r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Morr4Seiya • 10d ago

Hated Tropes An adaptation completely botches the original theme and message

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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?

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u/Ok-Letter3963 10d ago

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.

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u/npri0r 10d ago edited 10d ago

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.

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u/Win-level 10d ago

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.

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u/Throwtheying 10d ago

Meanwhile China loved the fat bumbling panda with character growth

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u/First_Foundationeer 10d ago

They were mad that they made the best animated kung fu movie such that it spurred lots of new developments in their own entertainment industries. I mean, Kung Fu Panda 1-3 were insanely good so it was well deserved praise/envy!

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u/Stormfly 10d ago

Without Kung Fu Panda, we never would have had the masterpiece of Niu Lai...

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u/AGENTDB2 10d ago

Not just mad - they held a full on government inquiry!

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u/First_Foundationeer 10d ago

Well, that's how you knew they truly meant it. I would say that is even more than any of the awards Kung Fu Panda won because they launched a whole campaign to improve for Chinese animation and cinema!

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u/ZeroiaSD 10d ago

It seems like she was designed by a weird committee. It introduced weird sexism like the superpowers being gendred, witches being a thing (not really from Chinese stories, especially not Mulan!), etc..

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u/Throwtheying 10d ago

The same shit conservatives hate actually has a point when the suits make shitty corporate decisions

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u/npri0r 10d ago

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.

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u/HyetalNight 10d ago

How do I find this retelling?

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u/npri0r 10d ago

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.

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u/Dum-comment 10d ago

Sounds like he movie was made for the Chinese government rather than the Chinese people. Fitting for Disney, tbh.

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u/fresh-dork 10d ago

but let's also use wrong architecture, cut the dragon out, add a fucking witch opponent, and film it next to a concentration camp. just to piss off everyone

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u/foxfire981 10d ago

I mean that's often what happens when people not in the group try and pander to a group. They fail miserably at the attempt and it becomes insulting.

Another example: Miles Morales Thor. Basically did a "if Miles was Thor and everyone was black it would basically look like Harlem." A Hispanic creator was responsible. Black comic fans were not impressed.

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u/benx101 10d ago

“By Odins fade!”

Odin is revealed to be bald

???

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u/chaotic4059 10d ago

Bald and has a beard. So he literally could've just said "by Odin's beard" and it would've been fine

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u/Competitive-Song7535 10d ago

But that wouldn’t be insensitive!!!

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u/OakNogg 10d ago

Tbf how else is some white guy supposed to express the exaggerated swagger of a black teen

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u/APreciousJemstone 10d ago

One of the writers was a black guy.

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u/Scaalpel 10d ago

My best guess it was a case of "middle-aged writer has no fucking clue how teenagers speak".

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u/OakNogg 10d ago edited 9d ago

Of that line of What If there were several black writers but this particular issue was written by a Hispanic dude (not white my bad) but the point still stands. And in fact up until that issue, it was the only one not written by a black writer.

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u/ryconn93 10d ago

I can't believe how many people worked on this and no thought "hey, maybe this sucks actually".

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u/DeadMoonKing 10d ago

The fuck is the rhyme on that last bubble? They call him Thurr?

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u/Smeph_Bot 10d ago

I think their idea was that it would be pronounced like fo' sho .... which is pretty bad all things about this run considered.

Side note, what is up with his shoes, does he have his socks pulled up OVER his tights? They know that when it's on other superheroes those are the boots right? Just.... wow.

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u/Intelligent_Slip_849 10d ago

I'm more hung up on the 'check out all those rings', but that's pretty bad as well

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u/Slightly_Default 10d ago edited 10d ago

In Britain and Australia, we tend to pronounce "sure" similarly to "shore."

Source: I am an Aussie and I pronounce it like that.

Edit: If the writer is from the US, then yeah, I have no idea why they would go with that angle. I'm not gonna assume though, since there are a surprising amount of Hispanics (specifically Chileans) here in Sydney.

