Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/08/17/crystal-liu.html
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If the repellent real-life politics of a single participant is all it takes to cancel a piece of media, that doesn’t leave much in the theaters or on TV.
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related? (article from a few weeks ago) https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/08/mulan-trailer-is-a-dismal-sign-disney-is-bowing-to-china-anti-democratic-agenda
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Done and done.
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What should she say? If she ever wants to act (or breathe) again, she has to say whatever they want her to. I don’t think the Chinese government would be above “re-educating” or even just “disappearing” her.
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true but her stance is particularly repulsive and I hope her career becomes and endless string of gigs little better than extra work on R rated b movies for the way she exercised her free speech to advocate the same be brutally denied to millions of others under the threat of extradition and torture and in many cases death.
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Let’s not be a bunch of hypocrites then and boycot all the goods manufactured in the People’s Republic of China, a nation who’s peoples are kept in check pretty much in the same manner by the police and other oppressive forces. Or at least all the goods produced through child labor. Owait.
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She’s a US citizen, who lives in the US. It has been extensively pointed out by Hong Kongers that this hypocritical opportunist already enjoys the freedoms that they’re fighting for.
That said, I’m guessing her bosses at Disney pushed for this, because they’re banking on a strong release in Mainland China.
This isn’t jus any staff member, it’s the star, and, as I pointed out above, it was probably at the behest of Disney.
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These are standard patriotic memes that many Chinese celebrities have been re-posting. The Hollywood Reporter article that you linked to points out that Crystal Liu did not create them. The only difference between Liu and the other celebrities who have posted them is that she is the star of an upcoming Disney film.
Posting to her 65 million followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo, Liu shared an image originally released by the state-backed People’s Daily , reading: “I support Hong Kong’s police, you can beat me up now,” followed by, “What a shame for Hong Kong.” Liu added the hashtag “IAlsoSupportTheHongKongPolice” and a heart emoji. The post received over 72,000 likes and over 65,000 shares in less than 24 hours.
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You didn’t do one good thing, therefore you cannot do any other good thing!
stop pushing your western ideals and morality to the rest of the world. the states is the biggest offender and yet you want to pretend to be on a high horse and preach to the rest of the world? give me a break
Chinese mainlanders have been fed a nonstop stream of state propaganda mischaracterizing the protests and blaming the whole thing on foreign forces like the CIA, so I get why they might feel this way.
She doesn’t appear to have any such excuse.
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A few weeks ago, a coworker who is a mainlander tried to convince me that the Tiananmen Square massacre was fake news invented by the west as propaganda.
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She may just be a clueless shitbird, or she may be caving to specific kinds of financial pressure (from Disney or China), or she may genuinely be 100% down with the Beijing party line on this.
The problem with repressive regimes is that it’s also totally possible that her family or other vulnerable Chinese people she cares about are being threatened. Bigger stars than her have gotten caught up in that kind of thing.
I’m fine with a boycott, but that’s about as far as it’s fair to go at this point. If he wanted to, Xi Jinping could force you or me to be pro-regime propaganda-spewing puppets. It’d be an awfully inefficient use of the power he wields, but he has enough.
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Right, it’s hard to even blame them for believing it. Look how many people in the U.S. believe the most outlandish nonsense from Fox News & InfoWars even though it’s easy to find more objective and credible news sources.
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Disney would be better off staying out of politics if that is true.
There could also be back-channel pressure from the Chinese government on her too. On the face of it I think this might be the case as her tweets are quite over the top in their enthusiasm for the Chinese government like she is telegraphing that she is tweeting her support under duress.
Its pretty much impossible to tell at this point.
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In this case, it is the people of Hong Kong who are pushing for it.
It is totally possible to be against the US government, and also be against the Chinese government. The fact that the U S government does lot of incredibly awful shit doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t support people rising up against oppressive and horrific regimes, it means that you should also support people who rise up against the US regime.
Almost anywhere you live, your most dangerous, most powerful, and most immediate enemy is your own government.
Solidarity.
Smash the state.
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Going by her Wikipedia entry she appears to have dual citizenship due to naturalization durin her short stay in US as a child, made her career in China and countries close to China, and spends time in the US for work.
And while she wasn’t force fed the propaganda, as she could’ve opted out, she might be a genuine believer.
The majority of Americans believed that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destructions, despite living in a country with a free press. Just look at the stuff their president believes in.
Thankfully, I don’t have to boycott Mulan. I’m old enough that it’s a pointless remake for me. I’m boycotting Trump, though, that’s not a pointless remake, it’s an utterly horrible one.
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Does anyone here from a “western” country have kids who really want to see the remake? If you plan to boycott, how do you plan to deal with the possible fallout?
I’m an aging bachelor, so I’m aware that steering my political ship is likely much simpler for me than for someone with a family, so I’m interested to know.
ETA: I’m sure parents deal with this daily…Disney, McDonald’s, etc. but I’m interested if some just shut it down, or if you spend time reasoning with the kiddos (and I totally understand just shutting it down occasionally. My parents had 4 boys).
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