Mulan 2020: What workplace female empowerment is not.

It’s nearly impossible to say how important Mulan is.

Because Mulan is different.

Mulan is a Chinese woman warrior (and Disney princess) with a kill count of thousands.

She is not born royalty nor nobility.

She is not a prop or prize and goes through a hero’s journey for her own sake, and based on her own choices made.

In fact, the name “Mulan” on her own evokes a strong sense of female empowerment beyond the representation of young Asian women, but also because her story was also written in a time when female representation was more important than ever.

It is undeniable — Mulan’s story is powerful and also chronicles the difficult parts of womanhood and empowerment in a relatable way that both men and women can learn from and apply in our lives.

However, Mulan 2020 was a tasteless, empty, and lazy attempt to tell her story.

At first glance, Mulan 2020 does appear Chinese and to be a film about feminine strength— but to fool the audience. The sad part is that it probably worked and raked in some great margins.

The creators cared about coming across as woke by riding on the feminism and Chinese trend, rather than actually making the effort to write a compelling story with thought-provoking feminist themes and characters that would complement Mulan’s past versions.