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u/Nick_Wild1Ear 10d ago

Depending what region you’re in, sure can* be pronounced “shore” even if it’s improper. Or they call him Thurr and it’s a callback to raps like “throw your hands in the ayerr”

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u/forestwolf42 10d ago

I don't know the specifics of this project, but I was on as an extra in an incredibly bad sci-fi movie ego project, and pretty much everyone on set, from directors to actors new they were making something really stupid but were just doing their jobs and getting paid.

I suspect a lot of people writing and drawing this new it was a terrible idea but a gig is a gig.

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u/Not_Reality 10d ago

Yeah but wouldn't a shitty ego project be seen differently than one that appropriates another culture to an almost insulting degree? Like one can just be a job and another can feel like it's indifferent to the problematic commentary the project makes

Idk I'm kinda talking out my ass but I do think there'd be a little of that too

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u/forestwolf42 10d ago

That's definitely fair, but creative fields aren't that different from other jobs. A lot of Amazon employees or United Healthcare employees know there's something seriously wrong with the company, but you just kinda do your job.

Also with creative fields if you do convince the people in charge of funding that the project is a terrible idea you, and everyone else working on it is out of work. The harm of perpetuating problematic stereotypes are far less immediate than the harm of you and people you know the names of losing a gig. Not saying it's right but when the harm of your actions is super distant it doesn't feel real compared to actions that effect people you personally know.

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u/sobrique 10d ago

Yeah, this. Lots of people work for 'dubious' capitalist enterprises in one form or another, with maybe a sliding scale of just how dubious.

It ain't 'selling out' to put food on the table. Only wealthy people have the luxury of refusing work.

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u/sobrique 10d ago

Artistic integrity and $5 will buy you a coffee ...

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u/forestwolf42 10d ago

A plain black coffee in this economy. With change to spare at McD's!

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u/wafflecone927 10d ago

if it released, and no nda, just say the film plz. why the mystery all the time?

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u/forestwolf42 10d ago

Oh shit, I found it, it's the Holiguards Saga

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u/Patch86UK 10d ago

Directed by fucking Kevin Spacey, wtf. You really buried the lede on that one.

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u/forestwolf42 10d ago

I kinda forgot he was involved because I never saw him on the two days I was an extra. Worked with an Australian assistant director I do not not remember the name of.

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u/wafflecone927 10d ago

ok n thanks for backstory

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u/forestwolf42 10d ago

I hadn't thought about it in awhile and figured it never made it out of production. The trailer is on YouTube but I can't find anywhere to watch the piece of shit and point out a single shot where in the blurry background I can say "that's me!!!"

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u/forestwolf42 10d ago

Oh, it also stars Eric Roberts as the villain. Which taking a glance at his IMDB narrows it down very little

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u/forestwolf42 10d ago

Cause I don't remember what it was called.

The dude who made it was this Russian crypto oligarch type guy selling investments in his crypto-metaverse something or other. On his vids 90% of the comments looked like bots talking about what a genius he was and 10% were people asking "when are we, the investors gonna get paid dude?"

The project was this like, jedi superhero version of himself named Master Tao or something dumb and it was a movie with tie in comics.

If you can find it link me, shit was wild lmao.

Also the filming was done with standins. So he was being acted by this nice Mexican dude with a bunch of dots painted on his face so they could use AI later to super impose the Russian guy on the actors performance. Never saw the guy funding it anywhere near set, he probably never left Russia.

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u/Neurotic_Marauder 10d ago

This really is one of those images that gets worse the longer you look at it

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u/Scared-Jacket-6965 10d ago

I dunno what's worst "he got so many rings, check out all rings." OR the shoes hanging from the powerline, I swear the writers were like "Okay let's Google hoods and use them as inspiration, surely having a black character act like those harmful stereotypes IS GONNA SELL LIKE HOT POCKETS YOU DIG ME DAWG!"

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u/Mannekin-Skywalker 10d ago

“Check out all his rings”

He’s not even wearing any rings. Do they mean the lame ass arm rings?

