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In fact, "Boy King" is not only a growth movie about calmly facing difficulties and seeking solutions, it also redefines the matter of Mulan's father joining the army from the perspective of the 21st century. Compared with Disney's live-action version of "Mulan", which came out a few months earlier, preaching how important it is for women to be themselves, but because of the cultural differences between the East and the West, the film is made into a fantasy film that is mysterious and unconscionable, "Boy King" more sharply points to the contradictory core of traditional values and responsibilities such as Chinese men being supported by their families for a long time.
Stills from "The Boy King"
A white-collar executive with a successful career, suddenly unemployed in middle age, in the face of car loans and mortgages and his wife's belly pregnant with a second child, helplessly became an AGM, the so-called "A-guan Manager". A Guan is a derogatory term for transgender people in Xingma Chinese, he takes care of the big and small things around several costume queens in nightclubs, even if one day a member is absent from him for some reason, and then start his second life....
In terms of plot narrative, "The Boy King" and the late Robin Williams starred in the famous 1993 "Mrs. Doubtfire) has the same magic, the former is a heterosexual father in order to support the family to become a dress queen, the latter is an unemployed and unmarried man whimsically dressed up to enlist a nanny to take care of his children, and even with his ex-wife into a sister Tao, and then understand the reason for the failure of his marriage, both films designed a time collision period must take into account both sides so that the sudden man (formal) sudden woman (dress) classic hilarious scene. The male disguise in "Daddy Boy" is only based on family affection, and the disguise of "Boy King" is based on economic factors, in contrast, "Boy King" has a kind of "had to disguise" in order to survive from the beginning of the story, and everything can only be put to death and the decision of the afterlife. In this regard, the song "I Will Survive" that runs through the entire film of "Boy King" is crucial.
"I Will Survive" was first sung by Gloria Gaynor in 1978, and has been covered several times in the past four decades, becoming a choice for many film and television works. This epoch song describes how to recover and grow from a devastating separation in a strong tone, including several lyrics such as "I know I will live forever, I will do my best to survive, I will pour out all my love, and then I will survive, I will live~", "I used to cry my heart and lungs, but now I want to stride forward, and you will see a new me." Written unforgettable, both the self-encouragement intention to break through the predicament and find an exit, but also full of optimism and frankness of everything to return to zero and start a new situation, it is not just the theme song of "Boy King", it is not exaggerated to say that it is the core theme of the whole movie of "Boy King".
The son of the protagonist Cao Qiming complained that he played Mulan in the school stage play, and the father thought that his son did not like to dress up as a woman, but the son Zhenzhen had a word that said that the reason he did not like it was mulan that he was deceitful, and the father muttered to himself, "Mulan is bitter." What an unspeakable pain! Mulan served in the military, in order to protect herself and dare not reveal her identity, in the 21st century there is no problem of military law killing, bitterly ordered her father to let her family live to be a disguised queen, but afraid of the East Window incident to make the family ashamed and hide in every way, time has changed a lot of things, but some traditional values and rigid concepts can not be shaken no matter how many thousands of years have passed, this is the most poignant moment of the whole "Boy King".
Cao Qiming's stage stage name is Moulin (Mill), which not only refers to the world-famous Moulin rouge song and dance show in Paris, France, but also the harmonic sound of Mulan (Mulan). In fact, Cao Qiming is the modern Mulan, he does not need to dress as a man to serve in the army, and now men dress up as women just to keep their families alive, not even without a place to live. Before he lost his job, he did not pay attention to LGBTQ, singing was only used as entertainment, all these changes were for survival, and then in the process of trying to survive in disguise, his gender consciousness slowly sprouted, there was no earth-shaking enlightenment, but because he got the help of this group of drag queens in the most difficult time, he decided that they were his friends, even family. In order to protect your family and friends, it is only natural to stand up to all prejudices and inequalities.
Cao Qiming and Hua Mulan both suffer to cover up the "true self", but what is the real self? Is it to be honest about his wife and children's current profession, is it to give up the right mouth to the audience so that they can hear the real voice, is it to capture the daily details of witty creation to replace the existing lyrics, is it to protect the family and be willing to do anything to sacrifice, or is it good to be yourself and tell the truth regardless of the consequences of three-seven-twenty-one at any cost? Singaporean comedy king Lee Kwok-huang Zhang has played a difficult situation of unemployment in middle age who is a husband and a father, director Wang Guoshen and screenwriter Lai Yuhan are only accurate and fundamentally compelling selections, so that the film appears whether adapted or original songs echo the layered turn of the protagonist Cao Qiming's state of mind in order, "Boy King" is not only a comedy, it uses creative collage to do many things that musical theater movies may not be able to achieve, it surpasses all the film and television works I have seen based on the story of Mulan for " A girl who joins the army on behalf of her father is a dialectic between gender and tradition and etiquette, it is more Mulan than Mulan, and it fully grasps the essence of musical theater than many Chinese musical theater movies.