[00:00] I threw some text on the screen declaring that the 1998 Disney movie Mulan was the best movie ever. Now, I don't want to get too distracted with words like best.
[00:14] I love it more than any of the other Disney movies at the time. and it's just really good. It's my go to watch to get myself motivated to do anything.
[00:28] I can't watch 20 minutes of it without waterworks.
[00:40] It's fun, emotional, epic, thrilling, satisfying. It's gorgeous. The general consensus around the recent crop of Disney live
[00:56] action remakes is already that they are mostly soulless films. but I have to make this video anyway because this time, the movie they tossed into the corporate meat grinder was my Disney movie.
[01:10] Still, I'm not just going to complain about a remake no one saw. This is a movie where something in almost every scene irritates me, Instead, I want to use what I see as the failures of the remake as a chance
[01:28] had a lasting impact on me, At the heart of the reason that the movie doesn't work is that it doesn't That's a big deal because if we care about their relationship,
[01:46] There's two reasons why I think this father-daughter relationship isn't as moving or as interesting as this father-daughter relationship,
[01:58] A big problem this movie has is that it needlessly adds a ton of unnecessary fantasy talked about without ever being adequately explained.
[02:11] Rules about how chi works and how it's treated in society are told to us by half a dozen characters without any coherence to it. but the emperor's advisors says chi can't be used in destructive waves.
[02:25] It's forbidden to use the power of chi in destructive waves. But the commander tells us that chi is basically like the force and he can use it, so isn't that a destructive way.
[02:37] then can women use chi in ways that aren't destructive, who seems to say that women using any kind of chi is against the rules.
[02:51] a strong with her chi because she's pretending to be someone else. It poisons your chi.
[03:03] Pretending to be someone else makes you weaker with your chi. The person who's chi lets them turn into other people. It's just never really well established what the extent of chi is or
[03:16] its place in society other than it lets you kick projectiles at people.
[03:32] The inclusion of chi has a devastating impact on focusing on the emotional connection and bond that the two-character share, Your chi is strong, Mulan.
[03:48] carefree child with extraordinary gifts. Her parents worry that because she's not adhering to the strict social norms for women, White men would want to marry a girl who flips around rooftops chasing chickens.
[04:05] and her father comes out to console her. The scene has all of the affectation of a touching bonding scene.
[04:18] the tone tell us that this is going to be an emotional scene. some crucial piece of advice that you'll hang onto for the rest of the film.
[04:30] Do you know why the Phoenix sits at the entrance of our shrine? Some say that Phoenix is consumed by flame.
[04:43] The chi is for warriors, not daughters. and despite the framing, the characters just do not connect.
[04:56] The equivalent scene in the original is this one. The father is much more compassionate than you think he's going to be given He's gentle and completely focused on making her feel better,
[05:12] In this pushing shot, The tone of the two scenes is a sensibly the same, Here, he's telling her that it's okay that she failed,
[05:26] and because he speaks in metaphorical language, y, and z to be a proper woman. In the remake when the father isn't delivering exposition,
[05:41] she definitely needs to change and abide by social norms. Your job is to bring honor to the family. The uplifting music doesn't change the fact that there's something really insidious
[05:58] to the scene that he's telling such a young child to hide herself away, So the most crucial scene in the entire film doesn't do what it needs to do to create
[06:11] on setting up world-building for the action scenes later on. It also doesn't work because it sets the father up as an opponent for the ally he felt like in the original movie. But that's just one scene.
[06:26] Let's look at how the relationship unfolds during the rest of the first act. Stories are basically just two things happening again and again: action, reaction. something happens to them and then a scene where the characters
[06:41] achieve their goals and just keep doing that until the story is over. unrelated happened immediately without taking that little breather in between.
[06:54] Mulan goes to the matchmaking ceremony and fails the test, action. Mulan is sad about the previous scene and her father consoles her, reaction. Her father is conscripted into the Chinese army, action.
[07:08] Mulan and her father get into an argument about his conscription, reaction. In the new movie, Mulan goes to the matchmaking ceremony and fails the test, action.
[07:22] her father is conscripted into the Chinese army, action. Mulan and her father get into an argument about his conscription, reaction. but coming to the same impasse as the previous scene, reaction.
[07:37] This structure effectively renders the matchmaking scene totally pointless. the next thing before the consequences of that can even be explored. Mulan has after that failure in the original film.
[07:54] The tone is different, but the function they serve in the story is the same. the emotionally moving tragedy of the original scene order.
[08:06] and then that is the last time they talked before she bales. It is time you learned yours. The fact that they leave on bad terms leaves their relationship unresolved.
[08:21] survive the war so that she can get back and give her dad a hug. We feel the need to have that closure and it carries us through the rest of the movie.
[08:34] then the only thing that's at stake is whether Mulan will survive or not. Crafting empathy between two characters is the most important part of storytelling and the most difficult and movie succeed or fail on the ability to do so.
[08:49] a pretty incredible display of how just switching up the scenes and unforgettable to one that doesn't work at all. The introduction of qi doesn't only affect the father-daughter dynamic here,
[09:04] This causes some problems when the movie tries to put this new character into and it also radically alters the message of the film.
[09:18] one of Mulan's defining characteristics is her cleverness, her craftiness. Mulan saves herself some work by getting her dog to do her chores for her. It tells us right from the start that she is a resourceful character.
[09:33] The message to the audience is that this character will win by being clever. She uses her fan as a distraction so that she can Her cleverness backfires a bit when she tries to use that same fan to put out the flames,
[09:50] The fan also comes back in a brilliant moment at the end. the movie has made the fan a symbol of her femininity. she uses a fan to disarm Shan Yu.
