Disney drops Mulan character from new film because of #MeToo movement

A live-action remake of Disney classic film Mulan is set to hit screens next month, but there will be a notable omission from the new film.

Li Shang, the general who falls in love with Mulan, will not feature in the film because producers say the relationship between a high ranking officer and the low ranking Mulan is a power imbalance that is not appropriate in the #MeToo era.

Movie analyst and critic Shane A. Bassett says he doesn’t understand the decision to omit the character.

“We always knew this was going to be a different version from the 1998 animated film because it’s not a musical and they always add things to these live action remakes, and do change the story plot and so forth around,” he told 3AW’s Tom Elliott.

“To cut out this particular moment in the film, it doesn’t happen until quite towards the end of the film anyway, it’s consensual and it’s just not what #MeToo is all about, it’s something completely opposite.

“It’s actually a good, nice, romantic moment and gesture.”

Mr Bassett said there are few films which are safe from similar alterations in future remakes.

“Disney Plus, when it first came out they started to put warnings up before the films and before the old TV shows that they have on it, just letting people know that there might be outdated cultural depictions, or they’ve actually cut scenes out altogether,” he said.

“The list is almost endless if you want to just keep going down that path.”

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Image (at top): Disney