Mulan turns to an unwarranted Magyo

Okay, that title was cringy at best, but hear me: animated Mulan was rainshowers in the dry season, live-action Mulan is the storm that pulls the southwest monsoon.

If only Liu Yifei's heart is as perfect as Mulan's hair in combat. 

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

MULAN (2020): THE MOVIE

I wanted to view the live-action Mulan (2020) as a film independent of its animated predecessor Mulan (1998). But alas, that proved to be an impossible feat. I was not even halfway through the live-action film when I caught myself thinking, "I kind of like this Mulan better."
 
In the past few years, Disney has been trying, and most recently failing, to adapt their classic animated movies into live-action. We, the generations who grew up with Disney classics, would get excited of course. But the last few projects were not enchanting enough to capture the magic that made our collective childhoods Disney-fied (oh hello, Aladdin and the most heart-breaking averageness that was Lion King). With these projects came the fear from Mulan fans that the live-action version is just another soulless cash-grabbing scheme of Disney preying on our childhood nostalgia.
 
I think, we could have not been more wrong.
 

Yup, probably would believe you whole-heartedly if only you weren't so pro-CCP.

Director Niki Caro treated Mulan the way she deserved to be treated. The live-action take on the Chinese classic was thrilling all the way from start to finish. While the animated version struggled to completely capture the Chinese traditional cultural settings and details, the live-action reveled in it. That is not to say that the new Mulan was too traditional: the display of astounding special effects and state-of-the-art action sequences with intricately choreographed martial arts battles and horse stunts screams of modern tropes of cinema. The casting was perfect, the cinematography was astounding, the distinctiveness of the film from the animated version was on point.

The film's heroine is much like the movie itself. Most of us probably grew up to believe that most of Disney animated classics’ magic lies in the incorporation of the enchanting songs that we could repeatedly sing-along with. Overly faithful adaptations has been quite the norm for animated-to-live-action Disney projects, and quite honestly, that did not bode well for Aladdin and Lion King. Expectedly, many animated Mulan fans would probably be looking for the beloved songs I’ll Make a Man out of You, or A Girl Worth Fighting For, or Reflection within the live-action movie. However, Caro’s decision to not include singing parts in the movie was tantamount to Mulan forging her own path despite heavy social norms. As a “shout out” to this norm though, the film cleverly used recognizable melodies (like Honor to Us All in the matchmaker scene and Reflection in the Mulan-connects-to-her-chi montage), and memorable lines (“We're going to make men out of every single one of you” and “I don’t care what she looks like, I care what she cooks like!”).

In addition to the omission of musical numbers, Caro’s careful take on scenes involving traditional Chinese culture was respectful of the primary source material (perhaps too respectful – more on that later). Hollywood, when making commercial movies based on any Asian heritage, tend to create overly comical characters and scenes that are borderline racist and are too westernized. This Mulan however, remains heavily grounded on Chinese folklore and tradition. Caro and her team did an exceptional job showing Chinese culture with elaborate sets, gorgeous costumes, and thoughtful principles – no wisecracking little dragons, and no coward of an emperor. The presentation of loyal, brave, true, and devotion to family also represent the long-time values of China’s people.

Another “breaking away from norm” Caro did for the movie was the non-inclusion of a conclusive love story. In the beloved (albeit imperfect) animated classic, Li Shang, the commander, served as Mulan’s love interest – even appearing towards the end at the Hua residence for “dinner”. This was a particularly ground-breaking at that time due to the bisexuality of Li Shang’s character. Li Shang was first intimately attracted to Mulan as a man, not to her in full blossom as a woman. This was hinted in several blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scenes. In Caro’s Mulan though, the commander was not Mulan’s love interest (to avoid#MeToo repercussions), rather it was Honghui, a fellow soldier and Mulan’s equal. In the movie though, it was quite evident that Honghui saw Mulan as someone no more than a fellow soldier while she was still Hua Jun (“How could I even begin to talk to a woman?” while talking to Hua Jun). It was only when Mulan revealed her true self that Honghui had hinted of being attracted to her (“You wouldn’t even hold my hand?”). And even then, Honghui did not even follow Mulan home the way Li Shang did in the animated classic. Honghui just watched her go, killing any hopes for a definite love story. While this is empowering to female viewers (hey, we don’t need any man!), it somehow does the bisexual community a disservice (more on this later).

