Disney+’s live-action remake of Mulan copied Game Of Thrones‘ cheesiest Season 8 moment. The update of the 1998 animated Disney classic is a far more gritty and grown-up affair, thanks to some surprisingly violent content and a refusal to pander to merchandising markets or younger audience members. In short, Mulan 2020 is not for kids, but it fits with Disney’s attempt to adapt the original ‘Ballad Of Mulan’ more closely (partly to appeal the Chinese market after the original caused controversy and outright offense). That doesn’t mean the film avoided populist creative choices, however, as there’s a Frozen-like message in there and one moment feels like it was copied from Game Of Thrones‘ final season.
The live-action remake of Mulan hasn’t quite been the unblemished smash it might have been, with accusations of Disney erasing genocide in working with the Chinese government to make it. The film was released on a premium VOD model on Disney+ that was held up initially as a game-changer for the industry and buy-in figures suggest that it had one of the biggest first weekends of 2020’s box office record. That comes with the caveat of reduced interest and lockdown impacting sales, but it is impressive all the same and the critical response has been mostly good.
In fact, complaints about the live-action Mulan‘s substance seems to be that it’s simply not the original, which it was never going to be. There may be no Mushu, but the remake is new and bold and has, at its heart, an important message not only of self-discovery but also of the merit of outsiders not being shunned for their differences. Mulan discovers herself triumphantly as the heart of the narrative, but the reinforcement moment comes courtesy of a cheesy redo of Danaerys’ claiming of King’s Landing.
In a season otherwise criticized for its sloppy story-telling, the image of Dany standing over her new domain, framed by the wings of her dragon, Drogon, aimed for epic but came off as another example of an over-tired visual trope, that’s been used elsewhere a lot too. It was supposed to remind viewers that Dany herself was the dragon, but it was so painfully on the dragon-nose that it was difficult to separate the intent from the cringe-inducing memes that followed. The same can be said of Mulan‘s almost identical shot, which comes as Mulan faces off with the villainous Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee) and her phoenix guardian rises behind her, giving her wings.
All of the intended power of the image is let down by the CGI and how obvious and familiar it is. And that’s not to mention the unfortunate appropriation of the image – which is intended to mark a character’s self-realization and their literally “taking flight”- by social media influencers and their obsession with angel wings. The impact of Mulan‘s moment fades quickly into a memory of Game Of Thrones‘ more successful version and even then, the HBO fantasy’s use of dragon wings was in itself all-too labored.