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u/Entire-Emergency-722 10d ago

In my country, shoes thrown on wires means drugs sold here. Not sure what it means in America.

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u/SomeJayForToday 10d ago

Holy shit the goat-drawn donk.

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u/Intelligent_Slip_849 10d ago

That was so bad I legitimately didn't believe the excerpts I saw were real for a while

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u/RabbitStewAndStout 10d ago

It was such thinly veiled or ridiculously accidental racism.

"If the Norse gods were all black, Asgard would look like the hood."

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u/Germane_Corsair 10d ago

The writers included someone black.

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u/NatKayz 10d ago

Jesus, as a white dude that sounds like a terrible idea.

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u/SlendyIsBehindYou 10d ago

The line "By Odin's fade" gets used unironically and I was embarrassed just by reading it

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u/Dull-Culture-1523 10d ago

That would be hilarious as a stand-up show bit about how black people could adapt to nordic paganism or something. As a serious thing it just does not work.

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u/DjiDjiDjiDji 10d ago

The funniest thing is, it WAS a silly bit. Back in the 80s, they made a comedy issue of What If (#34, it's pretty fun) mostly made of one-shot gags. One of those was "What if Luke Cage was Thor" and the joke was in fact "lol blaxploitation Thor"
Miles Morales Thor legits feels like this single panel, taken seriously and expanded into an actual thing for god knows what reason

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u/tombuazit 10d ago

At first i thought you were saying, "Jesus, as [if he was] a white dude..."

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u/KlausVonLechland 10d ago

It might sound racist but I think if someone want to focus on black characters then they need at least a lot of black consultants for reviewing. Otherwise the risk of it becoming a caricature.l is just too big.

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u/FrigidMcThunderballs 10d ago

That's actually typically what happens, sensitivity consultants and the like. Funny enough the more...deodorant-allergic crowd has developed a conspiracy theory that these consultants are secretly blackmailing the industry to make everything queer and black, and also they're responsible for everything you don't like in a movie/game/story and they're the reason my teacher's really mean to me and (etc etc etc)

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u/fresh-dork 10d ago

no, they really don't. just don't be a complete idiot and do blackface.

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u/KlausVonLechland 10d ago

My contry is 99.9 white and all I know about black people is from TV and internet. Imagine me being "not a complete idiot".

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u/fresh-dork 10d ago

don't make an adaptation based on something you're wholly ignorant about. you're polish - tons of material to work with.

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u/KlausVonLechland 10d ago

Considering all I do indeed feel a little bit of that second hand Haitian heritage.

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u/Cageweek 10d ago

Why are these people so fucking racist

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u/fresh-dork 10d ago

well yeah, it's a damn minstrel show

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u/Strange-Bag9 10d ago

I think it’s safe to say everyone ended up hating it not just China

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u/CountingSheep99 10d ago

Just like everybody else.

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

The film also gave a “special thanks” credit to a concentration camp, and Disney defended it when they were called out.

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u/Ethan-E2 10d ago

They didn't directly thank the concentration camp; they filmed in the Xinjiang region, where camps are located, and thanked the province's government.

So it wasn't as direct as it sounds, but is still thanking a group who are directly involved in it (and it's not like they couldn't have filmed literally anywhere else in the world).

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u/NDinoGuy 10d ago

And the actor for Mulan in the live action remake is a CCP bootlicker who supported the brutal beat down on Hong Kong protestors.

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u/MostlyAlways47 10d ago

I'm sorry hwat?

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

The film gives a “special thanks” credit to the Turpan Municipal Bureau of Public Security, an organization sanctioned by U.S. Department of Commerce for, “human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups.”

They’ve been linked to the operation and oversight of multiple internment and “re-education” facilities in the Turpan area, including 8-14 estimated sites.

