My Long and Winding (Silk) Road that Led to Mulan – Review

I’ve been dreading the day I would review the live action Disney Mulan since the film was announced in 2015. That’s a long time to sit in apprehension and the day is finally here, as is the review. (If you want to skip to the review click here).

Reflection

First let me provide you with some history (personal and cultural). I’ve always had a complicated relationship with Disney and Mulan. The film came out in my slightly later childhood. Growing up I had a disdain for Disney princesses in general. This is, in fact, a topic I give entire lectures on. 

I didn’t have the vocabulary as a child to articulate what my qualms were with them. I just knew something didn’t sit right. It took me years to realize that part of my frustration stemmed from not feeling represented amongst them. None of them looked or sounded like me. Starting in childhood and to this day I don’t identify with what were traditionally considered “feminine” activities. I rejected fashion and beauty as my interests. That is not to say there’s anything wrong with anyone who enjoys those things (also gender is a construct), but I didn’t appreciate having people assume that because I was a girl I should naturally enjoy them too.

There is also something inherently frustrating about the fact that all of their storylines revolve around trying to impress boys and romance. Little bebé me is not yet equipped with advanced notions of wanting to dismantle the patriarchy. They just knew they didn’t want to be a Belle or an Ariel or a Cinderella. I also certainly didn’t feel the need to impress no prince.  

A Girl Worth Fighting For

So enter Mulan. Suddenly there WAS a princess who looked like me. She also didn’t have a storyline driven by trying to impress a romantic interest. I’ll also acknowledge that she is not technically – nor ever becomes a princess. In terms of marketing and pop culture she is lumped in with them so we’re going to go with that interpretation.

Suddenly the key factors I thought were causing me to resent (or at least not connect with) the other films is removed. Yet I resent Mulan too. 

I didn’t want there to ONLY be one option for me. Come Halloween time people wouldn’t assume that little white girls would dress as just ONE of the princesses. They had options. I wanted options. I don’t want to society pressuring me to like something just because I also am an Asian girl. It probably didn’t help that by that point I’d taken up karate and was already learning to fend off the racist jokes about Asians knowing martial arts. In fact my karate classes exacerbated the issue because I had a very old school Sensei who had some real antiquated views on women.

So at the time I most certainly was not a Mulan fan.

You can find my interview with the original voice of the animated Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) here.

Honor to Us All

While I’m much much older now, and potentially a smidgeon wiser, I still grapple with my torn feelings on Mulan. As an adult I can appreciate that some representation is better than none. At least we’re valuing her skill and talent versus aesthetics. Her sole driving factor isn’t trying to impress a romantic interest (though she certainly tries to impress the men in her life/country). 

I also cannot deny that the music is spectacular. Credit where credit is due. They also had an Asian woman (Ming-Na Wen) as the vocal lead. These are baby steps but steps nonetheless. 

So let’s go back to 2015. By this point I was already sick of Disney combing through their animated vault to translate to live action. With a bevy of untold original stories out there, why keep recycling? That’s a longer tangent.

When they announced Mulan my heart dropped in my chest. Crazy Rich Asians hadn’t come out yet and proven that Asian lead casts can headline a blockbuster. Having to “prove it” is also absurd. So a handful of fears immediately popped into my mind. 

• Who are they going to cast? Remembering at the time there aren’t Asian superstars who fit the bill and are “commercially viable” in the West.
• Who is going to direct this?
• Are they going to mess this up and give Mulan a love interest?
• Are they going to make it a musical?
• Seriously, how are they going to mess this up?

They announce Niki Caro as director. Ok bummer because she’s not Chinese but at least she’s a woman. She also did show she’s capable of respectfully portraying other cultures with Whale Rider which centered on a Maori tribe.

The cast began to flesh out and they added Chinese superstars like Donnie Yen, Jet Li, and Gong Li. Things were looking okay! They select Liu Yifei as the titular character. I didn’t know anything about her (and remember we’re in ~2015 – 2019 at this point so her politics hadn’t come up). Then Yoson An got announced as…. Someone. 

That’s the point my heart began to drop. It was communicated he wasn’t meant to be Li Shang from the 1998 animated version. This is where the panic about making it a love story set in. 

I should pause for a moment for a brief history lesson. There IS an actual source poem for Mulan that dates back to at least the 6th century. While I have only read an English translation of The Ballad of Mulan I can attest it does NOT involve a talking dragon or a love interest.

The Huns Attack (if the Huns Were a Pandemic)

As the theatrical release date for Mulan my apprehension grew as well. If the movie was a flop it would set back Asian (and particularly Chinese) led films in the West back who knows how much. It would also probably set female directors back too in terms of blockbusters. As a Chinese American woman this is not something I want to see happen.

What I ultimately want is narrative plentitude so there’s space for movies like Mulan or Crazy Rich Asians to not have to carry the weight of every related film coming after them on their shoulders. If a movie with a white male director and a white cast doesn’t perform well at the box office, it’s not going to prevent more movies starring white casts being made. It’s not going to block a studio from backing a different white male director from making a film because “it might not be commercially viable due to the failure of this unrelated film.” 

