Bringing Dishonor to Mulan
In recent years, Disney has been profiting off of remaking their original animated films, and all of the remakes that I have seen so far are worse, in my opinion. But despite their mixed reviews, it seems that Disney just plans on chugging out more live-action, CGI-filled reproductions. One of the more recent remakes in 2020 is Mulan, which originally came out in 1998 as an animation. I admit that my expectations were pretty high since I love the original Mulan movie, but I disliked the remake even more than I thought I would. Beyond my critiques of the emotionless script, emitted characters, and new storylines, however, I’ll spare you the details of where my personal bias probably plays too large of a role and instead focus on two points I find interesting: the consequences of new technology in regards to the production, content, and reception of the film and an intriguing instance of intertextuality and incorporation.
Let’s start by acknowledging the current age of technology. For the production of Mulan, it allowed the film to take on a completely different aesthetic by utilizing advanced CGI and special effects to simulate realistic looking scenes, objects, and actions. For example, green screens were commonly used to edit in realistic looking backgrounds, and the phoenix was created completely with computer software. Additionally, with more advanced music and sound editing software, the soundtrack of the film sounds more complex, heavy, and very cinematic. Although these new features are impressive to look at and listen to, they are the problem exactly, as they were completely unfitting to the original vibe of Mulan and squashed its aura. The flashy action-filled shots replaced all the lightheartedness, charm, and humor from the original animation and script, and it was hard not to miss the playful songs. Ironically, I had more emotional reactions watching the animation than the live-action actors. Walter Benjamin (1936) perfectly sums up this process in his notion of augmentation, the capacity for mechanical reproduction to shift the content of art that simultaneously diminishes its aura (p. 50). With the new production as a result of the technological abilities of today, the aura of the Mulan remake has undoubtedly been diminished.
Additionally, Benjamin (1936) names a second process, distribution, as the ability to transmit reproduced art at previously unimaginable scales that also diminishes the aura (p. 50). Applying this to the Mulan remake, Disney’s streaming service and the Internet allowed the new remake to be shared and watched by audiences all over the world, which was not possible with the original animation. I would completely agree that augmentation diminishes the aura of the remake of Mulan, but I am not certain of the negative consequences brought by distribution. Unlike a physical painting that you can stand in front of and be in its presence, a film exists digitally by nature and is meant to be copied and rewatched. The transition from VCRs to streaming services has only made watching films easier and more accessible to larger audiences. The reception of this film was also especially unique as it was released during the Covid-19 pandemic on Disney+ rather than a traditional theater release, and subscribers had to pay $30 to see the film first before it was released for free for all Disney+ subscribers. I believe that the movie could have been better in a cinema environment with the big screen and amazing smell of popcorn, but nonetheless, the remake is definitely lacking the original charm and aura, where augmentation played a large role.
Another significant aspect of the current time period that may have informed the film’s content can be identified with the notion of intertextuality, the “accumulation of meanings across different texts” (Hall, 1997, p. 232), and the notion of incorporation, where “once [a] particular brand of deviation from the norm has been noted by the industry, [it] belongs to [the industry]” (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1998, p. 5). I am referring specifically to Disney’s acquisition of Marvel in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012 and the possible connection of their popular franchises to the prominent addition of qi to the movie plot (which by the way, literally came out of nowhere). For viewers who have knowledge of the Marvel and Star Wars franchises, you can get a hint of their flavors and the intertextuality at play if you look closely at the role of qi for Mulan. In the remake, Mulan is born with an uncommon amount of qi, which viewers come to understand as some sort of natural power, and throughout her training as a soldier, she slowly learns of its power and how to control and use it to her advantage. If you think about it, the role of qi for Mulan is weirdly similar to The Force in Star Wars, and the qi itself resembles a superpower that makes Mulan feel more similar to a Marvel superhero than she did in the original film. Qi was never a part of the original story, and she became a good fighter through real training, not some superpower bestowed upon her. Whether Disney is trying to make the film fit in with their newly acquired blockbuster movies or it’s just one big coincidence, I guess we can never know. But it’s pretty clear that the remake of Mulan is being incorporated into the mainstream movie themes rather than sticking to its original essence, and in my opinion, this is simply a shame.
As you can hopefully see, with the new technologies of the modern day, there are both benefits and drawbacks for what it can do for reproductions of films. With regards to Mulan, although it was able to be widely distributed and received by large audiences, I believe the augmentation and incorporation of Mulan into the culture industry has sadly reduced its aura significantly, where one can only leave the film feeling that it has brought great dishonor to Mulan.
References
Adorno, T. W., & Horkheimer, M. (1998). The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. Dialectic of enlightenment (pp. 1-12). Stanford University Press.
Benjamin, W. (1936) The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Visual Culture: Experiences in Visual Culture (pp. 48-64).
Hall, S. (1997). The Spectacle of the Other. Representation: Cultural representation and signifying practices (pp. 225–249). The Open University/SAGE.
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