(no subject)
Title: The Values of Disney
Author: romanitas
Characters: Taiwan, Hong Kong, America, mentions of China.
Rating: PG
Summary: It’s 1998. America shares his latest Disney movie with Taiwan and Hong Kong.
--
When America announced he was making a movie of one of their legends, neither Taiwan nor Hong Kong knew what to think (and they couldn’t even imagine what China’s reaction would be). And it was going to be Disney. Taiwan would not deny she had a soft spot for America’s Disney movies (and she knew Hong Kong secretly liked them, too, but she would never tell), but there was something odd about him adapting a legend she knew like the back of her hand. She and Hong Kong mused over the outcome the entirety of the time the movie was in production, and she knew they both had hung up the phone on China when he called to complain about it.
Finally, it was done, and America himself wanted to present it to them. And so all three found themselves gathered in Taiwan’s living room; America insisted on setting it all up himself, he was so beside himself with excitement.
Taiwan sat smushed between the two of them, although there was something that made Hong Kong want the middle seat. She would have nothing of it, settling in comfortably and tucking her legs under to watch the movie. He settled for reaching over now and then to steal some popcorn from the massive bowl America had made himself. Too much salt and butter, he considered. And then it began.
When the credits started to roll, America could hardly contain his curiosity. “Well? What’d you think?”
The twins stole a secretive glance, remaining silent for an elongated period of time-mostly to drive out America’s suspense for as long as they could. It was only when he started visibly fidgeting that Taiwan broke the silence and giggled. “I liked it!” she said, applauding.
“Hm,” Hong Kong grunted, hands disappearing into his sleeves.
Taiwan tilted towards America conspiringly and whispered, “That means he liked it, too.”
“Taiwan,” her brother warned, but she only patted his head.
America broke into a vivid grin, and he probably would have hugged her had Hong Kong not shifted towards his sister and narrowed his eyes. “So I did all right?!” he asked.
“It was different!” she admitted. “But with your track record, it totally could have been so much worse.”
“Well the first plan had a lot more romance…” America muttered.
“…allow me to express my gratitude that you didn’t go with that route,” Taiwan sighed.
“You’re welcome!” he said cheerfully.
“Why does the dragon sounds like Eddie Murphy.”
America wasn’t sure how Hong Kong knew who Eddie Murphy was, but that didn’t seem important right now. “Because it’s Eddie Murphy?” It was the obvious answer, after all.
“Eddie Murphy is not a sixth century dragon.”
“That’s because he’s a twentieth century comedian.”
Taiwan snorted, almost choking on her popcorn. In turn, both of them stared at her, but she only giggled. Waving them off, she took a sip of her soda, stifling her amusement. Although confused, they let it go, and America went back to pestering the twins about what they thought of the movie.
“What was your favorite part? Your favorite song? Do you wanna watch it again? It’s probably going to be dubbed in Chinese, are you gonna watch that, too-?”
“Mandarin or Cantonese?” Hong Kong asked, but America was too busy rambling more questions.
“-Mulan’s kind of badass, dontcha think? I kinda like what they did-”
“America,” Taiwan interrupted, covering his mouth with her hands. He fussed, but she didn’t pull away. “I take it you’re pretty happy with it, huh.”
“Yes!” he said, finally pulling her hands away, but keeping them in his own. He stretched his arms as if in a cheering motion, raising hers along with his. “We tried hard to make it awesome, and I must say, I think it’s pretty awesome.”
She laughed, letting him wave her arms around excitedly. Nothing quite got America as energetic and enthusiastic as his movies did.
“It was acceptable,” Hong Kong finally confessed, and Taiwan grinned at him while America beamed, letting go of her hands and attempting to high five Hong Kong. But the former British colony only stared. Giggling, Taiwan took her brother’s hand and slapped it against America’s in a very weak, shifty sort-of-high-five.
“What was that?” he asked, staring at their hands.
“A high five!” America replied with a grin. “You don’t know what they are-?” he paused, and then nodded solemnly. “Never mind. I forgot you used to be England’s. No wonder you didn’t know.”
“Hm,” he replied, hands slipping into his sleeves again.