Probably the closest to "romantic gaze" in the movie before Mulan reveals her true self.

MULAN (2020): THE CCP PROPAGANDA

Let's face it though, the new Mulan movie has huge undertones of Chinese Communist Party propaganda. Disney became an ass-kisser to China just to push this movie through (didn't pay them off well though, also, China had just banned all media coverage on Mulan, making it more difficult to gain publicity in the country).

Here are several points as to why Mulan was a big CCP ass-kissing propaganda:

• Lead actress Liu Yifei voiced support for Hong Kong’s police force, despite the latter being under fire for police brutality against protesters. Similarly, other Chinese celebrities (including Donnie Yen, who plays general here) remained either celebratory or nonchalant of the “achievements” of the Chines Communist Party.
• The film’s ravishing landscapes were shot in Xinjiang, a region in China where more than a million Muslims in Xinjiang, mostly of the Uighur minority, have been imprisoned in concentration camps, and where genocide through forced sterilization is currently implemented intended to prevent births within the Muslim group. Disney thanking the government departments that carry out these atrocities in the closing credits did not help with the film’s reputation.
• The emperor in the new Mulan is powerful and a chi-master, as compared to the animated version who was old and weak. This could be read as a symbol of China’s power. China now holds power, as opposed to previously-held assumptions that the country was weak and poor. Portraying the symbol of the dynasty in a more powerful personality is just about tantamount to Disney saying China is a force to be reckoned with. Furthermore, Mulan's over-loyalty to the emperor despite given a choice to make her own name in her own terms mirrors the Chinese celebrities being overly loyal to the CCP despite gaining substantial fame overseas.

"I can chi my way to safety, too, you know."

• Censorship deprived us of a love story in the camps, as well as the bisexual undertones of that relationship. Reports say that there should have been a kiss scene between Mulan and Honghui, but it did not go down well with Chinese authorities. Since Disney had to kiss asses to have the film push through for Chinese audience, they did not include the scene in the final cut.

MULAN (2020): WILL IT BE WORTH YOUR TIME?

Like I said in the beginning of my post, animated Mulan was rainshowers in the dry season, live-action Mulan is the storm that pulls the southwest monsoon.

Yes, live-action Mulan is a stronger film for me compared to the animated version. But the thing is, the animated version, albeit weaker, was needed at that time. Sure some elements of it did not age well (Mulan and Shang love story?), but at that time we kind of needed Disney to give us an Asian heroine. The live-action, though strong in cinematic qualities, is something no one really needed, especially with all the issues connected with it. It is strong, but futile, and is only potentially damaging to the image of Disney itself.

Will you miss much if you do not watch it? I don't really think so. But if you have time to spare, and I mean reaaaally to spare, use that to watch it if only for the spectacle that director Caro had prepared. Just keep in mind that the art is a separate element from all the actors/artists and production company involved, and you'll probably be good to go.

Also, I think if you're going to watch it, torrents will be your best friend.

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Ode to the old

I walk with you arm-in-arm

like I used to

when I was young. 

I walk with you arm-in-arm 

as we go towards

the narrow white corridors, 

with marble-tiled floors, 

and "the doctor is in" doors. 

 

I walked with you arm-in-arm 

and back then I felt

your skin tight, yet lined

with the labors you had had;

your arms strong and stable

as you carried me over the flood

so my black leather shoes won't sop. 

 

I walk with you arm-in-arm 

and now I feel

as if your very skin

is gradually melting,

gradually softening

gradually sliding off your bones;

as if the lines that were

your battle scars

are fading like spider webs

pulled away too far;

as if the flood

anytime now could

wash you away from me, 

from everyone you love, 

from the world. 

 

I am not ready for that. 

