This article focuses on the English version of the movie, with Lei Shen entering.
In 1998, Disney released the cartoon version of Mulan . This version has been criticized by the Chinese market because of the lack of sophisticated clothing or culture. In 2020, Mulan has not escaped the picket of the audience, whether it is in terms of scenes, costumes, martial arts or plots, it is quite controversial.
Hakka Tulou or Broadway-style colorful costumes are not in the way for me. Not only for domestic purposes, but Hollywood (especially Disney) has always been commercial-oriented in its interpretation of foreign cultures. I am not obsessed with restoring the truth. On the contrary, the colorful pictures are enjoyable to the viewer. Each picture and composition is very beautiful. The magnificent mountains and rivers of New Zealand, coupled with the tough Liu Yifei's face, are really beautiful. Her frowns and smiles are very beautiful, even if she is almost facial paralysis in the whole scene, my eyeballs are willing to forgive her (but not rationally). The plot of
is somewhat plain and deliberate, and we can even see traces of political manipulation. And these political implications, it seems that many people don't understand very well, so I want to talk about this movie, and I will talk about it at the end.
First of all, the village where Hua Mulan lives is assumed to be Hakka Tulou. If Mulan really has a person, most people will believe that she is from the area of Inner Mongolia today. Nowadays, the movie has made Mulan a Hakka, so the Hakka Tulou has become one of the focuses of people's siege. However, I can understand the purpose of framing the Hakka Tulou. The circular building. People are looking down on the circular corridor of each floor, so that the picture is convenient to show the three aunts and six women in the village. The director does not need to waste film to describe the flowers. The failure of Mulan's blind date was despised by the villagers.
Hua Mulan’s village is a tulou. It is convenient for the three aunts and six wives to watch Mulan’s ugly show Disney
. Perhaps it is precisely because of the director’s various quick actions that the plot is not full enough and the characters are not three-dimensional. This creative taboo .
Hua Mulan just came out from the matchmaker’s front foot. The next picture is that his father received the military order. That night, Hua Mulan stole his father’s equipment and ancestral sword and rushed to the training camp to report. This editing process lacked the cartoon version of Mulan. The moving confession song "Reflection" and the performance of Liu Yifei's No. 1 expression make people wonder if Hua Mulan simply went to the battlefield because of a failed blind date and nowhere to go.
After Hua Mulan went to the training camp, she began her training life. Except for the lack of funny singing and dancing, it is no different from the cartoon version, and even the archery scenes are exactly the same. However, we can see that Hua Mulan originally wanted to keep a low profile, she didn't want to show off her strength, and didn't want to show her "chi" (chi).
What is "gas"? The "qi" of
is also interesting to say, it is born with it, and it can be strengthened through practice. Not only that, it also reduces energy when the soul is weak. A person with a strong qi will be very good at martial arts, and he can even transform into a bird in the sky (?!) This setting is different from what I imagined. I personally think that this is a misunderstanding of Chinese culture by Hollywood. They put a Chinese vocabulary that white people could hardly understand into the work, trying to increase the oriental color, but this arrangement made the audience out of touch with Mulan. Mulan was never an ordinary person, but a superwoman with supernatural power. . Mulan's achievement was not because of her hard work, but because of her inherent strong anger.
From the beginning of the film, we saw Xiao Mulan flying over the roof tiles, bursting with "qi", making her mother worried that Mulan would not be able to marry and could not bring honor to the family. Mulan's anger did not meet social expectations. If the male is very strong, then the male will win respect. If she was a woman, she would not be able to marry, be excluded, or even be accused of being a witch.
The roar of the Americans: "Why take Musu ?" The only other character in the
film who has this spirit is GongThe eagle girl (Xianniang) played by Li. The existence of the eagle girl is the key to distinguish the whole movie from the cartoon version. According to the film team, they decided to remove Mushu for three reasons. One is because domestic audiences don’t like Musu. Some people told the crew that Musu is too funny and wasteful, destroying the image of Shenlong; second, it must fit reality and conform to historical facts (or legends); third, it must be more immersive sense.
They wanted people to have a sense of substitution for Mulan, but they gave her a strong "qi" super power.
They claim to be pursuing reality, but they replaced the wood beard with another mythical animal, the phoenix, and the eagle girl who can transform into an eagle. Two hundred percent of the eagle girl and the phoenix do not conform to historical facts.