Taiwan, giggling to herself the entire time, sank back into the couch and leaned across America to steal the popcorn bowl. She offered a piece to Hong Kong. “And today will always be remembered as the day Hong Kong learned how to high-five!”
“A momentous day!” America laughed, but Hong Kong only snatched the popcorn piece, crunching it in his mouth. It was maybe a little fun, but he would never admit it (although he did resign himself to the fact that Taiwan would now insist on high-fiving him more often than not).
“I will admit,” Taiwan muttered, glancing at America, “that montage song was pretty catchy.”
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You?!” America said quickly, getting pumped at the mere mention of it. If Taiwan didn’t interrupt him, she felt like he would have just started singing it right then and there.
“That’s the one,” she said, catching a subtle nod from Hong Kong (she knew he’d been amused by the scene).
“It’s my favorite!”
“Somehow, I am unsurprised,” Taiwan grinned.
“I can get you guys soundtracks if you want!”
“That will not be necessary,” Hong Kong remarked without thinking, but then he awkwardly turned away. “Unless you want to, of course,” he added. Taiwan giggled, vastly amused, but Hong Kong’s accidental reference of illegality went completely over America’s head.
“Then I’ll get it to you sometime!” America grinned, popping a piece of popcorn in his mouth. “They’re gonna dub it, I think.”
“They usually do,” Taiwan remarked, leaning back comfortably into the couch. “You said that before, too.”
“Did I?” America blinked. He’d said a lot of things before.
“Yes,” Hong Kong answered.
“Oh.”
“You were easily excited, no worries,” Taiwan grinned, patting him on the head. He pouted at her, but she only giggled.
“Do you wanna watch it again?” he asked.
“What? We just finished it.”
“Soooo?”
“Maybe some other time,” Taiwan said, letting him down gently.
“Fiiiine,” he conceded, sinking into the couch.
“Oh don’t be a baby! We watched it, enjoyed it, and said so. What else do you want to stroke your ego?” Taiwan teased.
“Heeey, you didn’t have to put it like that.”
“It was the greatest movie I have ever seen in my entire life, America! I am awed and inspired!” she replied. Hong Kong hid a smirk.
America’s mouth twisted into a slight frown, but she giggled, lightly punching his arm. “You know I’m kidding. Mostly.”
“Are you really?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” America drawled, popping popcorn into his mouth and watching her out of the corner of his eye. She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Now you’re trying to tease me,” she said, leaning over him a lot more slowly than necessary, causing Hong Kong’s eyebrows to wrinkle in disdain. She ate a piece herself before taking a casual sip of her soda. “It’s not working very well,” she grinned.
“Perhaps we should watch the movie again,” Hong Kong interrupted curtly. Taiwan giggled, leaning over to hug him, while America just blinked.
“Nah,” Taiwan replied. “But maybe there’s another movie to watch?”
“I still think we should just watch Mulan again. It’s really short!” America chimed in.
Taiwan rolled her eyes. “You don’t want to overload on it, do you?”
“That would never happen!” he smiled.
“With you, probably not,” Hong Kong added, nibbling on some more popcorn himself.
“You make it sound like a bad thing,” America pondered aloud. “Why would you want to overload on Mulan?”
“Too much of anything can be a bad thing,” Hong Kong replied studiously.
America tilted his head to the side, about to reply, but was cut off.
“I heard China’s even letting it in as one of his whole ‘ten-movies-per-year’ thing?” Taiwan asked, shifting the subject slightly and munching on more popcorn.
“Yeah. He complained a lot at me, but then he turned around and wanted it anyway,” America replied, scratching his chin.
“He complained a lot to us, too,” Taiwan sighed, frowning a little. “I kind of started tuning it out.”
“Hn,” Hong Kong agreed, and Taiwan figured she didn’t need to translate this time.
“I still don’t get why anyone would put a quota on movies. Except France. But he’s France. So that’s expected,” America said.
“And you don’t expect this of China? I mean really,” Taiwan grumbled. “You’re lucky he’s letting this in at all.”
“Well of course he would. It’s his legend!”
“That you edited,” Taiwan added, stuffing several pieces of popcorn in her mouth at once.
“I made it awesome!”
“It was pretty awesome before,” she shot back, pursing her lip a little.
“Well yeah, that’s why we chose it! Plus it gave us a lot of leeway!”
