEI
They literally could've just made them friends if they were scared of the power dynamic.
@@yukikanegawa7470 The romantic connection was there in the original, but for a majority of the movie, they were just platonic. Like, only at the end ("you fight good" and "would you like to stay for dinner?" "WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY FOREVER") is when Shang and Mulan start having a romantic connection. *After* the power dynamic was gone.
Shang is in it as two characters. I liked her love interest he was as sweet and respectful.
Yeah is anyone gonna talk about jet li, because they kinda just dismissed him in this movie.
Worst decision is just it being made tbh
To paraphrase another bad Disney film
"that's not how the chi works"
TFA was alright, definitely the best of the sequels
Bruh I loved the original Mulan character because she was a badass woman who was also clumsy and fun-loving and funny. It's like Disney tried to make her more empowered by taking out all the parts that make her interesting and likeable.
One of the most appealing elements of Mulan's character arc wise how she overcame her physical limitations by using her brain to think her way around a problem that she couldn't just punched the real with brute force. They stole that from her by making her better because..... reasons. Studios need to remember what makes a strong character.
I love how you quoted the lines of the “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” song from the original Mulan and incorporated that into your monologue; that was pretty good.
Everytime I see people talking about this live action Mulan, it makes me want to go rewatch animated Mulan again.
Now that movie was great. One of my favourite Disney movies when I was a kid.
Every time I think about Mulan, the scene when they are training for battle comes to my mind. The singing part is so remarkable.
Me too. That's why I was looking forward to the live action Mulan. I dread when Pochahontas will become a live action Disney film (let's hope that doesn't happen)...
There’s waaaay more dick references now that I’m an adult. I mean, climbing up a large pole with two large discs 🤔
Same I really wanna see it now
Don't have Disney tho oof
Mixed Views lmfao Shang was living for that moment.
Disney went “Ill make a dumpster fire out of you” to Mulan
This comment is so underrated. I love you.
Genius!
Giving Mulan magic powers defeats the original empowering moment of her climbing the pillar, using both her strength and creative thinking.
I also agree with you with Mulan's hair. You can see the pain and hesitation in her eyes before she does it. She knows that after she cuts her hair this is really happening. She's really going to war. After she cuts her hair she knows that there is no return. All of that shows in her eyes in that single moment in the animation.
not to mention that scene is undeniably ICONIC! i get it’s not a shot-for-shot remake but that scene is the first thing i think of when i think of mulan.
Yes, it's such a poignant moment, as Mulan cutting her hair symbolises her division from the graceful, elegant lady of society that she's been pressured to be, and the brave, courageous soldier that she eventually becomes to take her father's place. 🗡️
That scene always gives me chills
Looking through the comments seeing how important that part was for people, there really is nothing like chopping off your hair 😅 I chopped mine off in two braids. Best feeling ever.
There was a comment I saw somewhere that I forgot to get a screen cap of, but it explained how her cutting her hair, while it was normal for both Chinese men and women to wear it long, was a sign of rebellion and a new journey in religions and Confucianism. The reason why a lot of Chinese audiences disliked it in the original wasn’t because it was inaccurate, but because it showed that Mulan was putting forward her individual values as opposed to traditional family ones
That clip you showed of the Witch trying to sway Mulan to her side had more sexual tension than I have ever seen in a Disney movie.
Me too
Clearly you've never seen Nala finding Simba in the original Lion King.
I ship it
I ship it. I ship it so much.
the chemistry there is chefs kiss
The "phoenix" was a strange choice. I thought, at first, that the dragon might have been replaced, because it was considered a symbol of royalty in China. Then I found that the fenghuang, the immortal bird if Chinese legend that is arbitrarily given the name "phoenix" in English, is also a sign of royalty! So... I'm not sure of the reason. Maybe to try and fail at seeming less culturally ignorant?
This introduction of insta-chi, is just a strange mashup of titan/great (wo)man view of storytelling and history. The idea that everything occurs because of an extraordinary person, whose capabilities are far beyond that of the masses. A chosen one, as others have said. It's a weird modern mashup with populism you see become really popular in capitalist literature: the superhero. A person that can come from humble beginnings, but superior to those around them in some major way. It encourages the idea of social mobility and breaking taboos/norms, but just so the elite can assume their proper place in society. I hate it. It's not about perseverance and more about chance or birthright.
I read a few Chinese novels and one theme is the phoenix being a sign or the empress while the dragon is a sign of the emperor. But I'd have to fact check that...