I think the team should have removed the Musu and Song and Dance, and found that the story of Hua Mulan was thin, so they added the branch line of Eagle Girl. The purpose is to let the audience know what troubles Mulan's anger will bring to the audience through the predecessor of the eagle woman. "An angry woman will become an exiled witch." However, we look at the fighting scenes of Mulan (the soldiers thought they were witches when they saw the women fighting, and they broke up), her childhood (the villagers shook their heads when they chased Mulan), and the thoughts of Mulan’s father in the title. It has been seen that it is intolerable for women to possess qi, so the existence of the eagle girl is equivalent to the director telling one thing twice. No, it was repeated, repeated, and repeated, and I was very tired.
has several similarly unclear characters. Hua Mulan’s sister, her role is to reflect Mulan’s "abnormality" through her "normal". She is obedient and will not run after a chicken, and will not defy her father's order. It is a pity that this role is not well thought out. , Therefore, the opening and closing of the film appeared once, and a few lines of insignificance were said, as if tasteless. Sergeant Qiang beside Yen Zidan has almost no other functions except for the unpleasant lines in the role of Yen Zidan. Cricket, Ling, Po, and Yao are not as profoundly portrayed as the cartoon version. The characters lack three-dimensionality, and there is no difference between one and more. (Sorry, Cricket’s jokes are not funny either.)
Musu, Hi, Hi!
Back to the eagle girl, she was almost responsible for all the turns of the whole story, which is equivalent to pulling the plot away. Originally, Hua Mulan didn't want to reveal that she was a daughter, but this was not in line with the military rules of "loyalty, courage, and truthfulness." Hua Mulan vented her anger and couldn't show her strength. The eagle girl immediately flew over and told Hua Mulan that she was not real, so she lost her breath. Hua Mulan disheveled her head, so she became angry. After blasting the enemy, she returned to the barracks to confess that she was a daughter. However, even if Hua Mulan succeeded in battle, she was still exiled because of her violation of military discipline (a woman serving in the military). At this time, it was the eagle woman who told Mulan, "Women are angry, but the law of heaven is not tolerated." By the way, she said without thinking about the tricks of slipping and softening people. A little bird told me was actually staged and Mulan ran back to the barracks. Report to the sir. The strange thing is that the officer really doesn't doubt Mulan's source of information. Later, because of her empathy with Mulan (plus she felt that she was not saved, she couldn't live the noble way), so after flying up to make senseless chokes on Rouran, she sacrificed herself to save Mulan. Hua Mulan held her senior who had saved her, because she had no fear of death, and she couldn't see any gratitude for her sacrifice. Except for Hua Mulan's expressionless face, this result is an easily anticipated trend.
Now that Liu Yifei’s acting skills are mentioned, there is a section of Mulan on the way to see the matchmaker after putting on her makeup. She joked, “This is my smiling face, my crying face, and my troubled face.” While doing so, she said, “I can’t see all of them. Come out!" I don’t know whether to be embarrassed or to laugh. Is Yifei biting herself(?) What’s worse, when the crew went to China to investigate, they found that Chinese aesthetics is very symmetry, so they let Liu Yifei always be on camera. Central, this simply makes her acting skills dull.
live-action Hua Mulan is "harmonized"? The
crew kept saying that they removed Mushu for the taste of Chinese audiences and through censorship. In fact, they did not only move Mushu for the Chinese market. Hua Mulan's emotional drama is not deep, perhaps because he is afraid of the Chinese audience's rebound "The legendary Hua Mulan is not in love!" The kiss scene is even more so.The direct deletion may be because they are afraid that the audience will not accept that Hua Mulan is a casual (unconventional) woman, which will lead to emotional lines, not stunned, and very restrained. At the end of the play, Hua Mulan was beaten up and decided to lie on the ground and rest. The emperor (Li Lianjie) actually asked Hua Mulan to stand up. He said in a command sentence, "You are a soldier, (give a cup) to stand up." Hua Mulan stood up obediently. Regardless of whether she was inspired by hearing the word "warrior" or not, and the command has a sense of upper and lower, and the people should obey the emperor without thinking, perhaps this is what the crew refers to as "fitting to reality". . In the play, it is revealed from time to time that the emperor has great military exploits, cared about the people, and he personally killed King Rouran when he was young, which is quite eulogizing. I wonder if someone told the crew that the Chinese people hate the cartoon version of the emperor because he looks like a man waiting to be saved. Sleeping Beauty did nothing to destroy the image of the emperor in China. The biggest change in
is the theme of the script. Theme is a proper term used in literary analysis. Every work will have one or even multiple themes. Both the old and new versions share a topic that is not the focus of discussion, such as "Peer Mutual Assistance". The theme changes are also in line with the Chinese market. Every move of the
cartoon version of Mulan is against national traditions, family expectations, and traditional female roles. Following this context, Mulan is confused about her identity and cannot find her self-worth. Her motivation for joining the army, in addition to replacing her father, used the lyrics of the song "Reflection" to point out the theme "Hua Mulan's military service is a journey to pursue self."
