The Phoenix and the Flower: What Are the Key Differences between ‘Mulan’ (2020) and ‘Mulan’ (1998)?

Zhuoyi Wang (Associate Professor, Hamilton College)

This talk offers a comparative close reading of Disney’s animated film Mulan (1998) and its 2020 eponymous live-action remake. Departing from the common perception that the live-action Mulan is simply an “Orientalist distortion” of the Chinese legend, the talk closely examines where the remake breaks free from and where it still embraces the animation’s cultural appropriation of China. In doing so, the talk demonstrates how the remake makes a commendable yet compromised feminist intervention into both the millennium-long legend and Disney’s cultural imagination.

In Mandarin Chinese. Live English caption on demand. Please contact event organizer no less than 24 hours in advance to request.

Part of the “Chinese storytelling in the global context” series organized by the Chinese Program at UIC.

Details and Zoom information at https://ling.uic.edu/events/the-phoenix-and-the-flower-what-are-the-key-differences-between-mulan-2020-and-mulan-1998/