Conclusion

    Receiving the most backlash of all the American versions of Mulan is Mulan (2020), which in part marketed itself on the premise of being a more authentically Chinese production than its earlier counterpart in 1998. For a movie which marketed itself on its cultural accuracy, Mulan (2020) fell woefully short of its goal. Rather than creating a piece which had the potential to bridge the gap between Chinese and American people through their mutual love for this story, the film created a work which gave Americans the mere illusion of Chinese representation while giving Chinese viewers something that may feel more foreign than familiar. It is understandable, then, that many Chinese people may feel that the movie is disrespectful in the way that it markets itself as being Chinese without actually being Chinese, similar to American “Chinese take-out.” Just like a fortune cookie, this movie was a nearly entirely American creation with some inspiration from China which attempts to pass itself off as being authentic.



Works Cited

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Caro, N. (Director). (2020). Mulan [Motion Picture].

Frankel, H. H. (1976). The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady: Interpretations of Chinese Poetry. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Haynes, S. (2020, September 4). The Controversial Origins of the Story Behind Mulan. Time.
History.com Editors. (2018, August 21). Huns. Retrieved from History: https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-china/huns

Kingston, M. H. (1975). The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York: Random House, Inc.

Langfitt, F. (1999, May 3). Disney magic fails 'Mulan' in China; Cultures: The Americanized version of the famous folk tale is all too American for Chinese movie audiences. The Baltimore Sun.

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Zhao, X. J. (2020, October 24). EVERYTHING CULTURALLY RIGHT AND WRONG WITH MULAN 1998 [Video]. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHC7CnmErM&ab_channel=XiranJayZhao

Zhao, X. J. (2020, September 10). EVERYTHING CULTURALLY WRONG WITH MULAN 2020 (And How They Could've Been Fixed) [Video]. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3QKq24e0HM&ab_channel=XiranJayZhao

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