look at me
I will never miss a perfect bride
or a perfect daughter
don’t I want to play this role
now I understand
if I really be myself, I will break my family’s heart
who is the girl I saw
staring straight at me
why my reflection is someone I don’t know
I hide inexplicably
who am I
when I try to show
when I try to show
Inside
I will never be a perfect bride
or a perfect daughter
Maybe I was born not suitable for such a role!
Now I understand
If I really be myself, I will break the hearts of my family.
Who is the girl who is staring at me?
Why don’t I recognize who my reflection is?
I always can’t hide myself
Although I have tried
When will my reflection reveal my true inner self?
Later, Li Xiang forced Mulan out of the army, and Mulan cried to Musu:
Maybe I didn't go to my father. Maybe what I really want is to prove that I can do the right thing, so when I look in the mirror, I will see someone who is worthy. "
Maybe I am not for my father, maybe I just want to prove my ability. I just want to see what I am when I look in the mirror. The cartoon version of
constantly uses mirrors and reflections to emphasize Mulan's self-confidence. The doubt and exploration of value. This is very individualistic and a common theme in Western literary works. It has nothing to do with the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. It can be said that the cartoon version of Mulan’s story is that Western culture possesses Hua Mulan. For Chinese characters, this kind of "self-awakening" story does not require China's time and space background. Therefore, the American audience was very happy to watch it and felt nothing wrong with it, but the domestic people almost exploded after watching it. The cartoon version of Mulan's journey to seek self-awakening is not only not the mainstream of Chinese literature, nor the subject that will be encouraged in China.
Hua Mulan is talking about "loyalty, courage, truthfulness and filial piety"? The
crew promised that they will give the Chinese market a traditional movie this time, so the theme of Hua Mulan's entry into the army is "loyal, brave, true, devotion to family" (loyal, brave, true, devotion to family). "Brave" I don't bother to talk about it, the same cliché, universal value. Like the cartoon version, Hua Mulan has been a relatively rebellious and daring child since she was a child, challenging authority (father) everywhere and challenging traditional values. She even did not hesitate to defy military discipline to defend her home and country. We think that Hua Mulan is a challenger to tradition, and her painting style has changed, but she is the number one supporter of tradition: "It turns out that everything she does is to be loyal to the country." (There are no young people in the world who like this kind of brainwashing work. ?)
said that we should return to tradition. An old accusation against the times that "father is too old and has to sell his blood for the nobility" has instantly turned into a story promoting loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. The
crew arranged the word "true" at the end of the sword, so that when the sword was drawn, Hua Mulan would read the word last, and then her heart was shocked: "Houlixute, I'm not real (pretend to be a man)" She lost her anger all over the floor, and regained her anger through Ying's lessons, and pointed out the theme "Mulan is also seeking truth." This is a very western value.
Hua Mulan is really talking about "filial piety"?
The last word turned out to be "filial piety"? Many Chinese audiences think that Hua Mulan is talking about "filial piety," and that they attack the crew and Disney. They even think that "filial piety is a trendy concept" before they are included in the movie. In fact, as an English-speaking audience, I have no such feeling at all.
