Authors: Raine T. Riley & Will Henderson
Overview:
Overall Trends
- Most of the conversation surrounding the Disney+ release of Disney’s live-action Mulan was negative, touching on issues from access to police brutality
- #boycottmulan and boycott(ed) were some of the top words
- Free, Chinese production alternatives for live-action Mulan adaptations were a hot topic
- There was some mention of the $30 cost of premier access, but the less than expected
General Statistics
- Over 534k posts across 13 platforms, including Twitter and YouTube. Nearly 94% of the conversation was happening on Twitter
- Friday, September 4 held the highest volume of posts, with nearly 200k on Twitter alone o Peaks of post volume hit at noon (11k Tweets) and 10:00 p.m. (12.5k Tweets)
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At least 14 of the top words from the weekend directly correspond to one Tweet with over 10k retweets recommending a Chinese-made live-action adaptation called “Matchless Mulan” in place of Disney’s live-action film
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Another Tweet circulated recommending a 2009 adaptation of the story, adding to the top words “Chinese” and“filmmakers”
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The words “brutality” and “police” showed up a lot in response to Liu Yifei’s, the main actress, support of the Hong Kong police despite their use of brute force in against protesters. This, along with some cultural frustrations by viewers and the lack of Chinese executives and crew during production, was a large part of the #boycottmulan movement.
Disney’s live-action adaptation of the legend of Mulan had an unorthodox release amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Mulan (2020) was released on Disney+, Disney’s relatively new streaming platform, on Friday, September 4 for a $30 “premier access” fee. It may seem that the unorthodox release along with the access fee people would have to pay on top of their monthly Disney+ subscription would have been enough to lead to some hot takes across the over 534k* posts on social media – not to mention the lack of singing, absence of General Li Shang, and devastating erasure of Mulan’s beloved dragon sidekick Mushu all present in Disney’s 1998 version. While the conversations about access were certainly present, larger and more heavy conversations surrounded the release of this live-action version of Mulan.
One of the most prominent parts of the conversation across social media was surrounding the call to boycott Mulan. The hashtag #boycottmulan was one of the top-used “words” across social media all weekend long, as people shared why they were boycotting Disney’s remake. The most prominent reason why people were boycotting the new adaptation was that Liu Yifei, the main actress who plays Mulan, came out and openly supported the Hong Kong police in 2019 amid overt police brutality against protesters. Another reason why people were boycotting the film is that very few people involved in the production of the film were Chinese.
In response to the lack of Chinese filmmakers, many people took to Twitter to share information about other live-action Mulan adaptations produced by Chinese filmmakers. One Tweet [https://bit.ly/324Evp7] was shared so many times (over 10k retweets) that the words within the tweet showed up as most of the top words surrounding Mulan over the weekend (other than the expected “Mulan” and “#mulan”). The Tweet brings attention to another adaptation of Mulan called “Matchless Mulan” that was released in August 2020 and completely made by Chinese filmmakers. The composer of the Tweet also draws attention to the fact that the film is free to watch on YouTube.
The overall conversation on social media around Disney’s live-action Mulan was unsupportive. People criticized the main actress, the production’s ignoring of “cultural genocide” in their filming location, and the lack of POC in the writing and production. Many of the posts that read positive were still lacking support, either sharing links to other adaptations or showing their support for the #boycottmulan movement. Not all was lost, however! Some people seemed genuinely excited to watch the movie, and others seemed to really enjoy the film. The cinematography and post-production effects were what people praised the most. As well, everyone got an exciting surprise Friday morning when liking Tweets related to Mulan with a special MULAN graphic, reminding us that we are never too far from Disney’s advertising reach.
Whether you watched the movie, intend to watch the movie, or swore it off completely, Disney had a stimulating weekend. It will be interesting see how the film does over the next couple of weeks, and if the reception will be similar on December 4, the day it will be released for free on Disney+.
Full Analysis:
Purpose: To examine and analyze the social media response to Disney’s release of their live-action adaptation of Mulan
Analysis Time Frame: September 4 – 6, 2020
Keywords: disney, disney+, disney plus, disneyplus, #disney, mulan, #disneysmulan, #mulan
Sentiment
- Overall neutral sentiment (36%) o Most posts with neutral sentiments are Tweets of people stating that they are about to watch the film
- Some Tweets discuss the strength of the animated Mulan’s soundtrack
- Most posts are people sharing information surrounding Mulan (watching, about to watch, saw a review, etc.)
- Overall positive sentiment (35%) o Supporting #boycott Mulan
- Sharing links to other Chines-produced adaptations of the story of Mulan
- Some posts from people who were excited to watch the film
- Some posts from people who saw and enjoyed the film, complementing the cinematography and post-production
- Overall negative sentiment (29%) o Criticizing the main actress’s support of Hong Kong police
- Criticizing the production’s ignoring of “cultural genocide” in the filming location
- Criticizing the lack of POC (people of color) in the writing and production
Other Posts of Note
- A YouTube video [https://bit.ly/3bxrDec] posted and shared on Friday, Sept. 4 reviewed the film and reported that Disney flooded review sites with fake positive reviews
- Some posts pointed out the accuracies and inaccuracies related to the legend of Mulan, including that she was Mongolian (not Chinese)
- Although #boycottmulan received a lot of attention, some Twitter users were quick to point out that the same energy was not shown regarding Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress who has shown her support of the Israel Defense Forces
- Twitter saw some excitement Friday morning when they teamed up with Disney to create a special “like” button for Tweets about the release, using #Mulan. The “like” button transitioned through a beautifully designed MULAN image before turning the heart red
Miscellaneous:
- Excluded Keywords: black panther, #blackpanther, chadwick boseman, #chadwickboseman, star wars, #starwars, john boyega, kexilion
- With the recent passing of Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), I had to exclude posts related to him and Black Panther as many people were talking about his legacy at Disney
- A recent complaint by John Boyega (Finn of Star Wars) was a hot topic, many people saying that Disney was covering for a lot of bad publicity
The conversation was barely present on TikTok, with a total of 11 posts (all posted on Sept. 4)
- The most viewed posts were of clips from the film
- The post with the highest engagement was of a TikTok influencer (@xzit_thamer) putting together an outfit inspired by Mulan
- Two posts were the same video of a young man playing a song from the original Mulan soundtrack on guitar
- One post from @lovebrandimarie was of her at the Mulan premiere
- All other posts were paying tribute to the animated version of the film, specifically the character of Mulan’s dragon sidekick Mushu
Much of the Instagram conversation was highlighting fan art for both the original animated Disney version and the remake live-action version.
