{"id":16271,"date":"2020-10-06T17:45:37","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T01:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=16271"},"modified":"2020-12-03T21:09:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T05:09:52","slug":"disneys-affinity-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/disneys-affinity-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney\u2019s Affinity War"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Discussing the controversy of Disney\u2019s casting\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Sean Martinez<\/strong> | Copy Editor<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now, I\u2019m going to go on record and say that the most complicated relationship in my life is with Disney. As problematic as it can be at times, I still greatly appreciate the things I gain from it \u2014 namely Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar \u2014 but I also acknowledge that they have an unhealthy obsession with trying to make it to the top of the box office every year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Coincidentally, this obsession landed the company in hot water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Before Disney released 2020\u2019s \u201cMulan\u201d exclusively on Disney+ in early September, Disney fans attempted to boycott the film. The problem didn\u2019t have anything to do with the fact that Disney launched a more accurate rendition of the story, or the fact there was an Asian female lead character. Rather, the problem had to do with the actress cast as Mulan, Liu Yifei, and her stance on what\u2019s been happening in Hong Kong.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In June of 2019, residents of Hong Kong protested for pro-democracy when Hong Kong attempted to pass a law that would extradite residents of Hong Kong to China. However, things took a turn when the police retaliated. The situation has gotten so violent that protesters had to use umbrellas to shield themselves from tear gas and other chemical weapons.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In response to the police force\u2019s actions, Liu Yifei shared a controversial post on Sina Weibo, a Chinese blog, that read, \u201cI also support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps what\u2019s most upsetting about this situation is that Disney finally cast a Chinese American woman to star in a groundbreaking film, but some believe the actress they chose does not represent Asian people in a positive light.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Sadly, this is not the only casting problem in 2020; another example is the casting of Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in \u201cThe Mandalorian.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Again I reiterate: the issue does not concern the fact that Dawson has a mixed diverse ethnic background \u2014 it\u2019s about her beliefs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In 2019, a lawsuit was filed against the Dawson family when they verbally and physically assaulted a transgender man named Dedrick Finley. Instead of facing consequences for her actions, she\u2019s being rewarded by playing one of the most iconic and strong female characters in Star Wars.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I\u2019m sure there are countless more controversial casting decisions that I\u2019m not yet aware of, but regardless, the message remains the same. Disney needs to prioritize casting accurate portrayals of their characters over the amount of money they wish to make. Casting someone who fits the character\u2019s ethnic background isn\u2019t enough. The problem with Yifei and Dawson is that they have no affinity to their respective characters. Mulan would not condone police brutality in her country, and Ahsoka would not assault someone just because they\u2019re transgender.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

My intention with this piece is not to persuade anyone to not watch these films. Like I said before, I\u2019m a huge Disney fan, and I\u2019m still going to enjoy watching whatever content they produce; it is because I\u2019m passionate about the characters and stories that Disney has created that I want them to strive to do better and succeed, without a cynical penny being spent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If Disney can let go of their obsession, and shine a brighter spotlight on characters they\u2019ve misrepresented in the past, they could win back the respect from fans that have left. With a new generation watching these movies, young audiences will have proper role models teaching them valuable life lessons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/p>\r\n

Contact the author at smartinez17@wou.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discussing the controversy of Disney\u2019s casting\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sean Martinez | Copy Editor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":16272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[192,194,197,193,169,30,191,195,196],"class_list":["post-16271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-disney","tag-disney-casting","tag-movie-review","tag-mulan","tag-opinion","tag-opinions","tag-review","tag-sean","tag-sean-martinez"],"modified_by":"The Western Howl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}