Last year, Disney surprised fans when they announced plans to produce a live-action Mulan film. The beloved franchise reigns as one of the company’s most popular, but there are fans who are worried about the live-action adaptation – especially when it comes to whitewashing. As such, an online petition was created asking Disney to not whitewash the cast of Mulan, and the campaign has already gone viral.
The petition, which was created by Natalie Molnar, cites Hollywood’s prolific use of whitewashing to bolster its message. Nodding to films like The Last Airbender and Ghost in the Shell, Molnar criticizes how common whitewashing has become in Hollywood.
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“Disney just announced it will develop a live-action Mulan film,” she writes. “Take a stand against whitewashing in our media.” Targeted to Walt Disney Studios, the petition has accumulated over 88,000 supporters and needs only 2,000 more to reach its goal.
So far, there’s been no official response to the petition, but fans are supportive of the campaign’s mission. Nobody has been cast for the Mulan adaptation, but fans have been vocal about their desire to see an Asian actress take on its leading role.
While this year has seen several notable examples of whitewashing, Disney is one studio who is combating the problematic issue. They recently cast Auli’i’ Cravalho to voice a Polynesian princess in Moana alongside Dwayne Johnson. A couple years back, the studio hired Ryan Potter, a Japanese-American actor, to voice Hiro in Big Hero Six. And, in the live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book, Disney boasted a diverse cast featuring talent like Neel Sethi, Idris Elba, and Lupita Nyong’o.
To some fans, the recent track record at Disney is an encouraging one that pushes back against whitewashing. The decision to cast diverse actors in Mulan would also pad the box office with all kinds of cash. These days, Chinese moviegoers can make-or-break studio films, so Hollywood is becoming increasingly sensitive to the market’s taste. For example, sources have speculated Marvel elected to cast Tilda Swinton as a Celtic iteration of The Ancient One in Doctor Strange for this reason. The character, who traditionally hails from Tibet, would sabotage the film’s success given the tense relationship between the countries.
If Disney were to whitewash Mulan, then it is likely that Chinese audiences would respond poorly to the change. When the 1998 animated Mulan film was released, the movie became a global success and gathered global fans who Disney would hate to lose now.
Currently, there’s no projected release date set for Mulan, but we do know that Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek will treat its screenplay. Chris Bender and J.C. Pink will act as producers. The live-action adaptation will closely follow that of the animated Mulan movie and focus on a young girl who disguises herself as a man to join the army in her sickly father’s stead.
[H/T] The Petition Site
