Disney ignores China’s human rights violations with Mulan release

Mulan specifically thank the publicity department of CPC Xinjiang uyghur autonomous region committee in the credits.

You know, the place where the cultural genocide is happening.

They filmed extensively in Xinjiang, which the subtitles call “Northwest China”#BoycottMulan pic.twitter.com/mba3oMYDvV

— Jeannette Ng 吳志麗 (@jeannette_ng) September 7, 2020

Joshua Wong is one of the most prominent figures involved with Hong Kong’s protests and tweeted that he ‘urges everyone who believes in human rights’ to avoid the film. It’s the latest example of a massive corporation opting to favour China’s vast profit and revenue potential over the democratic rights of its citizens.

This film is released today. But because Disney kowtows to Beijing, and because Liu Yifei openly and proudly endorses police brutality in Hong Kong, I urge everyone who believes in human rights to #BoycottMulan. https://t.co/utmP1tIWNa

— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) September 4, 2020

We’ve already seen other brands like gaming giant Blizzard and the NBA punish their staff for vocally supporting Hong Kong protestors. Even Apple banned HK Map Live, an app used by activists to orchestrate protests, late last year. Disney has similarly been hesitant to engage with the civil unrest and upheaval, instead taking a meek approach that washes its hands of any meaningful engagement.

Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn spoke to The Hollywood Reporter in February and said that Disney is ‘non-political, apolitical when it comes to all this stuff’. By ‘all this stuff’ he of course means the removal of basic rights in Hong Kong, the forced quarantine of over 1 million Uighurs in re-education camps, and the increasingly dystopian monitoring of Chinese citizens.

It’s continually disappointing to see international entertainment companies pander to Chinese markets for the sake of growth and profit. This re-ignited Twitter protest against Disney is a valiant effort to turn the tide, but its huge global gravitas makes it difficult to truly disrupt how the company operates.

Mulan was clearly intended to appeal to China’s mainland population too. The film was re-worked to appease Chinese censors and a love scene was removed to ensure the final product reached international audiences. Disney hasn’t made much of an effort to hide these behaviours and by ignoring the civil unrest it has become complicit with China.

The only way to truly reach Disney is by avoiding the film. It’ll be tough to squander the overall sales and streams of Mulan but a vocal minority is still important and worth listening to. Until we hold companies accountable and demand more they’ll continue to shy away – democracy should always trump commerce.