
Disney criticised for filming Mulan in China's Xinjiang province - abc-xyz
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-54064654
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vermilingua
> Disney is under fire for shooting its new film Mulan in parts of China where
> the government is accused of serious human rights abuses.

Because as we all know, if they’d shot it in any other province, the crimes
against humanity basically aren’t even happening!

~~~
acdha
There’s a difference between not stopping genocide and giving money and
recognition to the people conducting it. The actual point of the criticism is
more nuanced than what you quoted:

> social media users noticed that in the credits Disney thanked a number of
> government entities in Xinjiang, including the public security bureau in the
> city of Turpan and the "publicity department of CPC Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomy
> Region Committee".

~~~
dominotw
> giving money and recognition to the people conducting it.

Isn't this basically all products that we buy at walmart though. What is the
difference. I don't understand the nuance here.

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acdha
I agree that western companies’ decision to ignore human rights in favor of
cheaper prices is a problem but it seems like an escalation to go from
ignoring the issue to publicly supporting the organizations involved with the
full knowledge that they use things like that both as part of their public
defense and to gauge how much more they can get away with.

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vertis
Did we need a live-action version of Mulan? What was wrong with the animated
version (that is better in the live version)?

Edit: I might even have been excited about a new version of Mulan if not for
the controversies surrounding it. It is a shame because it was one of my
favourites as a child.

~~~
debuggingnoob
Did we need a live version of Lord of The Rings? What was wrong with the print
version?

The original Mulan legend is good material as is the original movie. If the
new movie had been any good we'd likely all be happy for it.

A Star Was Born has been re-made 4 times. The most recent is the highest
rated. Pride and Prejudice has been made several times. I personally really
enjoyed the mid 90s version. Mutiny on Bounty has been re-made more than once.
I liked the 60s version over the 40s version. I liked the 2005 King Kong (and
the 1933 King Kong)

There's nothing wrong with remaking. It's just disappointing when it's a bad
remake.

~~~
foobarian
I'll tag along: I liked the live action version of Aladdin a lot more than the
animated.

~~~
vertis
I enjoyed the Aladdin stage play, though TBH it's not my favourite play I've
been to in recent years. Would settle for any play right now.

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ImAlreadyTracer
On the one hand I'm glad they're deciding to give work to Chinese locals, they
could have picked a better place though.

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mytailorisrich
This is manufactured outrage, once again.

Nothing wrong with filming in any part of China, but when people want to find
something to pick on they find something to pick on.

~~~
falcolas
I'll stick to my outrage of the casts' attitudes towards Hong Kong and the
outrageous $30 _rental_ rate. I think that's more than enough, though this
particular story certainly doesn't change my mind.

~~~
mytailorisrich
The $30 rental rate is not 'outrageous'. It's a commercial decision, perhaps
an experiment, taking into account the current special circumstances: How much
is a family willing to pay to see this in a cinema? It's more than $30 in
total, so as they cannot do or decide not to go, let's then watch this movie
for actually less than that but more than for a movie that is passed in
release date. The 'market' will decide.

As for the cast, well they are Chinese and may not have the same opinion as
the 'correct' opinion broadcast on Western media. I think this is not
outrageous. This just shows that people in different countries see things
differently. In this case I think that taking note and understanding Chinese
people views on Chinese issues is more productive than being outraged.

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john-shaffer
In 1861, would "taking note and understanding Confederate people views on
Confederate issues" have been more productive?

You can justify absolutely anything if you try hard enough. It's harder to
justify the policies of a racist, genocidal government like the CCP, but
calling them "Chinese issues" seems to work for some.

~~~
mytailorisrich
If you think you example is equivalent, or just even sensible, then you really
need to pause and understand Chinese history before passing judgement.

In fact these attacks and insults by foreigners who know nothing about the
subject matter is one the thing that makes Chinese public opinion very firm
when it comes to issues like HK (a symbol of foreign aggression) and the riots
there, which is what the cast of the movie commented on.

The riots were not defensible, but indeed you can justify anything if you try
hard enough.