 

I am not ready

because in my mind

yours are still the arms

that carried me over the flood

so my black leather shoes won’t sop;

yours are still the arms

that hauled my heavy bags

when they were too hefty to lug;

yours are still the arms

that I clung to the first second

I tried to swim, tried to stay afloat;

yours are still the arms

that carried me gently to bed

after I fell asleep learning my numbers;

yours are still the arms

that I hugged for the afternoon naps

and golden evening slumbers;

and

yours are still the arms

that I dearly treasure

even if I rarely

get to hold to them anymore.

 

Now

I walk with you arm-in-arm

in silence

and in dubious nonchalance

that all still could be well

even as for your fading health

I guess, now, only time can tell.

#

You, young one

Hey.

I saw you change your profile and cover photos on Facebook. Does it mean there's something new in your life you'll be venturing in? Or are you just sharing an old passion to everyone when you used to be too shy to show it? 

Don't get me wrong, I am not stalking you. Your profile updates just passed by my newsfeed. I didn't even bother to react to it when I saw it, as I was always wont to do when I see posts that speak to me (I'm a reactor, you see). 

But some things hit me just a little bit late. 

I don't know how, probably half a day after I saw your updates, it got me smiling. Real smiling. Maybe it's because I have seen you rendered voiceless when you were forced to sing in front of hundreds. Maybe it's because I have heard you stutter when you were confronted by people you fear. Maybe it's because I have seen you cry and be vulnerable with your closest buddies. Maybe it's because I have seen you timidly cover your face with your hand when you have to face people. Or maybe you got me wishing I was like you.

You see, when I was your age, I never had the talent that you have: I cannot draw, I cannot sing, and for the love of God, I cannot play any instrument. When I was your age, I never had the fashion sense that you have: shirts and jeans were my only life. When I was your age, I never had the aesthetic appreciation that you have. When I was your age, I never had the sense of individuality that you have oozing out of you, despite that surface introversion. 

Yet here you are right now, on the brink of doing things I only wish I could have done when I was your age. Funny how the young often makes the old realize how their youth had un-satisfyingly gone by, eh? (Yes, at 27, I funnily feel old, dear.)

Whatever it is you desire to be, I only have one wish for you and all the other students I have loved and will still love, that is, I wish you do not waste your youth. I never want you to grow old and look back at your life with so many what-ifs and unfulfilled wishes. 

Keep doing what your heart desires, so long as you're not breaking any rules. Keep loving, keep hurting, keep feeling. Keep singing, at the top of your lungs, the tunes of youthful exuberance. Keep strumming the chords of youthful melancholia, never mind the calloused fingers it may cause. Keep dressing in youthful colors, no matter how rainbow-ish you might look. Keep your artfulness. Keep your music. And keep being just you.

I will just be here, at a distance in space and probably in time, proud of what an inspiring individual you have set yourself to become.

Always here, 

Ma'am Bern 💗

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Isn't it ironic?

When the man who has nothing becomes your everything.

        "no darling. i'm sorry. i have nothing at all."

When you just don't want to talk to the person you miss the most.

        "please leave. please don't talk. please end the call."

When you see him to share but all your tales got lost

        "it's a long story. don't mind it. skip it."

When you've known him only for a few months

        and you can't live without him.

When the one whose womb you've lived for months

        can't talk to you on a whim.

When you're stuck in traffic on the way to the gym

        so you can move your body, your waistline, too, hopefully

When you save, save, save for the future

        but in the future you're just ailing so hopelessly.

When they require you to wear a mask

        and you've already been wearing one for a long time.

When the pillars of quality education fail to comprehend.

When the teacher's son does not have tools to learn.

When there's money for sand but not for bread.

When infidels make you straight.

When Christians kill your faith. 

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Freeze the #AcademicFreeze

I get it, we are all adjusting. Students, teachers, parents, other stakeholders - we are are all shocked by the sudden change in education brought about by COVID-19 pandemic. But let us weigh in several factors before jumping into the trend that is #AcademicFreezeNow. Because, like it or not, students and teachers are not the only people involved in education.