@@TheIcecreamGeek Oh! Then I can see why they would make the change. Switching from the male to female sign of royalty would make sense.
So... they made Mulan: PHOENIX EMPRESS?! XD
"It encourages the idea of social mobility and breaking taboos/norms, but just so the elite can assume their proper place in society."
That sounds like exactly what the current Chinese government would want to impart on their citizens, "no point trying to change the country or ruling class for the better because we have the mandate of heaven on our side..." -_-
@@redrefrigerator8458 Woah! The idea of the Mandate of Heaven is an antiquated concept of the Imperial family, which is reviled in China today. You can certainly disagree with the actions of the Chinese government, but don't be offensive.
Nothing feels earned here; Mulan's decision to go to war, her friendship with Yao, Po, and Ling, her progression as a soldier, her virtually non-existent romance with Honghui, none of it
in chinese traditional medicine doesn't everyone have chi/qi not just men? I thought it was just like your life force
Everyone does, but it's like the force here. In Star Wars (which is actually based on Chi) the life force is within everything, but some have a "chi boost" or are "strong in the force". But some people are random soilder number 4 and some are Anakin (Mulan) Skywalker.
yeah as my chinese friend put it "if mulan didnt have any qi she'd be dead"
@@anonymous97420 perhaps in the mulan live action cinematic universe most women are secretly zombies
It's funny how the 1998 movie managed to be more grounded and realistic despite having a talking dragon, spirits and all.
All Disney needed to do was follow the same formula. They did it with their other remakes(which to me weren't that good either) but Mulan for me is special and has a much better story to follow..than whatever this movie tried to be.
@@rosiel1277 from how she explained it in the commentary, everyone has it but only men can tap into it? If women tsp in, and show it, there are considered witches 🤷♀️
According to your description, the Witch was supposed to be the main character. Mulan seems like a piece of wood compared to her character arcs (was betrayed, why was she evil, why did she sacrifice herself?).
Besides, I actually asked myself whether or not the funny trio of short, thin, and big-hearted trio would be there as well.
I do not know the details, but apparently, the short one who was mean to Mulan (skinny, weak, disguised male soldier recruit) and bullied her is NOT in the movie.
And their character arc was one of my favorites, Mulan earning his respects as a leader and capable comrade in war. Besides, I do think that he apologizes in his own ways and Mulan accepting his apology and even becoming good friends.
I haven’t watched this movie, but from reading the comments and watching your video I think they forgot about Mulan’s creativity and out of the box thinking as her largest talent. One thing that is shown from the beginning of the animated movie is how she was resourceful in getting her chores done and creative in the was she solved problems. This later translates into her using her last rocket to cause an avalanche and defeating the villain on the rooftop with her fan. This always stuck with me as a kid about how she used her own abilities and ideas in the darkest hours to make it through. Super powers or the use of “chi” really cheapens this point and makes her differences to her community less relatable.
haven't seen the movie, but from the clips i've seen, there is a LOT of homoerotic energy between mulan and the witch
But because of may homoerotic energy between Shang and a women he believes is a man Shan wasn't in there ... so ... That is weird xD
Don't say it too loud, or this movie will get banned in China. Very much ironically
Honestly during the entire movie I was hoping that Mulan would join the witch and they would rule China together as lesbian lovers >.
Everyone keeps saying that...
If it wasn't planned ... LOL
@@KaliqueClawthorne that's why he is a bi-con
The actress' acting is so dull.
There I said it.
I’m gonna say it but
I freaking agree with you. That acting was dull as hell.
Itzel Montalvo Yeah. She supported the police in the HK protests too, so that’s one more reason for people to hate her.
Actors have to follow the instructions of the director.
Liu Yifei is pretty much the Kristen Stewart of China
@Tim Krigers i 100% agree with you on this chick (idk her name) and brie larson, but daisy ridley did pretty good at rey. rey is meant to be a closed off person who doesn't show her emotion. we see her struggle to maintain her leadership and try not to freak out on people when she's really struggling, so it makes sense for her to be a little more subtle with her acting. but the rest can go tbh
The ending of the moving was so bland. In the cartoon version its such a touching moment when she brings her father these gifts as proof of honor towards her family from the freaking emporer himself and he just through it to the ground and hugs her. Now that's an emotional scene.
Somehow the OG Mulan was way smarter, darker, and more complex. Almost like they didn't dumb it down for kids.