It’s the fable of a film flop which has a sting in the tail
Corporations just keep proving that you can’t trust a word they say. It reminded me of the fable of the scorpion and the frog. In the tale, a frog and a scorpion meet at the edge of a river. The scorpion can’t swim, so the frog agrees to carry it across the river. Of course halfway through the scorpion stings the frog. As the amphibian is dying it asks the scorpion why it did it, despite knowing it would mean both of their deaths. The scorpion replies: ‘I couldn't help it. It's in my nature.’
I thought of this old fable as I read through the recent headlines surrounding Disney’s live-action adaptation of Mulan.
It had already made headlines for star Liu Yifei’s pro-Hong Kong police views.
However this week online activists pointed out that in the credits for the new Mulan movie it lists ‘special thanks’ to eight government bodies in the region of Xinjiang – the area of China where there are widespread allegations of human rights abuse against the Uighur Muslims.
Among the bodies Disney singled out for thanks is the government security agency the CPC Xinjiang uyghur autonomous region committee.
It is believed that about 1m people – mostly Uighur Muslims – are thought to have been detained by the Chinese government. The movie also filmed extensively in the region during a time when the alleged human rights abuses were already widely known.
Disney was one of many corporations to release a statement in June during mass protests following the death of George Floyd and promised to donate $5m.
But while the company was putting out sickly sweet words, it was also preparing to release a major blockbuster that filmed near the site of alleged horrific human rights abuses with support from the authorities which allegedly carrying out said offences – in the hope that Mulan would make bank in the emerging Chinese film market.
Ironically the film has been a massive flop in China.
The moral of this story is: don’t trust corporations when they preach woke statements, because they don’t actually care. They just see it as good marketing opportunities. And if the chance presents itself, they will sting you.