Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Nit-Picking "Mulan"

The internet is a lot like TV the width and breadth of TV selections, what with broadcast, cable, streaming, etc.: You want to find biographical info on historical figures or movie stars, it's there. You want to find a rant from any point on the political spectrum, you can discover it. There are flame wars up the yingyang and criticism in abundance.

Which brings us to the YouTube video above, which nit-picks the animated feature Mulan.

Like, there were no rockets in the era the movie depicted, or explosives. And wealthy families had multiple children and favored sons (not just stopping, as in the movie, with a single daughter). Plus the movie isn't really progressive regarding female equality.

And so on and so forth.

All well and good (maybe). But Mulan is a cartoon, designed for children and their parents. Historical accuracy? When has a movie set in some time long past been true to its era? Pirates of the Caribbean? (ha!) The Adventures of Robin Hood?, with broad swords used like rapiers? Or any Western you can name where six shooters seem to have thirty-clip magazines because nobody ever troubles themselves to reload during gun battles.

So it's a little dicey to ding a cartoon for things that its live-action counterparts seldom if ever live up to. On the other hand, the internet and YouTube are hungry beasts, and when you are trying to build a viewer base, you've got to make an issue over something. You can't get more eyeballs without an angle, even if that angle is dubious.

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