Disney's Mulan Is Even MORE Homoerotic in Live-Action, if That's Possible
Does China know this? https://www.cbr.com/disney-mulan-more-homoerotic-in-live-action/
Since its release in 1998, the animated version of Disney’s Mulan has been recognized by many fans as a queer allegory. In addition, many consider Mulan’s love interest and commanding officer in the film, Li Shang, Disney’s first bisexual character because of the attraction he displays for Mulan before he discovers she’s a woman. As a result, fans were dismayed to learn Li Shang would not be a part of the new live-action Mulan. Instead, the character was split in two. Commander Tung is now Mulan’s mentor and commanding officer, while Chen Honghui is a fellow recruit who fills the role of Mulan’s love interest.
However, those are mere precursors to the more overtly homoerotic moments shared between Mulan and Honghui. The first hint of their attraction occurs during a conversation between them and other soldiers about what they look for in a woman. While the others hope for good looks and the ability to cook, Mulan’s take is inevitably different. Yet while the others laugh at her, amazed that a man could want a woman who’s smart and brave, Honghui looks at her meaningfully in the first hint that he may feel something deeper.
Soon afterward, he finds Mulan in their tent to tell her not to worry about the other men’s attitude toward her. He lies on the bed next to her as they comfortably converse. Honghui claims Mulan is lucky she (or, rather, "he") hasn’t been matched, and wonders how to talk to a woman. Although he’s unaware he’s speaking to a woman, his meaning is clear: Talking to the supposedly male Mulan is easy because they understand each other in a way a woman couldn't. Honghui then sits up and leans close to Mulan in a moment she seems to find sexually charged; however, that's undercut when Honghui sniffs her collar and declares she stinks.
Throughout the remainder of the movie, Honghui continues to admiringly and meaningfully glance at Mulan, both when he thinks she’s a man and after he learns she’s a woman. In fact, her gender seems to make no difference to him. Honghui od enamored with Mulan as a person, indicating, like Li Shang, the character can be read as bisexual -- and the movie offers plenty of homoerotic subtext between him and Mulan disguised as a man to drive that point home.