We all know Disney’s take on the legend of Mulan: A young girl in Han China disguises herself as a man to take her father’s place in a war against the Huns. What you may not have known: Walt Disney Studios is remaking Mulan into a live-action film! Along with many other Disney movies, Mulan will premiere in 2018. This is so significant because Disney has promised an all-Asian cast for the movie that defined generations of young girls.

Many have been disappointed in the lack of diversity amongst casts in movies based specifically on a certain race or ethnicity, especially in the whitewashing of traditionally Asian roles. For example, Gods of Egypt was a movie with an interesting plot about Egyptian gods and goddesses, with the CGI so-so. What really wrecked the film was the fact that there was absolutely no Egyptian lead, with almost all of the top billed actors white. This whitewashing of roles has been an issue in Hollywood since the early days of film. The most offensive degree of this practice involves blackface, yellowface, redface, altering eye shape, and exaggerating gestures and accents. Luckily, this Disney movie revision won’t be another piece in the cinema fad of censoring culture, race, and ethnicity.  

Fans of the Mulan movie are calling for Lea Salogna, the singing voice of Fa Mula in the animated movie, to play our main character, however she has already spoken out and left the role of the stubborn and willful lead to another talented Chinese woman.

Disney’s casting promise is a huge step for the film industry, as since Disney’s beginning the ¨trend” as it were, hopefully it will catch with the other big-name movie  industries.

Mulan hits theaters November 2, 2018. Will you go see it?