An adaptation completely botches the original theme and message

[u/Morr4Seiya]

Mulan(2020)-They give Mulan superpowers which is not only lame it goes against the message of the original about equality and struggle,plus they removes Shang because apparently having Mulan date her superior was "problematic" even though Shang genuienely respected Mulan and their rank was never brought up

I am Legend(2007)-You know why the story is called "I am legend"? SPOILER ALERT the protagonist is the actual monster,humanity is gone and the vampires have a actual society and the protagonist kills and terrorize them

Animal Farm(2026)-On the very slim chance that Andy Serkis ever sees this,here's the thing Andy,Animal Farm was not a children work it was not supposed to have a happy ending,you never heard of cautionary tales before?

[u/Ok-Letter3963]

Mind you, all of the changes to Mulan 2020 were meant to specifically pander to China, which is ironic because China ended up fucking hating this movie.

[u/npri0r → u/Ok-Letter3963]

I’ve listened to multiple retellings of the original Mulan stories and I have no idea why they made those decisions. All they had to do is take the Disney Mulan and change it so she has more of an active combat role, and beat the enemy general in single combat like she does in one of the original stories. Not add in some magic chosen one bs.

[u/Win-level → u/npri0r]

My theory is that Disney wanted Mulan to be seen as a personification of China and that meant they could not have her had any flaws, because that would mean that China has flaws and the Chinese government does not like that, so Disney then made a person that was always perfect, super powerful and that just needs to "believe in herself " to do anything that way they could do some pandering, but to the detriment of the story.

[u/npri0r → u/Win-level]

In one of my favourite retellings she doesn’t have many flaws and it works great. She’s hard working, talented, disciplined and loyal. She does almost everything right. She steps in to save her father, goes off to war, rises through the ranks, leads the assault on the rebel general, bests him in single combat then quietly retires.

The live action version makes it a journey of self discovery, owning her femininity and claiming her destiny and screwing what anyone else thinks of her. But she’s a character defined by what other people think of her. She goes to war out of duty, and it is a sacrifice. She knows who she is, and has to endure it so eventually she’s allowed to retire and finally be herself.

[u/HyetalNight → u/npri0r]

How do I find this retelling?

[u/npri0r → u/HyetalNight]

Myths and legends podcast has at least 2. You want the earliest one (ep 4) as the other one I’ve listened to is depressing.

[u/pastadudde → u/HyetalNight]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axsEH-uxVNc