Disney has been on a streak lately of remaking beloved cartoons into live-action movies. It's had mixed success, with some of the movies making lots of money and others flopping because enough fans say they're tired of the blatant cash grabs.
Mulan is next on the slate, and it seems there's trouble.
We're going to have to tread carefully because one of our editorial writers is married to a woman that absolutely loves the Mulan cartoon. It's her favorite Disney movie, hands down.
And for clarification, there's no trouble with the 1998 cartoon. It's the 2020 live-action Mulan that's in a pickle; specifically, the woman playing the lead role, Liu Yifei. For those of you who haven't noticed, Hong Kong is in the middle of some pretty big democracy protests, trying to keep Middle Kingdom influence out.
What's that got to do with Mulan? Well, it seems Ms. Liu Yifei has posted support for Hong Kong's police on a Chinese social media service that's kind of like Twitter, according to CNN. She wrote, "I support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now. What a shame for Hong Kong."
Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters immediately accused her of siding with a police force they've said is brutal and cracks down on the democracy movement. It didn't take long for #BoycottMulan to start trending on Twitter.
The PR folks at Disney are probably sighing in frustration.
Maybe the movie-making folk should temporarily confiscate phones from lead actors in the films they're trying to sell. After the movie is out of theaters, then actors can be given their phones back to take controversial political positions. At that point, the movie is gone, and they don't have to worry about boycotts for the product they've invested millions of dollars in.
One of the people calling for a boycott made a good point on social media, writing that Ms. Liu Yifei is a naturalized American citizen. She gets to enjoy democracy 24/7 without any cost.
Hong Kong residents? They've been on a countdown timer to communism ever since the British turned it over to the ChiComs in 1997.
When 2047 rolls around, it's all communism all the time in Hong Kong. So it's understandable why Ms. Liu Yifei's pointless comments angered people who are literally watching democracy fade away in their homeland.
With that said, this is a complex situation. We typically side with the folks of law and order, but if Red Chinese thugs have infiltrated the police to squash democratic protests . . . you see the quandary.
We'll probably still end up going to see Mulan, but Hollywood should seriously consider our free idea on confiscating phones from actors about to put out a movie. You just never know when they're going to post something politically controversial--probably not their area of expertise--on social media and potentially wreck a movie's financial future. Self-control is a heck of a drug.
Editorial on 08/21/2019