From the very beginning, Mulan played with Phoenix Jade Pei. On the screen, we can see the word "filial piety" on Jade Pei (but Americans cannot understand the Chinese word filial piety). The emperor was very satisfied with Hua Mulan's defense action, so she asked her if she would be the emperor's guard. Mulan raised her head and said, "No, thank you. I came from home with stars and stars. I owe my family too much and want to go home with my family." The emperor replied at this time: "Devotion to family is an essential virtue." (Giving to the family is an indispensable virtue.) Later, when Hua Mulan returned to his hometown, the emperor sent someone to cast a new sword and give it to Mulan. The back of the sword was engraved with the word filial piety, and Mulan read the word "filial piety" while watching the word devotion to family". I personally think that we should return to the author's original intention. What the author wanted to talk about was "devotion to family" instead of "filial piety" in China. The word filial piety
is what I personally think is the most interesting place. From the English point of view, "loyal, brave, true, devotion to family", the first three words are all independent English words, right to the Chinese "loyal and brave" "True" is also three independent words. In order to correspond to the three characters "loyal, brave and true" on the screen, the crew broke their brains and couldn't find the independent word that means "family dedication" in Chinese, so they chose the word "filial piety", but English speakers couldn't feel it at all. The theme of "filial piety". If Disney intends to talk about "filial piety" to English-speaking audiences, they can use the word filial piety, but they chose devotion to family, so the theme that English speakers see is "family dedication." Chinese users have a completely different experience of watching movies. I guess that the Chinese translation of movies is filial piety. This is like a "double script". I don't know if I should say that this is a brilliant move. The crew still emphasizes the courage and breakthrough of women in the English world, and returns to the Chinese tradition in the Chinese world. However, people in the two worlds don't know what each other is watching, so Taiwanese audiences in China will swear at Disney for portraying Mulan as a filial daughter Baiqin. Actually not, only Chinese audiences will see the filial daughter Baiqin, and this is precisely to cater to the Chinese market.
Mulan looked at the word "filial piety" and said "devotion to family" Disney
Why does Mulan live in a Hakka village?
has no definitive evidence to prove Hua Mulan's existence, even if there is, the birthplace and dynasty are different. Many scholars believe that Hua Mulan is from Xianbei. The Xianbei people moved from the northeastern part of today's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to Henan (now Ordos City, Inner Mongolia) when they were Emperor Shengwu in the Northern Wei Dynasty. However, after the deduction of the times, the identity of Hua Mulan was removed. , Was mainstreamed into Han people and became a Chinese national hero. The crew claimed that the new version of Mulan is authentic and culturally appropriate. Perhaps the Hakka village was chosen to obscure the true identity of Hua Mulan and avoid touching political nerves.
But we can’t say that the crew is not careful. They can clearly point out that the enemy is Rouran in the live-action version, and there are some poetry dictionaries interspersed in the story, which is like describing a woman "hands are like cats, fingers like green onions." The Book of Songs "Guo Feng · Wei Feng · Shuo Ren". Or "Yuefu Poetry Collection·Horizontal Blow Songs Five·Mulan Poems": "Male rabbit's feet are fluttering; female rabbit's eyes are blurred; two rabbits walk next to each other; Can you tell me that I am a male and female?" English respectively translated: "Her fingers like the tender white roots of a green onion." and "Two rabbits running side by side, I think one was a male, one was a female..." It is quite interesting to watch the actors read this paragraph.
The English version of "Hands are like catkins, fingers like green onions" is fascinating. The second part of the scallion pancake Disney
Disney not only caters to a Chinese market
Mulan has to cater to the Chinese market, of course it also caters to the Chinese market. American market. We can see that Hua Mulan has deleted the important role of Li Shang (Li Shang). He was divided into two and became Commander Tung (Yen Zidan), the marshal who trained Mulan, and Honghui (Chen Honghui, a teammate who was on the same level as Mulan, and his relationship line was in charge of him). Seeing my description, can you tell the clue that "Disney does not want Hua Mulan to fall in love with the supervisor"? Why? Because this politics is incorrect! Disney is very afraid that North American audiences' love affair with Mulan's subordinates will become the target of the#me too campaign. Disney's worries are so many that it is condescending.
Summary
All in all, the live-action version of Mulan scored 5.5 points in IMDB, while domestic Douban scored 4.7 points. Judging from the plot, I think this is just right. In all fairness, apart from Gong Li, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen’s styles, the pictures are all beautifully processed. From the terraces, the earthen buildings to the hills where Mulan climbs when he is sad, they are all very beautiful, and they are more beautiful live-action versions. Movie.
