Koreans Enraged Over Disney’s Portrayal Of The Hanbok As Traditional Chinese Dress
Pixar‘s teaser of the upcoming March release, Turning Red, has the Korean public quite literally turning red. The teaser was dropped late last year but it was recently brought back to light on online communities.
Given the growing tensions between China and South Korea, the Korean public took issue with Turning Red‘s imagery of traditional Chinese clothing. One of the scenes in the teaser where the main character, Mei, is being told about her heritage, shows a scroll painting of a red fox and two humans. Mei is of Chinese ancestry and the painting is supposed to describe Chinese folklore and culture.
Koreans have taken issue with the outfits in the painting, claiming that the outfits resemble the Korean traditional clothing, the hanbok, rather than hanfu, the traditional Chinese clothing.
I’m so annoyed, it’s ridiculous. Pixar’s new work totally disguised the Goryeo clothing as Chinese style. I was very nervous watching the teaser because there’s many times where American companies push for the Chinese Northeast Project and they really did it. Why isn’t the Goryeo hanbok being promoted in Korea?
Do you think the opposite party (the Chinese) would stand still if such a huge global movie showed Korean ancestors wearing the hanbok style? This climate’s netizens would go crazy and prevent the movie from being aired locally or push back the premiere. I’m so mad because Korea doesn’t have such influence. I’m even more annoyed at the pathetic promotions of the Korean hanbok.
— @ja_ryo_retweet
An online community post in Korea further supplemented the issue with illustrations of Chinese traditional clothing. The hanfu usually is a long robe over a dress with a Y-neckline.
Other styles include a belted skirt over a short-sleeved robe with a long-sleeved inner dress.
On the other hand, the Korean traditional dress, the hanbok, is usually a short jacket (jeogori) styled over a full skirt.
Some styles include a jeogori that is longer in the front and back with slits at the side. It can also be a vest layered over a long-sleeved top.
Korean netizens are enraged at the matter.
- “Is Disney crazy? They are so tactless.”
- “I’m stressed out”
- “Is Disney nuts?”
- “Disney went crazy”
- “Disney again”
- “Again? These crazy bastards.”
This comes at a time of high tensions between South Korea and China surrounding their history. South Koreans claim kimchi and the hanbok as part of their culture while Chinese are insisting that they are part of Chinese history. Read more about the feud below.
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