What is it about?

Why was Disney's Mulan (2020) poorly received in China? Surely the sluggish performance of film market during the pandemic shrank the number of moviegoers. Then anything else? This paper aims to explore the causes as well as the correlated agendas concerning ideology, politics and commerce, followed by suggestions as possible solutions to the predicament facing Hollywood film industry.

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Why is it important?

The film’s failure bespeaks the predicament confronted by contemporary Hollywood film industry. If Hollywood film producers want to reap lucrative gains from the booming Chinese film market, they should rectify their outdated condescending attitudes and do more in updating their production concepts, innovation, empathy and cooperation. This paper may be of significance as a reference to the practice and study of film adaptation, production and marketing across cultures.

Perspectives

Superficially, the arbitrary appropriation of Chinese culture causes the poor reception of the movie, which, however, if situated within the framework of Orientalism with a lineal examination of the Chinese-culture-related Hollywood movies, more underlying causes, ideological, political and commercial, can be uncovered.

Zhaosheng Tong

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This page is a summary of: Analysis of Mulan’s Poor Reception in China from the Perspective of Orientalism, African and Asian Studies, October 2022, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15692108-12341570.
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