Li Shang is the best part of Mulan, besides Mulan herself, of course. Without him, the phrase “let’s get down to business” wouldn’t trigger a certain iconic Disney song in many people’s heads. Honestly, without Li Shang, would anyone truly know how to be a man?
But in a blow to Shang stans everywhere, Disney has decided to get rid of him, citing the #MeToo movement as its rationale.
Over the past few years, the #MeToo movement has done so much good — first and foremost by taking down Harvey Weinstein and also by raising awareness about other cases of sexual misconduct, as well as power imbalances in the workplace. It is for this last reason, apparently, that Disney has decided to erase Li Shang’s character from the upcoming live-action remake of Mulan.
“I think particularly in the time of the #MeToo movement, having a commanding officer, that is also the sexual love interest, was very uncomfortable,” producer Jason Reed explained. “We didn’t think it was appropriate, and we thought that in a lot of ways, that it was sort of justifying behavior that we’re doing everything we can to get out of our industry.”
Mulan will still have a love interest, but his name will be Chen Honghui, and his status in the army will be equal to that of Mulan. Just don’t expect to see them kissing. Her updated commanding officer, Commander Tung, will be her mentor. And none of them will be singing “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.”
While it’s true that many men have abused their positions of power to take sexual advantage of women, Li Shang sure didn’t, and I will hear no such slander against his name. Disney is simply imposing a fear of being politically incorrect on one of its most beloved characters, and many of us who grew up watching Mulan will be sad to see him go.
We get it: Disney is getting more woke, and some of that is a good thing. It scrapped the racially insensitive Siamese cats from Lady and the Tramp, and it hired a black woman to play the next Ariel. In the 21st century, some things need to be updated. Other things, including our beloved Li Shang, most certainly do not.
For this reason, fans of the 1998 Mulan might want to stick to the original. But since it was announced a while back that the new film won’t even feature the wise-cracking dragon Mushu, they probably knew that already.
