While watching it, I was aware I was looking at an entirely Chinese cast, but for some reason, it felt like they were speaking the words of a mid-40s Los Angelino working on a tight turnaround deadline. So I googled who was behind the camera, turns out it's these people.
Now I understand why they think Qi is pronounced like "Chi", and why they think it's actually Star Wars Force Magic and not a real Chinese cultural concept that might be interesting to really explore. No, in Mulan, Chi can make you fly and shape-shift into anything you want, even thousands of tiny scary bats!
Also, Mulan starts out as the most powerful person in China, but everyone is sexist. The world must learn to actually respect Mulan and stop being sexist. To do this, Mulan uses her force powers to cause avalanches and then ride down them on a horse. Also she can fly and is 10 times better with a bow and arrow than Legolas. This proves to China that women are equals and Mulan is declared the Emperor's top badass. So it's China that has the character arch, not Mulan. I'm sure that's not condescending to Chinese culture at all.
They also use Chi to remove agency from anyone. Only special people who are born with high Chi matter. They get that from their ancestry. Therefore hereditary power is good and just.
I read a review that said this is basically Rise of Skywalker and does the same "devotion to the source in a way that shits all over the source's themes."
^^^ so far the only good critique of the new Mulan movie in this thread.
At least in the animated Mulan movies there was no Chi, she just made that avalanche with a rocket. (using 'Chi' not 'Qi' to specify the movie version)
I've not yet watched this new Mulan movie, but...
This also reminds me of the odd politics around LGBT and 'born this way'.
Another example is from the fun and creepy series Sabrina, where Dorothea Putnam is a transmasculine ancestor of Theo Putnam who is also transmasculine.
Since the new Mulan movie is apparently also more transmasculine, rather than femme woman just doing whatever it takes, I wonder if that is some of the underlying ideology.
And obviously, genetic or familial components of queer identity are quite well documented, as shown by twins and siblings separated at birth.
I think what is also curious about this idea of inherited Force/Chi is in comparison to this quote "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
Much of super hero culture is the complete opposite, not about worshiping some special other, but that everyone can become a super hero; this is most explicitly stated in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which also a totally queer coded movie.
In some sense, one could think of 'born this way' as an intermediate stage in the process of LGBT acceptance and propaganda. First we argue inevitability, only then is there eventually enough representation to argue for acceptance and pride.
I'm not saying this step-wise process is the best way to go about attaining queer liberation, but this is what has been often applied in practice.
Also the way ideas like Force/Chi and ancestry operate in different cultures; India vs China vs USA, it totally different.
And in a more communal or egalitarian contexts, it can be read almost as "construction of a cathedral", which is a multi-generational process.
Force/Chi then can be a representation not only of genetic, caste, or financial inheritance, but also as the inheritance of effective ideology and shared struggle.
Anyway, I should probably just watch the fucking movie before trying to defend it any further.
There is a huge world of difference between Born this Way and Inherited Power.
Like the good X-men comics are about how anyone in the world can be mutants, and also later generation mutants are mutants but don't inherit their parents powers (I really hate those for some reason).
The Last Jedi tried to make being strong in the force NOT about the Skywalker bloodline, like it tried to push that this family being important and powerful was more due to each individual's actions, not a bloodline, and Rey being powerful was well, and random other people. Rise of Skywalker undid all of that and made it so only the SPECIAL people can be special.
I think it's a narrative that tries to instill helplessness in people. Don't rise up, don't fight because only the people who "Matter" matter.
This is reflected in our politics of dynasty politics in America.
I also enjoy Legacy-heroes to a certain extent, as they can be interesting takes on ideas, but I like the idea of "in the right circumstances, anyone can become a hero."
in All-Star Superman, there is a bit where Lex gets the power and is evil.. but after a bit, he suddenly stops as he is able to suddenly see the beauty in the world the way Superman does. Something about the idea that if most people are given power, they would try to do good for others if it's within their power, and that the world is structured to help us care, it was uplifting as fuck.
Original Mulan had nothing special about her, aside from an attitude of a different perspective and a comedy relief dragon. Any of the other soldiers could have done what she did, but what matters is that she DID. Making her the hero because of what she is versus what she does is shitty.
It's pretty weird that the new Mulan seems more like a Super-hero movie than a fairy-tale.
Yeah, I don't want to defend anything about Rise of Skywalker at all.
You're certainly right about how that functions in 'democracy with dynasties' and American politics.
'Original Mulan' was a legend not a movie, but I'm just being pedantic.
Making her the hero because of what she is versus what she does is shitty.
This is curious though, because if not for being a woman, Mulan would not be widely known at all.
Many hero stories are about something like that, how 'unlikely' people did amazing things.
That whole 'the chosen one' thing is almost by definition about 'unlikely' people; so once again The Phantom Menace really is the best Star Wars movie.
I would say go see for yourself, but to be honest it's not worth it. I'm not joking, the movie is absolute trash, even without the "controversies". It's embarrassing that Disney made this.
It's the cinematic equivalent of yellowface.
