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A study of how Disney imagines China-Focusing on the live-action version of Mulan-

  • PHILOSOPHY·THOUGHT·CULTURE
  • 2024, (46), pp.65~88
  • DOI : 10.33639/ptc.2024..46.003
  • Publisher : Research Institute for East-West Thought
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : November 4, 2024
  • Accepted : November 20, 2024
  • Published : November 30, 2024

KimJiSeon 1

1동국대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the way Disney imagines China and depicts it in narrative through the live-action version of Mulan. The live-action version of Mulanis based on the animated musical Mulan, but attempted a completely different interpretation from the original. One of them is to highlight the Silk Road instead of the Great Wall of China, which serves as a mechanism to project America’s perception of the Middle East, and depicting Northern Wei Dynasty as if it were the Tang Dynasty was used as a device to recall memories of the empire from China’s glorious past. The live-action version of Mulan attempted to maintain Disney’s tone of political correctness, but still led the narrative in black and white logic and revealed prejudice against nomadic peoples. In addition, the concept of qi(氣), the meaning of the phoenix(鳳凰), and the virtues of loyalty(忠) and filial piety(孝) were interpreted to suit Disney’s preferences. The live-action version of Mulan can be said to be a work that showed its limitations despite putting a lot of effort into it. However, it is worth paying attention to because it reveals the China imagined by Disney, China’s desires as interpreted by Disney, and Western prejudice against East Asia.

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