On September 4th the new reboot of Mulan was released on Disney+. However, prior to its release the film faced calls for a boycott.
Last year demonstrations took place to protest against a law that would allow extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China. These protests also highlighted the actions of the police and an inquiry took place looking into police brutality within Hong Kong.
Therefore, when Liu Yifei who plays Mulan in the film, shared a post that read “I support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now. What a shame for Hong Kong.” fans were angered and #BoycottMulan trended on Twitter.
That was a year ago, now also Thai activists are against the film. In Thailand there have been recent demonstrations demanding change within the military ruled country. The protestors within the country are anti-China and have strong worries about the country’s influence within Thailand and are therefore against the movie.
On a bigger level the alleged influence China has on Disney is also concerning. The US attorney general William Barr claimed in August that in order to ensure that the film was distributed in China, the second-biggest movie market, film studios “bow to Beijing”.
Written by Jasmine St Pier
Artwork by Aurora Brooks
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