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u/nocauze 10d ago

Lmao the whole Uyghurs concentration camps come off as kind of a joke when you see the rape prisons ICe is running on poor immigrants in the US

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u/DowdyShihTzu 10d ago

I mean, both can be bad? The U.S. having ICE doesn’t immediately invalidate China’s problems.

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u/nocauze 10d ago

Also to add, Americans do nothing but complain about immigrants as a “problem” that needs to be “solved” because of “assimilation and culture”, what’s been the US solution historically? Concentration camps, mass deportations, genocide, and ethnic cleansing across the globe. China comes up with actual education camps so immigrant cultures that are indigenous to the region can assimilate without butchering them wholesale and dumbass Americans get REALLY upset about it.. fucking joke of a peoples.

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u/nocauze 10d ago

It absolutely does, especially where there is literal proof most of this is fabricated CIA BS

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

No. Ice does not operate “rape prisons” targeting “poor immigrants.” That description is hyperbolic rhetoric without evidence.

A JAMA analysis of ICE facility reports covering September 2018 to April 2022 which examined 129 locations identified, of 922 sexual assault allegations, only 118 (12.8%) were substantiated.

Combining detainee and non-detainee inmate perpetrators accounted for the majority of allegations (70.5%). Among allegations against staff, only a minority (3.3%) were substantiated.

Documented allegations of sexual assault and abuse do occur in some ICE detention facilities and are real problems which warrant scrutiny, but failures of oversight, investigation quality, or conditions in specific facilities do not equate to ICE running “rape prisons.”

I don’t like Trump, and there are problems in the ICE detention system, but inserting your political grievances over the deliberately targeted discrimination of Muslim ethnic groups in China is certainly a choice.

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u/nedelll 10d ago

US said so it has to be true

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

The U.N. put out an assessment in 2022 where the found credible claims of detention that, “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” They also condemned the Chinese government for framing the camps as, “vocational education and training centers.”

I hate having to keep saying this to people: it takes ONE internet search.

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u/nedelll 10d ago

Oh pardon, the U.N. said so it has to be true

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

Oh, well I’m sorry. It’s not like the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) mapped detention facilities via satellite imagery and open source data.

It’s not like independent researchers and mappers like Shawn Zhang documented re-education centers.

It’s not like Adrian Zenz, a director and senior fellow in China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, released analyses pointing to the internment of Muslim minority groups.

It’s not like Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported directly from Turpan police officers confirming the operations of at least eight camps.

It’s not like the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement released coordinates and details of multiple concentration camps and prisons linked to mass internment.

Just food for thought.

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u/ladylucifer22 10d ago

adrian zenz? the delusional trumper?

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

Zenz is not a “delusional Trumper” from what I could find about him.

The most direct connection I could find between him and Trump was the former’s research being used by the latter’s first-term administration, a practice continued under Biden’s. Zenz actually criticized Trump in 2020 over failures to properly issue a formal ruling on crimes in the Xinjiang region of China, calling them, “a shortcoming.”

Any public criticism I could find against Zenz, included alleged “far-right” leanings, appear to come from Chinese state media and some Western outlets aligned against his findings.

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u/nedelll 10d ago

Lmaooooooooo radio free asia, victims of communism memorial foundation, are you gonna say Netanyahu said something about it too

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

Respectfully, from the bottom of my heart, go fuck yourself.

Admittedly, I was purposely derogatory in my last response to you, but your comments to me have been akin more to an ignorant troll than legitimate debate and criticism.

Also, just while I’m here, while Israeli policy has occasionally aligned with broader international criticism of the camps, there were no public remarks made by Netanyahu directly himself I could find on the matter.

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u/Super-Nitro-Z64 10d ago

The film also gave a “special thanks” credit to a concentration camp, and Disney defended it when they were called out.

What the hell?! That's just messed up! And the fact that Disney defended that makes it so much worse!

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

They tried to hide behind the “it’s industry practice” when thanking  local government entities.

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u/ThatMLGGamer 10d ago

wait seriously

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

I just posted an explanation.

