Thread by @JimMillward

Disney CFO said they filmed Milan in Xinjiang” to accurately depict some of the unique landscape and geography for this historic period drama.” But XJ was not under Chinese rule when film set. This was not historically accurate. nytimes.com/2020/09/12/bus…

If XJ wasn’t building a gulag while Disney was filming, it might have been fine to filme there because the landscapes are cool, like New Zealand where they also filmed.

https://twitter.com/JimMillward/status/1304991083882065923

But don’t say it’s historically accurate to put Mulan in XJ. The whole “Rouran are attacking the Silk Road”‘ fake story normalizes PRC claims to ancient presence in Xinjiang. At that period there was no “Chinese” presence in what is now Xinjiang or Silk Road outposts.

If Mulan’s ruler sent them to “Silk Road” to fight Rouran, that was an offensive invasion, not defense. Rouran had presence further west, but Tuoba Wei was limited to what is now north China, not too far out into Gansu. (Tuoba did have cultural contacts west: Buddhism patrons)

The movie is like old cowboys and Indians films, where Indians are demonized and viewers supposed to root for the white cowboys. But Rouran were people too— as are their Mongolian and Central Asian descendants.

In the first Mulan poem, there’s no demon enemy. Mulan’s own ruler is called Khan. It’s an ethno-culturally diverse milieu. How come Mulan can ride horses so well? She’s Xianbei herself, probably. Elite N Wei Tuoba clan.

Mulan is as much Mongol / Uyghur ancestor as Han. Disney waded into a mess here, regardless of where they filmed. But making the indigenous people swarthy, scar-faced, turbaned and evil vis-a-vis expansionist empires is a bad idea in general nowadays. Racist depictions.

Maybe Black Panther and Avatar struck chords for a reason.