Talk:Mulan (2020 film)/@comment-27373870-20180728212006/@comment-4889892-20180807213346

So you're saying dragons can't communicate with one another? I didn't even mention an encounter with Mulan. And if dragons are shapeshifters, I'm sure Mushu could be whatever size he wants. He could turn human if he wants and that would still be better than whatever this version is doing.

Are you saying that Mushu is blasphemous?

Once again, it's not a Chinese film. It's an American depiction of a Chinese legend. I agree that it shouldn't demean the culture, but you have to keep in mind that it's a fantasy. I mean, have you seen VeggieTales? They literally make Biblical characters into vegetables and change the story up (like, your punishment is getting sent to the Island of Perpetual Tickling instead of being killed), and yet because it is made in a way for kids to understand and receive the underlying message of the story, it is usually seen in a positive light by the Christian community. Disney's Mulan, not Chinese versions, is a gateway for Westerners to look into Eastern culture. Just as my parents went around telling me that I shouldn't be praying to ancestors, Chinese parents need to explain to their children that this is an American fantasy.

I'm not undermining your culture, I'm just trying to find a middle ground. Just as Western audiences aren't the only audience, Chinese audiences aren't either. If Disney only chose to please Chinese audiences, they wouldn't make as much money considering Disney's Mulan is popular in the West. The movie, at the same time, shouldn't be made to be offensive (and looking through many reviews, it seems nobody found the cartoon to be offensive, just inaccurate). You're going to get inaccuracies even in a movie that centers on American culture. That's just how movies work.

Disney has never even given an explanation to Western audiences. We just know that our favorite characters and plot are being completely changed. Maybe if they said something like: it's offensive to Chinese culture, people would understand a little more. How do you know that's why they are even changing it? Here, the main argument is homophobia, which I don't take to be true (Disney is in no way homophobic, at least in modern day), but I can see this as an agenda to hype up the conversation. Another agenda seems to be to turn race against race, and I would hate to give into that (and I hope you don't take that as what I'm trying to do.). We have to understand cultures beyond our own, so if I'm trying to do that, you have to give a little too. Controversy always paves the way for change.

And, no matter how the story was, it would have to be rewritten. Even Beauty and the Beast wasn't 100% the same.