Culture 03Shenzhen Daily Wednesday June 24, 2020

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Song of the Week

Loyal Brave TrueChristina Aguilera

War is not freedomOver my shoulderI see a clearer viewAll for my familyReason I’m breathingEverything to lose

Should I ask myself in the waterWhat a warrior would do?Tell me underneath my armorAm I loyal, brave, and true?Am I loyal, brave, and true?

Losing is easyWinning takes braveryI am a tiger’s foolOut in the openNo one to save meThe kindest of whispers are cruel

Should I ask myself in the waterWhat a warrior would do?Tell me underneath my armorAm I loyal, brave, and true?Am I loyal, brave, and true?

Cold is the morningWarm is the dreamChasing the answers‘Til I can’t sleepWill I be strongerOr will I be weakWhen you’re not with me?

Who am I without my armorStanding in my father’s shoes?All I know is that it’s harderTo be loyal, brave, and true

Review

Multi-platinum and award-winning

singer/songwriter Christina Aguilera

performs the new original song “Loyal

Brave True” from Disney’s “Mulan”

live-action remake, to be released next

month. The song is soft from the begin-

ning with bowed stringed instruments,

zither, and piano playing quietly. Agu-

ilera’s strong vocals compliment the

instrumentals by focusing on Mulan

as a warrior: calm yet strong. The

lyrics, “Am I loyal, brave and true?”

repeat multiple times in the chorus to

mimic the thoughts Mulan possesses

throughout the fi lm.

Star Cinema

Hot Read

The Stars Beneath Our FeetIt’s Christmas Eve in Harlem, but 12-year-old Lolly Rachpaul and his mom aren’t celebrating. They’re still reeling from his elder brother’s death in a gang-related shooting just a few months earlier. Then Lolly’s mother’s girlfriend brings him a gift that will change everything: two enormous bags fi lled with Legos. Lolly’s always loved Legos, and he prides himself on following the kit instructions exactly. Now, faced with a pile of building blocks and no instructions, Lolly must fi nd his own way forward.

His path isn’t clear — and the pres-sure to join a “crew,” as his brother

did, is always there. When Lolly and his friend are beaten up and robbed, joining a crew almost seems like the safe choice. But building a fantastical Lego city at the community center provides Lolly with an escape — and an unex-pected bridge back to the world.

Author David Barclay Moore paints a powerful portrait of a boy teeter-ing on the edge — of adolescence, of grief, of violence — and shows how Lolly’s inventive spirit helps him build a life with fi rm founda-

tions and open doors.“The Stars Beneath

Our Feet” is about the weight of the world on the back of a child, and the creative tools nec-essary to alleviate that pressure. There are a lot of positive mes-sages about friendship,

acceptance, forgiveness, dreaming big and being your best self, but they are conveyed in a very subtle way that doesn’t sound like preach-ing. The novel is being made into a fi lm by Michael B. Jordan.

(SD-Agencies)

Scan the QR code to watch

a trailer for “Mulan.”

“Mulan” (1998) charts a new direction for Disney’s animation studio, com-bining the traditional elements (brave heroine, cute animal sidekicks) with material that seems more adventure-some and grown-up.

The story is based on a Chinese folk tale about a plucky Chinese teenage girl who disguises herself as a boy to fi ght the invading Huns. When the invaders and their implacable leader Shan Yu sweep down on the Great Wall, the emperor calls up all able men to defend the kingdom. Mulan’s father is old and feeble, but throws away his crutch to volunteer. To spare him, Mulan steals the family sword, summons the family ancestors for aid, and secretly goes in his place.

Mulan is defying not simply conven-tion, but her family’s desire that she abide by the plans of a matchmaker and marry whomever the old lady selects for her. Opening scenes in the fi lm show Mulan botching the interview with the matchmaker (she sets her pants on fi re), and asking,

“When will my refl ection show who I am inside?” The message here is standard feminist empowerment: Defy the matchmaker, dress as a boy, and choose your own career.

But “Mulan’’ has it both ways, since inevitably Mulan’s heart goes pitty-pat over Shang, the handsome young captain she’s assigned to serve under. The movie breaks with the tradition in which the male hero rescues the heroine, but is still totally sold on the idea of romantic love.

Disney movies since time immemo-rial have provided their leads with low-comedy sidekicks, usually in the form of animals, although teacups and chandeliers are not unheard of. Mulan is accompanied on her journey by a scrawny dragon named Mushu, whose voice is performed by Eddie Murphy. Mushu is often offended when people doubt he is a real dragon and refer to him as a lizard.

The action plot involves Mulan training for battle (the song prom-ises, “I’ll make a man out of you’’) and

using quick thinking to save Shang’s troops from certain defeat. There are a couple of scenes where she narrowly escapes detection, including one at a swimming hole, and then, when she’s unmasked, Shang’s snaky adviser whispers that to impersonate a man is “treason.’’

The outcome manages to be true simultaneously to feminist dogma and romantic convention.

The visual style draws from Chinese and Japanese classical cartoon art; in the depiction of nature, there’s an echo of the master artist Hiroshige.

Jerry Goldsmith’s score is one of the best ever featured in a Disney movie, and he was deservedly nominated for an Oscar. In addition to the score, “Mulan” has great songs and musical sequences. (SD-Agencies)

tions and open doors.

Our Feet” is about the weight of the world on the back of a child, and the creative tools nec-essary to alleviate that pressure. There are a lot of positive mes-sages about friendship,

Mulan《花木兰》

Christina Aguilera