[10:06] the themes around gender expectations in the movie, letting her win in a man's world by using a symbol of femininity as a source of strength. There are a ton of other examples.
[10:22] Using the weights to help recline the pole rather than as a disadvantage, the emperor's palace rather than the more direct route of busting down the door, drawing Shan Yu into a trap with the fireworks at the climax,
[10:35] firing the rocket at the mountain to cause an avalanche that wipes out the invading army. when this moment happens, the audience says, of course Mulan would be the one to find a clever solution that all the men would miss.
[10:50] But the weird thing that often happens with adaptations is that they want to which is something I encourage, the most iconic images of the original even if those two things are contradictory.
[11:08] It has to be in the new one, the movie has chosen to characterize Mulan. but by her innate physical strength.
[11:23] By using her qi, she is the strongest and most coordinated soldier on the battlefield, When this version of the character encounters a problem, She uses her incredible coordination,
[11:37] Mulan wins because she has, well, superpowers. the avalanche scene based on the way the movie has single-handedly fight and defeat the Huns in physical combat,
[11:53] The avalanche scene is just this weird detour where even though they've changed every other part of its DNA. sometimes inconsistent that makes this a weaker film,
[12:08] A character who solves their problems with cleverness is just inherently more interesting to watch than one who solves them with brute force. surprising you with the way she solves problems,
[12:23] in all of the life or death situation she's in. all of which invests the audience in her struggles. the live action version of the character is in
[12:36] She'll use her qi and win. On top of that, she's portrayed in such a stoic and wooden manner throughout the film in a misguided attempt to make
[12:49] any inner humanity that would bind you to the character. the story explicitly feminist in a way that is very on the nose.
[13:01] society doesn't let women achieve their full potential, inspiring the witch to believe in a better world. use it in any real sense neuters the power of this message.
[13:17] only the ones who can use the force. The universality of the original film and its feminist themes are skewered by the need for a martial arts action,
[13:31] Mulan escaping gender roles in much of a meaningful sense. Is that really a happy ending for someone who was initially The movie just makes her subservient at every point.
[13:47] Mulan is a character whose life is worsened by the existence of patriarchal norms, well, the guy, the patriarch, the Emperor.
[14:00] But in the original Mulan, everyone and the Emperor himself bow down to her. The most damning and most painful and most depressing moment
[14:13] of the live action film is that this moment is completely inverted. After Mulan saves the Emperor's life and the country, Often times when I make a video,
[14:25] It's the thing that stirred the most emotion in me, That's what this next point is about. One of the most basic scenarios in a story is the fish out of water story.
[14:40] one environment and then they are thrust into a new way of living. opposite of everything they've ever known. they have to adapt quickly.
[14:53] they have mastered the skills that it values. but what exactly is the water and what exactly is the land. We might say rural China is the water and military life is the land.
[15:08] but that's just the surface of what's happening. What really makes the story structure work are what each of the environments believes, When she's at home, Mulan faces
[15:22] She's a woman so she should act in a certain way, which are all established in the first song of the movie.
[15:34] a very strict gender expectations for women, With all of that established in the first act, After all of that work going over what's expected of women,
[15:49] now we're going to have a whole segment exploring what men are like. No, they are men. She gets to be a fly on the wall in a world that she's never seen before,
[16:02] I'm going to say that again just so we remember it. She doesn't know how to walk like a man. or messy, or aggressive,
[16:16] All of which are qualities the movie immediately associates She's also not strong, All of which are qualities the movie associates with
[16:30] I can't stress enough how much this is the reason the movie is compelling for me, the other Disney movies that I was attached to as a kid.
[16:43] and I think that played a huge part of the reason for why this Disney movie in A lot has been written about Mulan being a trans narrative.
[16:56] That reading of the film is pretty easy to see and not hard to find. through a bisexual lens or through a queer lens. I'm not talking so much about the musings over the character of Li Shang's sexuality.
[17:09] Many audiences interpret him as a bisexual man. I certainly do. dressed as a man and when she presents as a woman. That is important representation that the adaptation strips out of the story.
[17:21] but about capturing the experience of being bisexual. or descriptive of every bisexual person's experience.
[17:33] But for me, being that way made me feel alien in separate from other men, All of that is a part of the reason that masculinity performance that I didn't see as natural or authentic,
[17:49] All of that maps onto how Mulan feels when she is first entering the army camp, all these men are being so aggressive, boisterous, and loud. I identify with her in that situation more than I identify with any of them.
[18:04] this exploratory space for the audience Mulan was my guide through the alien worlds of masculinity because she felt just as awkward being there as I did.
[18:19] with how critical the fish out of water setup is to the story, is not well-versed in in order to make the story structure work at all,
[18:31] let's watch the scene in the live action remake where Mulan enters the army camp. Need a hand little man?
[18:46] Lower your sword. I can't even fully articulated the profound depths of disappointment from which a sigh emerged from me at this moment.
[18:59] she is unfaced by how the people around her behave. She's a fish who went from one pond to another She has nothing to learn here,
[19:15] During this part of the movie, there's a montage where but it's all just wacky high jinx. feel her physical body and then realize she's
[19:29] a woman rather than about her having to learn the obtuse rules of behaving like a man. In short, one movie provided me with a crucial stepping stone to understanding myself, Well, the original version of Mulan focused on presenting
[19:44] where it depicted flawed characters who had a lot to learn over the course of the story, but who came up with clever, A story which ends with the appending of gender expectations enrolls.
[20:01] Instead, we have a movie where we don't care about the characters, and are never truly endanger. It's almost as tragic as losing 130 billion dollars.