With only two days till its grand release on Thursday, Disney’s live-action remake film Mulan is garnering massive criticism from South Korean social media users and pleas to #boycottMulan.
Online calls for boycotts against the film are going viral after the film’s final credits expressed gratitude to government entities in Xinjiang, China. According to Korea Times, Xinjiang is currently under scrutiny for human rights abuses against ethnic minorities.
The Declaration of Global Citizen in Korea, an NGO working with Hong Kong citizens for their freedom, launched an online boycott campaign last Friday. The NGO urged social media users to share images to boycott the Disney film.
This isn’t the first time potential audiences boycotted Mulan. Vulture reported the #BoycottMulan movement began last summer when the movie’s Chinese American star, Liu Yifei, shared a Weibo post supporting Hong Kong police’s crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.
Demonstrators from around the world, including Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan and Korea, went out to the streets to protest against Mulan‘s release.
In July, student protesters from South Korea’s capital, Seoul, condemned lead actress Yifei for making the film a symbol for political violence rather than reflect the progressive values of the movie’s themes, reported Yonhap News. University students and civic groups held a rally in front of Walt Disney Co. Korea and asked the company to terminate its plan to release the movie.
Regardless, the movie will hit South Korean theaters this Thursday. Meanwhile, the hashtags #boycottMulan and #banmulan are being used widely.
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our new Instagram account. Go to our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content.Please consider interning, joining our staff, or submitting a story.