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u/ThatMLGGamer 10d ago

I just read the comment... oh dear

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u/toad-supremacist 10d ago

wtf?

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

I’ve explained elsewhere.

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u/toad-supremacist 10d ago

ok thanks, i see them now

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u/belliebun 10d ago

Elaborate??

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

I explained in another reply.

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u/Vaivaim8 10d ago edited 10d ago

They are being being disingenuous. The production didn't thank a concentration camp. They thanked a local government. Despite what they are trying to say, it IS an industry practice to thank all entities that aided in producing a movie.

Ask yourself this, are you supporting the war in Iran because a movie credited the DOD/US Army/USMC/USN? Obviously no. Are you against abortion because the State of Georgia was credited as a partner in the production? Definitely not.

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u/Commercial_Comb8674 10d ago

The film gives a “special thanks” credit to the Turpan Municipal Bureau of Public Security. The organization has been condemned and corroborated by multiple groups, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Radio Free Asia, and multiple independent researchers for running the camps.

While a drastic example, that’s like saying a film from 1933-1945 doesn’t commend a Nazi concentration camp when it was filmed near Auschwitz and lists the SS among its special thanks credits.

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u/ToonMasterRace 10d ago

That’s okay nobody gives a damn about those in general anymore.

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u/CityNo1723 10d ago

The worst part of this movie was removing the musical numbers.

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u/ZeroiaSD 10d ago

They tried to pander to China but had like no cultural understanding, putting in a weird take on chi that doesn't fit with the Chinese concept, adding witches and sexism, and all just being about themselves really.

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u/ToonMasterRace 10d ago

They didn’t find the lead attractive enough which will automatically kill any movie in China and much of the rest of the world in general.

Also Chinese audiences don’t give a damn about female empowerment which the reboot was trying to lean into heavily. No romantic lead with Mulan was a big one Chinese audiences don’t care.

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u/First_Foundationeer 10d ago

female empowerment which the reboot was trying to lean into heavily

You mean lean into clumsily? Not very empowering to make her go from a patriotic and family loving girl to a super powered witch (wtf, have these guys actually seen any fucking Chinese movies before trying to pander??).

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u/imminentjogger5 10d ago

and none of the writers for the movie were Chinese. Go figure.

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u/AvailableReporter484 10d ago

> pander to china

Hey who cares if you push out a 17 billion dollar turd amirite?!

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u/alghiorso 10d ago

Tbf no one has asked for any of these live action style remakes. they all suck

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u/rrschch85 10d ago

I've heard the reason why Kung Fu Panda was so popular there is because it showed a rather average guy with his own struggles become an expert fighter, rather than being flawless and perfect.

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u/I_Want_BetterGacha 10d ago

A Chinese-Canadian author whose socials I follow reviewed both movies and said that while both aren't perfect, the animated movie had more historical accuracy than the live action movie who just slapped together cool-looking elements from different dynasties that were in reality years and years apart from each other in history.

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u/The_Pastmaster 10d ago

I watched one Chinese lady talk about all the screwups and she wondered how it was possible with so many actors who are Chinese in it.

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u/Big-Coyote8384 10d ago

wdym, all of my mainland chinese friends says they prefer this than the original

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u/FrigidMcThunderballs 10d ago

the film's release was actually during my last year living in china and I can say from all my college-age colleagues it met with a resounding "meh" at best. But ultimately, your story and my story don't prove anything other than what the people around us thought; the broader picture is not based on our experiences.

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u/randomthingyforstuff 10d ago

what are YOU talking about?? all of my mainland chinese friends absolutely hate the live action

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u/Artichoke-8951 10d ago

Everytime someone said devotion to family instead of filial piety I just got pissed off.

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u/MadKitKat 10d ago

Back in that time, I knew Chinese people studying abroad

They basically hated the project from the moment it was announced

I remember them telling me they hated the superpowers (that were still a rumor at the time), and the actress, but that people in power wanted her face advertised

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u/haloarh 10d ago

That happens with a lot of movies.