Peripherals

I was intrigued this morning to read of Disney's foray with 'Mulan' into Chinese history, a big effort to make a big splash in the pond that is Chinese films. Perhaps the biggest market for films in the world. Plus a big effort to make amends to the powers that be there for having had the temerity to make a film about Tibet.

The Chinese core around the big rivers in the south east is bordered by all kinds of badlands to the west. A very long and very open border; hard to defend. Badlands from which, in the olden days, all kinds of barbarians were apt to invade the lands of the rich and peace loving Chinese. With a western region of China called Xinjiang still being inhabited by all kinds of minorities, lately barbarians.

So the Chinese are rather fond of films about heroic Chinese fighting off the barbarians from the west. And Disney have attempted to do just that with Mulan, a film which used a very old folk tale as its starting point - which happily involves a lady warrior, which plays well to modern audiences. See reference 1.

Whereas here in the UK we have moved on and instead of making films about the sturdy English keeping the various pirates and bandits from the badlands of north and west at bay, we make films about cuddly & hairy natives fighting off the dastardly and greedy English, usually tainted by a good dose of Norman blood, practically pagans. I associate to the film called 'Braveheart', starring that irritating curiosity Mel Gibson, now best known for his unpleasant views and his connection to an odd part of the Catholic church. Not to mention the various films about the IRA made by people who might, in another connection, have been called 'fellow travellers'.

Something of the same sort has happened in the US, where they have moved on from sturdy cavalrymen in blue clearing the west of savages, so that decent, civilised settlers could move in with their cows and ploughs, to the savages having morphed into noble savages. With John Wayne being at about the point of pivot. But more of our recent foray into Fort Wayne in due course.

PS 1: trying to find the age of the image above, Google image search turned up reference 2, for those with a serious interest in Mulan. Which includes a number of interesting illustrations - but not the one above. While reference 3 appears to be a facsimile of the album - 'Gathering gems of beauty' - from which it was taken - but without a date or provenance. A suggestion that it or a copy may be held in the National Palace Museum in Taipei in Taiwan, of reference 4, but I didn't make much progress there and gave up.

PS 2: Gibson must be seriously dodgy, with all his odd-ball Catholic goings on being more or less invisible, despite his having spent a great deal of money of them. I didn't get further than an address: '30293 Mulholland Highway, Agoura Hills, California'. The Google Street View camera was not allowed up the drive, twisted so that nothing can be seen from the road.

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Mulan.

Reference 2: Transformations of the Woman Warrior Hua Mulan: From defender of the family to servant of the state - Louise Edwards - 2010.

Reference 3: http://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh102/form10204/en/photopage/photo08.html.

Reference 4: https://www.npm.gov.tw/en/.