Campaigners demand Asian Mulan in live action remake

It's called Whitewashing - the replacing of black and minority ethnic (BME) literary heroes with white stars in Hollywood adaptations.

More diverse faces are typically relegated to supporting roles.

Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings featured an all-white cast, despite being set in ancient Egypt.

Now, an online petition has been launched demanding an east-Asian actor plays the Disney heroine Mulan, ahead of an upcoming live-action remake.

Although no casting announcements have been made yet, a pre-emptive petition demanding that Mulan, a Chinese girl who pretends to be a man to help defeat a Hun invasion, has gathered more than 35,000 signatures.

Natalie Molnar, who launched the Petition Site page, wrote: "Whitewashing, the practice of casting white Caucasian actors and actresses in roles originally meant to be characters of colour, is all too common in Hollywood.

"The Last Airbender, Pan, the upcoming Ghost in the Shell adaptation, and many, many others have demonstrated this problem.

"Some whitewashed only the main cast members, leaving them inexplicably the only Caucasians among populations (including supposed blood relatives), while others hired white extras as well except possibly a token [Person of Colour].

"The character, story, and fans deserve the best retelling of the story Disney can produce, and although the film was only announced March 30th, this disturbing trend of whitewashing in big-budget movies can't get a chance to take root in Mulan as well."

The remake is part of a series of Disney reworkings, including Cinderella and The Jungle Book.

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