MovieChat Forums > Mulan (2020) Discussion > Why it's not gonna work

Why it's not gonna work

posted 4 years ago by kuku (3510)
4 replies | jump to latest

What Disney has done is to take the Mulan story and to wrap it with the wuxia style. Chinese cinema didn't even do that (and they created the wuxia style).

Why?

Wuxia is the movie genre about epic ancient China where warriors have super-human skills. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a known example. In Wuxia movies female warriors are quite common. However, those movies don't try to be realistic (people often chase each other jumping from tree to tree and from roof to roof across the streets) and what's more important, they're cohesive: in that universe females can make lethal warriors, people know it and act accordingly.

Mulan, on the other side, it's a mythical but half-realistic story about a woman in an ancient China where females don't fight and they don't make lethal warriors. In the Chinese versions, Mulan is not portrayed as a 'powerful warrior' but as a very clever girl that is willing to sacrifice herself to protect his family but ultimately becomes successful thanks to her intelligence, leading skills and courage.

Why is it a bad idea to mix Wuxia with the Mulan myth? They're different universes with different rules. If you take the almost super-natural female warriors from Wuxia movies and place it in a Mulan universe where female don't make lethal warriors... what you'll have is another serving of woke propaganda, with the 'stupid males' saying that females can't fight while Mulan is fighting as she was the ultimate warrior in front of them.

You can or can't have female lethal warriors in your movie, but you need the rest of the narrative universe to be cohesive with your choice. Otherwise, what you have is propaganda.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 4 years ago

I love the Chinese stuff.

The warriors are supposed to be Taoist masters. If you take that philosophy literally, you can become one with the universe and get the power of flight, etc. That's what was going on the characters from crouching tiger. They could heal, be as light as the wind, and so forth.

So, they are like watching a movie about Jesus and seeing him heal people and walking on water.

For Mulan to be superhuman detracts from her story because it takes less courage to do something different if you're super.

[–] liscarkat (16469) 4 years ago

All this "universe" stuff that has come about in recent years, originating mainly from comic book fanatics, is overemphasized and applied to too many things. In "The Wizard of Oz" (the film), a dreary, naturalistic Great Depression/Dustbowl universe is coupled with a total fantasy universe of talking scarecrows and lions, flying monkeys, etc. and it works spectacularly. Just relax and watch "Mulan" without getting all universy and you might be entertained.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 4 years ago

All this "universe" stuff that has come about in recent years, originating mainly from comic book fanatics

All this "universe" stuff that I am talking about, it comes from writing theory. The "universes" in superhero comics and multiverse movies are a completely different concept. You had no idea what I was talking about.

In "The Wizard of Oz" (the film), a dreary, naturalistic Great Depression/Dustbowl universe is coupled with a total fantasy universe of talking scarecrows and lions

The 'Wizard of Oz' has a unique narrative universe. The story can include fantasy lands and alternative planes or whatever similar stuff. It's still the same narrative universe.

Again, you had no idea what I was talking about.

Just relax and watch "Mulan" without getting all universy and you might be entertained.

Ah, the old 'just swith your brain off and enjoy the movie'.

The only problem is that a movie that requires to switch your brain off to enjoy it... well, that's a shitty movie.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Interesting observations.