The change from Li Shang is concerning, and not only because itâs erasing a very distinctly bisexual character. Forget sexuality: even if you prefer a more platonic interpretation (which I donât), Li Shang clearly respects, admires, and likes Mulan as Ping and as a person. He loves her as a friend long before he loves her as a woman, girlfriend, or wife. The entire point of the movie is that Li Shang loves Mulan as a person (platonically, romantically, either way), not just as a potential mate. The entire point of the entire ending is that people do not award women the same respect offered to men. (Mushu:Â âHuh? Youâre a girl now, remember?â) The entire point of the finale is that Shang and Pingâs friends do give Mulan the same respect as a woman, because her gender doesnât matter: she is still the same person with the same good strategic sense, and theyâll trust her whether sheâs wearing armor or a dress.
If this âChen Honghuiâ hates Mulan/Ping until he finds out that she is a woman, that isnât just erasing Shangâs bisexuality: itâs also sexualizing Mulan and stripping her of all her agency and accomplishment. In this version, Mulan isnât worthy of respect as a person. She is only worth admiring as a woman. He canât like her as a warrior, as a strategist, as a friend, as a person; he can only like her as a woman. Let me rephrase this: Instead of giving Mulan a chance to earn the same respect Chen offers to all his other warriors, heâs only going to appreciate her once he sees her as a woman. As an âapprovedâ sexual object. ONLY THEN is it worth noticing her or granting her basic human decency and respect. âSomething like love,â as the description tells us, clearly has nothing to do with any of her personality and everything to do with genitalia. Even if he was completely and entirely straight, we should see that heâs at least befriending Mulan/Ping before the Gender Reveal. Straight guys can still recognize another manâs good qualities and appreciate them for what they are. If Ping isnât even a friend before âheâ becomes Mulan, then this isnât âsomething like love;â itâs just lust and objectification, pure and simple. The ârivalryâ is also bullshit. The fact that ârivalryâ can change so quickly into âsomething like loveâ means only that for Chen, a set of imaginary genitalia is all it takes to completely shift his perspective on someone from âworthy of competitionâ to âworthy of sex.â What, so heâs just going to abandon the rivalry now that sheâs a woman? Oh - because sheâs only a woman. He doesnât have to compete with her anymore, because thatâs not what you do with women. A rivalry would imply that sheâs still a man, and at least he can view a rival as a decent warrior; but now, she can be comfortably reduced to Sex Appeal.
Also⌠what about that personality? âCocky?â A âmean, bullying streakâ? Thinks of Mulan as âhis chief rival?â Are you going to strip the male lead of EVERY shred of decency? Li Shang isnât a bully: he is a soldier who pushes his men (and woman) to excel, because this is wartime and thatâs the only way to survive. He genuinely cares about them and shows real pride when they show signs of improvement. He doesnât see them as rivals; he sees them as friends for whom he is responsible. Sure, he doesnât like Ping at first, but thatâs got nothing to do with gender and more to do with the fact that Pingâs initial behavior is so inflammatory. (Dodges commanderâs questions; starts fights in the rice line; holds the other soldiers back in training; cheats on assignments, even if thatâs the result of Mushuâs intervention). Once Ping proves himself as a person and as a warrior, Shang doesnât hesitate to reward Ping with all the admiration Ping deserves.Â
Disney is so concerned about removing every hint of bisexuality from its movies, itâs also utterly destroyed any decency they could have in a heterosexual romance. In their attempts to make everything nice and straight and cisgendered, theyâre bending their characters WAY out of whack.Â
Theyâre taking Mulan - originally a woman who denies gender boundaries to prove that gender doesnât matter to personal worth - and theyâre turning her into a person who canât earn respect,honor, or even the admiration of her fellow soldiers until she puts on a dress and can be seen, not as a warrior or as a person but as an object of desire.Â
And theyâre taking Shang - originally a man who cares about his fellow soldiers and who respects Mulan regardless of her gender presentation - and turned him into a cocky asshole who only cares about himself and is only able to appreciate Mulan when she is female, and even then, only because heâd like to have some sex.