ACADEMIC FREEZE - PROS

• Safer from virus
• It's easy: No classes of any kind, no physical contacts aside from family (ideally). Teachers will not have to report to school (some schools with online class platforms still require their teachers to come to school). Parents will not have to commute to pick up learning modules. Students will not have to make rakets big or small in order to finance their online classes needs. Basically, no real reason to go out and risk contacting COVID-19 aside from catering to the very basic needs during an academic freeze.
• More time to get ready
• DepEd and CHED both are JUST. NOT. GROUND-LEVEL. READY. FOR. DISTANCE. LEARNING. There, I've said it. I have seen firsthand how teachers struggle to learn how to navigate through technology despite a gazillion of webinars made available online. I have read some modules distributed online by teachers and school heads are just not proofread thoroughly (and who can even forget that DepEd test broadcast fiasco?). I have attended webinars that underwent difficulties due to intermittent internet connection (same would basically happen in an online class). Teachers are not going to be able to relearn and adapt to new ways of doing their jobs in just a matter of months. Quality education will not be assured by sub-par modules as alternative learning materials. Finally, unless PLf---ingDT, Globe f----ing Telecom, and other internet service providers actually provide us with the internet service we pay for, online classes will just be a vacuous farce. A time-bound academic freeze will give more time for everyone involved to address these needs for a quality distance learning.
• Economic and social relief of certain degree for families
• In every social media posts vehemently pushing for an Academic Freeze, there sure will be statements there along the lines of, "Pambili na nga lang ng pagkain, ipanglo-load pa" or "Hindi lahat ay conducive ang bahay o pamilya para sa pag-aaral" or "Handa ang ibang ibaba ang dignidad para maitawid ang pang-online class." [It is my understanding that most of these posts come from college students since CHED did not really give other options for tertiary education to continue other than thru online learning]. An academic freeze sure can help families focus their meager budget on basic necessities amidst the pandemic.
• Mental health break
• Living through a pandemic is already really shitty enough as it is. Having additional tasks for mere compliance with would really take a toll both on the learners and on the teachers. In some schools that have already started online classes, I have seen learners struggle to comply with an average of 4-5 unique learning tasks per week per subject!! (Not including quizzes and self-reflection activities). Multiply that to 7-9 subjects they enrolled in, so that's about 28-45 unique tasks per week! In the face-to-face set up, never have I ever seen a student accomplish such mountain of school tasks in a week (even when I was the student). It is pretty much the same scenario with the teachers. Teachers, on top of developing lessons in platforms they are not familiar with, will have to check thousands of outputs submitted by their learners (this is especially taxing with modular approach), and do loads of clerical work on their own. In the face-to-face set up, teachers can actually assign some of their clerical work (like checking of attendance, or checking of assignments) to responsible volunteer students. I can only imagine all the stress and anxiety these workloads for students and teachers alike would cause amidst the hovering problem of a global pandemic.

ACADEMIC FREEZE - CONS

• Unemployment of private school employees
• Teachers are not the only employees of private schools. There are counselors, registrars, clerks, accountants, IT workers, maintenance and security personnel to consider. In the event of an academic freeze, private school owners will not have the financial source to continue employing these people. Since the pandemic hit the Philippines, a number of small private schools have already declared bankruptcy, leaving their employees unemployed at a time when finding employment is much elusive. An academic freeze will only further the unemployment rate of the country, leaving more families struggling financially.
• Unemployment of people from industries that cater to education
• When we talk of education, our viewpoint should not stop in schools. For education to flourish, schools have to seek industries that cater to their cause. These industries may include, but not limited to, publishing houses, LMS providers, training institutes, and supplemental product makers. With an academic freeze, these industries will have no clients, consequently, no need for employees. As with the case with private schools laying off employees during an academic freeze, this will only add up to our country's already failing unemployment rate.
• Widening the gap between rich and poor
• I have seen several posts advocating for an academic freeze saying that continuing the school year will further widen the gap between the rich and the poor because of digital divide. I beg to disagree. Suppose an academic freeze pushes through here in the country. The rich will have the option instead to enroll on online platforms of schools abroad. They can continue their formal schooling. They can continue learning. They can move forward. Meanwhile the poor who depends on the government education programs for their schooling will remain in their current place. They'll be stuck in being uneducated. Then rich and ambitious opportunists will take advantage of the poor who remained uneducated. (Okay, I'm getting really far-fetched here but I do hope you see the picture). At least with modules and TV/radio broadcast options, the poor can still have access to formal education and the gap in education brought by the digital divide will be narrower.
• Anxiety due to schooling delays
• Some supporters of academic freeze would like to suspend any schooling activities until  the country has already won against the pandemic. The question though is, WHEN WILL THAT HAPPEN?? With the incompetent, deaf-and-blind, government leadership we have now, can we truly expect Philippines to win against COVID-19 anytime soon? For all we know, this could last for several years. What will happen to those who expect to graduate from their dream courses in a year or two? Those whose target scholarship grants rely on them finishing their schooling as soon as possible? How about those children who were caught doing their homeworks under the light of fastfood chains and book shops, how anxious would they be if their schooling stops abruptly because of reasons they cannot take control of? Anxiety due to schooling delays is as real and as burdensome as anxiety due to loads of required school work.
• Little to no guided work for most school-age children
• Part of the mandate of state-funded basic education is to teach at least basic reading, writing, and arithmetic to school-age children. To ensure their learning, it is especially crucial not to delay schooling for very young children as this is the time when literacy and numeracy is being developed. Delays in learning will have a negative compounding effect in the latter years. In an event of an academic freeze, there will be little to no guided work for most school-age children dedicated for their learning. Those who have access to gadgets and the internet will consume a lot more unhealthy screen time with no impact on their development. On the other hand, those underprivileged children will not even consider finding resources for learning (which the government could have provided to them for free) as it is not their priority. As such, we could expect a steeper decline in the level of reading comprehension and numeracy skills of younger Filipinos than what we had right before the pandemic struck.

