The Cultural Communication Significance ofthe Mulan Films Made by Disney

Abstract

In September 2020, the live-action film “Mulan” shot by Disney in the United States was released in mainland China. This is the fourth time that Disney has put Mulan, a traditional Chinese character, on the screen. The first time was the animated version in 1998. After the success, the “Mulan II” was released in 2004, the third time was the 2012 animation version for children. This time, Disney put this historical story that is well-known in China on the screen in the form of a live-action version. The Chinese elements presented in these four versions are undoubtedly obvious. Although many people in China think that the Mulan created by Disney is not the Mulan in their minds, and the interpretation of traditional Chinese culture in the play is not necessarily accurate. However, by observing Chinese traditional culture from Westerners’ vision and interpreting Chinese traditional culture with Westerners’ concepts, Disney’s efforts objectively played a role in spreading Chinese traditional culture on a larger scale. It shows the traditional Chinese values of “loyalty, righteousness, courage and filial piety” and the two unique Chinese cultural symbols of dragon and phoenix to audiences all over the world, at the same time, the concept of caring for women and publicity of individuality is integrated into it, which makes this traditional character have a strong contemporary character and is more easily accepted by modern audiences. Its significance in cultural communication is worthy of recognition.