These are things that Black Panther, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel all also dealt with recently in the blockbuster space. These are the burdens minority led and starring films are still carrying.

On the note of narrative plentitude and representation: I think Niki Caro is a good director, but I still would have liked to have the on screen representation mirrored behind the camera. This is not to say that others cannot tell stories successfully about cultures that aren’t their own. If Asian directors aren’t given the opportunity to tell OTHER stories, let alone Asian centric ones, there is a problem. 

Also what none of us could have predicted is COVID-19 forcing Mulan out of theaters (and all of us out of theaters). The fact that it has become the guinea pig for a new streaming model is also pretty frustrating, as now even if it makes a billion dollars it will always have an asterisk next to it’s name in terms of performances. It’s frustrating all around. 

True to Your Heart

So at last I was able to see the 2020 version of Mulan review, and I am still struggling with how I feel about it.

There are many nods to the animated version which is a nice touch. The music probably evoked the strongest sense of nostalgia. There’s a tactful and subtle implementation.

The plot overall keeps a lot of the elements from the 1998 version as well. The biggest addition is magic in the form of Gong Li as Xian Niang. When I say magic I mean literal magic. They added a lot of Eastern mysticism elements surrounding qi and its use. It’s a whole can of worms.

Gong Li is by far my favorite and least favorite addition to this version. She is most certainly serving lewks that would slay (and actually do). I lament that Halloween this year will be deprived of a bunch of Xian Niangs. Her arc had so much potential. Her character uses her witchy powers in service of Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee) who is our big bad/ Shan Yu stand in. 

In this version Mulan displays prowess with qi early on in life, but is told to hide her skills by her father (Tzi Ma – who I generally adore) as women shouldn’t use qi. Xian Niang never got that note and as a byproduct became an outcast. Thus her bizarro servitude towards Böri Khan.

The reason I found Gong Li’s addition so disappointing is while the two women have reflective paths (see what I did there?) their biggest divergence is Mulan ultimately decides that “she knows her place and her duty.”

What I would have paid at least $60 for (instead of the $29.99 for the rental) is to watch Gong Li’s Xian Niang and Mulan decide to collab, burn all of it down, and dismantle the f*cking patriarchy.

What I would have paid at least $60 for (instead of the $29.99 for the rental) is to watch Gong Li’s Xian Niang  and Mulan decide to collab, burn all of it down, and dismantle the f*cking patriarchy.

Mulan’s Decision (aka a decision on whether to watch Mulan)

I did watch Mulan again to review in an attempt to put my personal baggage aside and here’s where we net out (assuming you’ve seen the 1998 animated version). 

• They are squandering Jet Li in the role of the Emperor. You have one of the greatest living martial arts stars of all time at your disposal. Use him. 
• The action is doing it’s best efforts to Hong Kong style “wire fu” action movies but it doesn’t quite have the quality or commitment. It did leave me with a strong desire to re-watch Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero. 
• The VFX don’t hold up in many scenes as well.
• They appear to have raided the costume department of the live action Aladdin and them makeup department of the live action Beauty and the Beast for many of the scenes.
• Watching Donnie Yen is delightful. His casting maps to his strengths best of anyone.
• The romance aspects are stronger for sure in this version and certainly toed the line of making it about impressing a boy.
• It did NOT feel like a gross stereotype. So at least there’s that.

Ultimately it’s a LOT easier to dismiss plot holes when the film is animated. Seeing Mulan amongst all the soldiers you have to ask yourself “how dumb are these boys that this particularly feminine looking woman isn’t identified immediately?” – yes I know it’s a movie and we need to suspend disbelief but come on. 

I also asked my mother (who is outright Chinese) to watch the film with me. She has 0 affinity or recollection of the animated version and HAS read the original source material. I am the intended audience in many senses because they might be able to get me on the nostalgia factor. She is not susceptible to that.

Her Mulan review? 馬馬虎虎 (super roughly “eh”). 

She found it overly violent for what is essentially a kids movie (even though it’s rated PG-13). However not violent or dramatic enough to be a film geared at adults. It’s stuck in a sort of bizarre purgatory. There was also a lot of screaming about Jet Li being underutilized (this experience reinforced that I am definitely my mother’s daughter). She didn’t get any of the nods to the 1998 version at all.

Reflection (End Credits)

I know not everyone watching will have the same background or feelings shaping their viewing experience as I did. For those with a Chinese background – at least the film isn’t offensive. That’s about the lowest bar there is but hey it was quite possible it could have been. For those who identify as women – at least she has some form of agency. For those with younger kids who are introducing them to the story of Mulan for the first time…. Go with the 1998 version. For those who are debating spending the $29.99 this weekend – let’s be honest we’re all so desperate for content it’s probably worth it.

As a defense mechanism I had low expectations for my Mulan review. The good news is it exceeds them. Will this supplant the 1998 version in people’s hearts? Most likely not. At the end of all things do I still feel obligated to wish it success so we hopefully get more Asian and female led movies? 對