MY STAND?

I actually used to support academic freeze. But after trying to weigh in more realities into my opinion, I now think, far more sectors will be adversely affected by an academic freeze compared to continuing the school year. There is no 100% "good" way to solve this education dilemma we have now. Whichever way our government goes with this, there will be people who are negatively affected, but then again, I'd rather choose fewer sectors suffer. The harsh reality is, education is so much more than students and teachers. Just because they are finding it hard to go through the "new normal" does NOT mean we should not carry on with the school year. 

WHAT CAN WE DO INSTEAD?

• #LigtasNaBalikEskwela
• Instead of calling for a freeze, call out instead our bird-brained government officials to ensure a safe school year. How? Make them do mass testing and contact tracing, and make them secure a better health system (yes, we've been trying to bludgeon them into these for moooooonths now but please do not stop). Call out the government, especially the Department of Health, to give us a highly competent pandemic response. Implore them to listen to experts and not their nonsensical egos. Call for better budget allocation (wag nang i-defend yung white sand ng Manila Bay please!). Petition for quality personal hygiene facilities in schools even way before letting kids physically come back to school. 
• If you are a student, change your stupid mindset on school tasks
• Try to not look at your school tasks as just another stressors in your already stressful life. Your mindset should be "I should do this to learn" and not "I should do this to pass." You might complain of having loads of assignments, but I bet half of your assignments can actually be done in less than 15 minutes if you really give your mind into it. Gaya nga ng laging sinasabi ng nanay ko, "Obey first before you complain." You might surprise yourself.
• If you are a teacher, change your stupid mindset on assigning tasks
• Yours is not the only subject your students are dealing with. Wag masyadong pa-major sa dami ng ipapagawa. Quantity of tasks does not necessarily equate to quality of learning. Now, if your superior is requiring you to give a certain number of tasks to your student, why not take a big task, and break it into "chunks" so that it will look like it is a lot of tasks already. I got this idea from one of the teachers of a student I am tutoring right now. They are required to give students 4 sets of required tasks. What the teacher did was he gave a reading activity. Set 1 of the required task is reading a story, Set 2 is listing the characters down, Set 3 is summarizing the story through a plot line, and Set 4 is reflection. See, instead of cramming all these into just one task with follow up questions, he divided them into smaller, more easily achievable tasks. Another way of lessening tasks is by collaborating with teachers from other subjects and see if you can integrate at least two subjects into one task. My co-teachers and I have done this several times during face-to-face classes, so we could probably make this work, too, in new normal setting.

TL;DR I do not support Academic Freeze. To me the cons outweigh the pros. We can direct our voices onto other things to improve the current education situation instead.