When I read this news article, I really had mixed feelings. While I understand the power of boycott as a way shape behaviour, I have doubts about the standards to be applied in the use of boycotts.
Do we boycott something because it portrays a concept or ideology that we are opposed to? Or because it is made by people with beliefs that are different from ours and we are not able to accept those beliefs?
If we boycott Mulan because a part of it was filmed in Xinjiang, then do we also boycott all those other countries with poor human rights records? If so, we won't be watching anything filmed in the Middle East. We won't even be watching anything filmed in Singapore, since Singapore still has many laws that can be considered authoritarian and discriminatory.
The United States has done quite some questionable stuff in its wars too... does that mean we boycott films that were made in the United States? At this rate, all movies will need to be filmed in the Antarctic since that seems to be the only place which may not have any human rights violations.
Amazon has a poor record of how it treats its warehouse staff. Where is the call to boycott Amazon? How about the monopolistic behaviour of Apple in the way it treats those who try to distribute software through the Apple App Store? Are we going to boycott Apple too?
Where do we set the standard?
Or are people calling for the boycott of Mulan because Disney had the audacity to cast an Asian female lead? Not a surprising move from a nation of white supremacists... but that is treading into the area of conspiracy theories. And I am not Trump.
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