While watching it, I was aware I was looking at an entirely Chinese cast, but for some reason, it felt like they were speaking the words of a mid-40s Los Angelino working on a tight turnaround deadline. So I googled who was behind the camera, turns out it's these people.
Now I understand why they think Qi is pronounced like "Chi", and why they think it's actually Star Wars Force Magic and not a real Chinese cultural concept that might be interesting to really explore. No, in Mulan, Chi can make you fly and shape-shift into anything you want, even thousands of tiny scary bats!
Also, Mulan starts out as the most powerful person in China, but everyone is sexist. The world must learn to actually respect Mulan and stop being sexist. To do this, Mulan uses her force powers to cause avalanches and then ride down them on a horse. Also she can fly and is 10 times better with a bow and arrow than Legolas. This proves to China that women are equals and Mulan is declared the Emperor's top badass. So it's China that has the character arch, not Mulan. I'm sure that's not condescending to Chinese culture at all.
"it's China that has the character arc" is an amazing sentence
I had no idea that they made mulan a marvel superhero this time, fantastic
They also use Chi to remove agency from anyone. Only special people who are born with high Chi matter. They get that from their ancestry. Therefore hereditary power is good and just.
I read a review that said this is basically Rise of Skywalker and does the same "devotion to the source in a way that shits all over the source's themes."
^^^ so far the only good critique of the new Mulan movie in this thread.
At least in the animated Mulan movies there was no Chi, she just made that avalanche with a rocket. (using 'Chi' not 'Qi' to specify the movie version)
I've not yet watched this new Mulan movie, but...
This also reminds me of the odd politics around LGBT and 'born this way'.
Another example is from the fun and creepy series Sabrina, where Dorothea Putnam is a transmasculine ancestor of Theo Putnam who is also transmasculine.
Since the new Mulan movie is apparently also more transmasculine, rather than femme woman just doing whatever it takes, I wonder if that is some of the underlying ideology.
And obviously, genetic or familial components of queer identity are quite well documented, as shown by twins and siblings separated at birth.
I think what is also curious about this idea of inherited Force/Chi is in comparison to this quote "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
Much of super hero culture is the complete opposite, not about worshiping some special other, but that everyone can become a super hero; this is most explicitly stated in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which also a totally queer coded movie.
In some sense, one could think of 'born this way' as an intermediate stage in the process of LGBT acceptance and propaganda. First we argue inevitability, only then is there eventually enough representation to argue for acceptance and pride.
I'm not saying this step-wise process is the best way to go about attaining queer liberation, but this is what has been often applied in practice.
Also the way ideas like Force/Chi and ancestry operate in different cultures; India vs China vs USA, it totally different.
And in a more communal or egalitarian contexts, it can be read almost as "construction of a cathedral", which is a multi-generational process.
Force/Chi then can be a representation not only of genetic, caste, or financial inheritance, but also as the inheritance of effective ideology and shared struggle.
Anyway, I should probably just watch the fucking movie before trying to defend it any further.
There is a huge world of difference between Born this Way and Inherited Power.
Like the good X-men comics are about how anyone in the world can be mutants, and also later generation mutants are mutants but don't inherit their parents powers (I really hate those for some reason). The Last Jedi tried to make being strong in the force NOT about the Skywalker bloodline, like it tried to push that this family being important and powerful was more due to each individual's actions, not a bloodline, and Rey being powerful was well, and random other people. Rise of Skywalker undid all of that and made it so only the SPECIAL people can be special.
I think it's a narrative that tries to instill helplessness in people. Don't rise up, don't fight because only the people who "Matter" matter.
This is reflected in our politics of dynasty politics in America.
I also enjoy Legacy-heroes to a certain extent, as they can be interesting takes on ideas, but I like the idea of "in the right circumstances, anyone can become a hero." in All-Star Superman, there is a bit where Lex gets the power and is evil.. but after a bit, he suddenly stops as he is able to suddenly see the beauty in the world the way Superman does. Something about the idea that if most people are given power, they would try to do good for others if it's within their power, and that the world is structured to help us care, it was uplifting as fuck.
Original Mulan had nothing special about her, aside from an attitude of a different perspective and a comedy relief dragon. Any of the other soldiers could have done what she did, but what matters is that she DID. Making her the hero because of what she is versus what she does is shitty. It's pretty weird that the new Mulan seems more like a Super-hero movie than a fairy-tale.
Yeah, I don't want to defend anything about Rise of Skywalker at all.
You're certainly right about how that functions in 'democracy with dynasties' and American politics.
'Original Mulan' was a legend not a movie, but I'm just being pedantic.
This is curious though, because if not for being a woman, Mulan would not be widely known at all.
Many hero stories are about something like that, how 'unlikely' people did amazing things.
That whole 'the chosen one' thing is almost by definition about 'unlikely' people; so once again The Phantom Menace really is the best Star Wars movie.
I should go to bed.
You are joking right?
I would say go see for yourself, but to be honest it's not worth it. I'm not joking, the movie is absolute trash, even without the "controversies". It's embarrassing that Disney made this.