1998 Mulan: Gender roles, Gen Z, and looking forward to 2020 Mulan with Shannon Fong and Blake Lew-Merwin - a podcast by Sean Niu

When you think of Asian American icons in animation, The Animated, OG 1998 Mulan quickly climbs to the top of the list. When we started this podcast, Mulan was definitely on the shortlist. What better time to revisit this milestone thanthe release of the new Mulan? Returning guest Shannon Fong and rockstar intern Blake Lew-Merwin join us to share their memories of watching an Asian Disney princess growing up (for Shannon) and for the first time (for Blake). After we share our reactions, we give a brief history lesson on the original ballad (22:42) and where Disney took liberties with the plot. (Hint: the ballad had no lucky cricket and talking dragon) While some liberties are understandable for the audience and time period, we examine where a lack of diversity in the creative board room shows in the movie (25:27). While at least '98 Mulan had one Asian American writer in Rita Hsiao, '20 Mulan is criticized for not having any Asian American or Asian creative leads. Still, '98 Mulan was a huge milestone for Asian Americans, especially Millenials who grew up with her and we discuss why '20 Mulan might be for a different audience. (31:07) We're not making men out of anyone or fighting for any girls in 2020, but we still give '98 props for sticking its head out more than its peers with regards to mixing up gender roles, creating strong, intelligent female figures and masculine asian male characters. (34:21) We finish with a story of Shannon's 11-year old cousin's reaction to the movie (41:09) and choose our fav song from the movie. (48:55)

LINKS
Translation of Original Mulan Ballad
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