S2 E15: #NotMyMulan, cultural and racial representation in Hollywood

This week's episode is all about the "R" word: R-E-P-R-E-S-E-N-T-A-T-I-O-N.

The casting of Chinese actress Liu Yifei (Crystal Liu) as Mulan in the upcoming Disney live-action movie and the trailer have drawn lots of criticisms in both the U.S. and in
 China (for obviously different reasons.) Some criticized it for historical inaccuracies, some take issue with the casting of Crystal, who has since voiced her support for Hong Kong police and the crack down on protesters by the government. 
It's not just Mulan, the entire Hollywood-centric American movie industry is engulfed in a debate over cultural, racial and political representation. 

In today’s episode, our hosts Afra and Diaodiao are joined by our guest, cinema studies Assistant Professor Ling Zhang from SUNY Purchase College to discuss the recent controversies around the casting for the Little Mermaid, the James Bond series, and Marvel’s Shang Qi. The trio use these current events as a springboard for in-depth analysis on how cultural representation is treated in films:

Highlights:

Hollywood has finally realized that representation can be good for business. Is this an inherently good thing or bad thing? At its core, is this tokenism disguised as representation, or truly a change for the better? How can moviegoers push for the latter?The point of view of the movie (via cinematography) is often structured strategically so the audience can resonate with the characters -- but this sense of empathy, or identifying with a certain character, can often be a dissonant experience for minorities, why is that? What role does colonialism play in Hollywood films?How should we interpret tokenism within the context of film? Why are Shang Qi, Fu Manchu (characters in the original film), products of tokenism?

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