I love Mulan.
I’ve loved her and her story since I was a little girl. Her resilience was inspiring. Her willingness to push boundaries on what a woman can or can’t do was eye-opening. And as a young girl, I saw myself in Mulan. Just to be clear, I’m Latina and Mulan was the only positive female representation my young self was allowed to watch. Being Latina doesn’t negate the power that Mulan had in my life. But it also means something that blew my damn mind and which, we’ll get to in a second.
In the beginning, when I first heard about Mulan being $29.99, I scoffed. There was no way that I was going to buy a movie ON TOP of having my Disney+ subscription. It didn’t matter to me that the production costs for this movie were extensive AF. All I saw was a $30 dollar price tag on the live action version of something I’ve loved for ages.
And I was maddddd. There’s no use in denying that. I couldn’t understand why they would put this pay wall up and I pictured young me being deprived of a life changing storyline like that of Mulan. My anger grew and I was legit going to find a stream of it online and call it an act of rebellion. When in fact it was an act of not understanding the significance of what this release means.
I’m not talking about all the bank that Disney will make. No matter where you fall on the will you/won’t you when it comes to purchasing this $30 movie, Disney will make bank. And there will be families that will cough up the money because it’s ultimately cheaper to watch it at home instead of taking a whole family out to see it; racking up all the charges once candies and soda are involved on top of expensive tickets.
What I mean, and what is the whole purpose of this post, is that this movie isn’t about me. No matter how much I love Mulan or how much it inspired me as a young girl, this movie is meant for someone else. And as soon as I realized that, my anger deflated and was long gone. I was left with the realization that there is a young Asian girl or boy out there who has never seen themselves on screen.
The live action Mulan is that moment of representation for them. It’s that moment, that movie, that could blow a little kids mind and change them forever. So who the hell am I to get in the way of that? And who the hell am I if I don’t support this movie? Yes, I know there are some other political factors that have some people on the fence. But that doesn’t matter right now.
What matters is that Asian representation is important and it could change someone’s life for the better. So, if me shelling out $30 dollars tells Disney and the world, “Hey, stories with Asian leads make bank and you should totally make more of them, pretty please with a cherry on top.” Then I’m going to do it. I’m going to willingly open my wallet.
And it’s not because I’m a fool.
It’s not because I’m a sheep to the Mouse.
It’s because Mulan matters. And if I can see that, why can’t you?
Disney’s Mulan is set to release on September 4th on Disney+.
This article is so well written and perfectly describes my process of deciding to purchase Mulan ($34.99 in Canada). I hope everyone who is against this decision/on the fence comes across it!