Mulan is one of several films which has had its release fucked up as a result of Miss Corona. It was originally due to release in March, which then got pushed back to August, which has now been pushed back to a Disney+ release in September, with theatrical releases only in countries where Disney's streaming service hasn't launched yet.
As soon as Miss Corona kicked off her Contamination world tour, it was clear Mulan was going to end up releasing on Disney+, because there was no way in hell that this pandemic was gonna just end in a couple of months. A Disney+ release isn't gonna bag Disney the money it would've gotten with a full-scale cinema release, but it is what it is. Disney are one of few studios who can take that loss with a home release and are also fortunate to have their own streaming service to release it on. But the release itself a mess, because it won't just be release to Disney+ as normal. It will cost $30...on top of the money users pay for the Disney+ service. You can watch Mulan as many times as you like, but only as long as you stay subscribed to Disney+. I ain't paying a damn thing for Mulan. I didn't even want Disney+ in the first-damn place. I only ended up with it, because I forgot to cancel my free trial. Mulan wasn't a film I was gonna rush to see anyway, so I'm not paying £30 to watch it.
Anyway.
Let's talks about this new song.
Christina Aguilera was brought back to sing the theme song for the live-action remake of Mulan, after having sung the main theme song "Reflection" for the original animated film back in 1998, when she was just 17 years old. It was also Christina Aguilera's debut song before "Genie In A Bottle". So to return to Mulan so many years later, still with her career, having publicly dealt with misogyny and now being a mother, this is sure to feel like a full circle moment for her.
This was a really nice video. It's always cool to see music videos for films which are handled creatively, and aren't just a montage of moments from the film or something completely separate, with zero correlation. And Christina look was nice and on-theme, without appropriating. Growth. 'Cos we know how she used to do.
As for the song, it's nice, but not very memorable. Whilst Christina was known for her voice, she didn't give so much on this. But at least she was controlled and wasn't trying to do the most. We all know how this could have ended up sounding.
I will say though, that it would have been nice to have had a Chinese singer handle this theme. I absolutely get why Christina Aguilera is singing it. But in light of discovering that almost the entire team that worked on this film is white, it does leave a really sour taste. The director is white. The screenplay writers are white. The costume designer is white. This is a story based on Chinese folklore. You mean to tell me Disney couldn't have gotten a Chinese screenplay writer, director or costume designer!? You would have thought that Disney would have at some point looked at the optics and figured, let's go with a Chinese singer for the theme song, but have Christina sing something else. But nope. Let's let a white pop star just sing the song.
This is no disrespect to Christina Aguilera at all. It's just one of many examples of how large companies are so blind, tone deaf and oblivious about what diversity and representation actually is. For Disney, it's very much a case of 'BuT iT's a FiLm AbOuT ChiNeSe PeOpLe Tho' as though that's enough and those who are Chinese should be grateful. No bitch.
HENNYWAY.
"Not Reflection" is available on all streaming services. And Nu Mulan will be hitting Disney+ on September 4th for $30. The original film is currently available for free.
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