Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Fall 12-2-2020

Faculty Advisor(s)

Stephanie Takaragawa

Abstract

'Mulan: An Exploration of Culture and Representation in Hollywood' is a presentation and detailed analysis of various representational, cultural, and minority-related issues in the context of Hollywood and western media. The presentation will focalize specifically around the recent live-action remake of the 1998 film "Mulan". The remake, premiered in March 2020, received critical backlash from various audiences (mostly from the BIPOC community), bashing the film for its misrepresentation of Ancient China and Ancient Chinese culture. Through this misrepresentation, the Hollywood film ultimately reflects views of cultural appropriation, misogyny, and overall minority underrepresentation in the United States. The research presents the backlash that lead actress Liu Yifei received over the course of the film's wave of criticism. Many uneducated and uninformed viewers raced to Twitter to attack her performance and 'cooperation' with this controversial film, however it is important to consider the relationship between Chinese Americans and the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), as it is incredibly risky to speak out against the CCP due to the possibility of being blacklisted by the Chinese market. Overall, the presentation encompasses and analyzes the issues stirred by Mulan 2020, the response of the BIPOC community, and how the controversy is ultimately a representation of Hollywood media when dealing with portrayal of foreign cultures.

Comments

Presented at the virtual Fall 2020 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

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