For almost a year now, moviegoers in and around South East Asia have been calling for the boycott of Disney's live-action Mulan, and it isn't just because they think the upcoming film is yet another soulless live-action remake of a classic animated movie. On its surface, it's because of two of the film's main actors: Liu Yifei and Donnie Yen. But the growing #BoycottMulan movement on social media stems from a larger cause every bit as titanic and dramatic as Mulan's story.
Calls for a boycott began in Hong Kong back in August 2019, when star Liu Yifei shared an image on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. The image read (roughly translated), "I support the Hong Kong Police. You can fight me about it," accompanied by, "What a shame for Hong Kong."
In an extremely politically and historically complicated nutshell-- since June 2019, there have been waves of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, pushing back against the growing influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Hong Kong politics and fighting for the democratic rights that were promised to them in the Sino-British Joint Declaration. In response, the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) have employed a number of brutal tactics to deal with protesters, including use of excessive force, tear gas, pepper spray, water cannons and more. Moreover, by the time Liu expressed her support, the police had also been suspected of working with criminal organizations.
Although the situation in Hong Kong and international relationships with China continued to sour, the #BoycottMulan movement quietened. That was until July 1st, when China passed the Hong Kong national security law -- essentially allowing the CCP to overrule Hong Kong's own mini-constitution -- and revitalized the movement, on top of the wider pro-democracy protests. Numerous civic groups and would-be cinemagoers began to petition for audiences across South East Asia and beyond to boycott Mulan to express solidarity with the people of Hong Kong. On the same day, martial artist and Mulan star Donnie Yen expressed pro-Beijing sentiments in a social media post celebrating Hong Kong's handover from British rule. He quickly became the second star to be targeted by the boycott movement.
Some suggest that no one should be boycotting the film purely based on the expressed views of its actors. The argument is that Chinese actors are generally under a great deal of pressure to support the Chinese government, and that's true to a point.
While the Chinese populace is granted a small measure of freedom of speech, China does not enjoy freedom of press as it is maintained in democratic countries. The government will not allow anyone to criticize or speak out against the ruling Chinese Communist Party, a party that also controls the judicial system, meaning virtually anyone can and likely will be found guilty of any crime. As if that weren't enough, the system regularly allows for family members of dissidents or critics to be harassed and in some cases, for those dissidents or critics to completely disappear.
Public figures are not insusceptible to the harshness of the system. There were very real concerns surrounding actor Fan Bingbing, who, while not a critic or dissident, was secretly detained after it was discovered she had committed tax evasion. She seemingly disappeared for several months before suddenly reappearing, apologizing for her crime.
Threats of punishment have not stopped everyone from speaking out. Prominent actors such as Chow Yun Fat, who has appeared in films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, has publicly supported movements perceived by some as being anti-China. In 2014, Chow expressed his support for the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, which essentially opposed interference from mainland China in Hong Kong politics. When asked if he was concerned about being blacklisted from China, Chow declared that he wouldn't place effort in appealing to the country, stating, "I'll just make less then."
When all this is taken into consideration, should Liu Yifei and Donnie Yen be targeted for choosing to express support for China's grasp on Hong Kong?
It's worth pointing out that both of these actors are U.S citizens and enjoy freedoms that they wouldn't necessarily enjoy under Xi Jinping and the ruling Chinese Communist Party, at least, that's what the situation appears to be from the outside. However, it should be noted that notable Chinese figures will, more often than not, possess ties to China that authorities will take advantage of, and these are all likely to factor into the decisions these actors make. For example, Liu's godfather happens to be Chen Jinfei, chairman of Tongchan Investment Group and one of China's wealthiest businessmen. Take into consideration that major companies are often pressured into including CCP members as board members, allowing the political party to maintain somewhat direct control over businesses. While Donnie Yen has family in Hong Kong, it's uncertain if he has any familial ties to China in the same vein as Liu.
Even without those connections, the careers of both of these celebrities are bound to their reception in China, making every expression a risk. Liu has already come under fire in the past for referring to herself as "Asian," as opposed to "Chinese," in an interview with Variety. Some in mainland China criticized the actor for being Americanized and expressing shame with regard to her Chinese nationality and heritage. This led to a brief and very different call for a boycott of Mulan.
Ultimately, the #BoycottMulan movement isn't about protesting these celebrities. It is one facet of a much greater movement, one that opposes everything the Chinese Communist Party has done and the capitalist practices adopted by companies such as Disney -- based in the U.S -- who are motivated enough to place great effort into appealing to Chinese audiences. These companies have gone so far as to remove mentions of certain minorities from films because it offended the Chinese government, as was the case with Doctor Strange and the Ancient One, who was originally intended to be Tibetan; or by including controversial demarcations such as the Nine Dash Line -- which essentially allows China to mark foreign territory as its own -- as Dreamworks did in the film, Abominable. Every one of these practices allows the Chinese government to continue acting as it has with greater ease.
The boycott movement against Disney's live-action Mulan remake is therefore not purely an act of abhorrence against the film's actors, but a demonstration of intolerance for what those actors' expressed views and the film itself actually represent: the growing influence of the CCP, which is what truly links #BoycottMulan to the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.