She rolled her eyes, catching Hong Kong doing just the same. “Well, whatever! Nice job, America. I applaud you because you could have done something terrible with something awesome.”
“Nothing I do ends up not awesome!” he grinned, ruffling her hair. She fussed, brushing it with her fingers back into place.
“I’m sure some people might beg to differ.”
“Heeeey,” he whined, and Taiwan only bopped him lightly on the head.
“You know it’s true, somewhere deep down.”
“Hmm. Nope!” he said with a big grin. Both Taiwan and Hong Kong rolled their eyes.
They continued munching on popcorn, sipping soda, and talking about the movie; somehow, popcorn found itself scattered across the living room floor, and even though it was Taiwan’s house, Hong Kong knew he’d probably be the one to clean it (due to impatience in waiting for his sister to do so herself).
After America left, Taiwan wandered back into the living room to find Hong Kong very quietly humming “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” Giggling, she attacked him in a hug… that he might have subtlety returned. Maybe.
-
END
-
The entirety of this fic came about after I read an article called "Disneyfying and Globalizing the Chinese Legend Mulan: A Study of Transculturation" by Joseph M. Chan. Any and all facts or allusions are straight up jacked from my reading of it. The movie itself was actually pretty popular overseas, especially in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Taiwan even made an adaption of the legend that took some elements from the Disney version.
Author: romanitas
Characters: Taiwan, Hong Kong, America, mentions of China.
Rating: PG
Summary: It’s 1998. America shares his latest Disney movie with Taiwan and Hong Kong.
--
When America announced he was making a movie of one of their legends, neither Taiwan nor Hong Kong knew what to think (and they couldn’t even imagine what China’s reaction would be). And it was going to be Disney. Taiwan would not deny she had a soft spot for America’s Disney movies (and she knew Hong Kong secretly liked them, too, but she would never tell), but there was something odd about him adapting a legend she knew like the back of her hand. She and Hong Kong mused over the outcome the entirety of the time the movie was in production, and she knew they both had hung up the phone on China when he called to complain about it.
Finally, it was done, and America himself wanted to present it to them. And so all three found themselves gathered in Taiwan’s living room; America insisted on setting it all up himself, he was so beside himself with excitement.
Taiwan sat smushed between the two of them, although there was something that made Hong Kong want the middle seat. She would have nothing of it, settling in comfortably and tucking her legs under to watch the movie. He settled for reaching over now and then to steal some popcorn from the massive bowl America had made himself. Too much salt and butter, he considered. And then it began.
When the credits started to roll, America could hardly contain his curiosity. “Well? What’d you think?”
The twins stole a secretive glance, remaining silent for an elongated period of time-mostly to drive out America’s suspense for as long as they could. It was only when he started visibly fidgeting that Taiwan broke the silence and giggled. “I liked it!” she said, applauding.
“Hm,” Hong Kong grunted, hands disappearing into his sleeves.
Taiwan tilted towards America conspiringly and whispered, “That means he liked it, too.”
“Taiwan,” her brother warned, but she only patted his head.
America broke into a vivid grin, and he probably would have hugged her had Hong Kong not shifted towards his sister and narrowed his eyes. “So I did all right?!” he asked.
“It was different!” she admitted. “But with your track record, it totally could have been so much worse.”
“Well the first plan had a lot more romance…” America muttered.
“…allow me to express my gratitude that you didn’t go with that route,” Taiwan sighed.
“You’re welcome!” he said cheerfully.
“Why does the dragon sounds like Eddie Murphy.”
America wasn’t sure how Hong Kong knew who Eddie Murphy was, but that didn’t seem important right now. “Because it’s Eddie Murphy?” It was the obvious answer, after all.
“Eddie Murphy is not a sixth century dragon.”
“That’s because he’s a twentieth century comedian.”
Taiwan snorted, almost choking on her popcorn. In turn, both of them stared at her, but she only giggled. Waving them off, she took a sip of her soda, stifling her amusement. Although confused, they let it go, and America went back to pestering the twins about what they thought of the movie.
“What was your favorite part? Your favorite song? Do you wanna watch it again? It’s probably going to be dubbed in Chinese, are you gonna watch that, too-?”
“Mandarin or Cantonese?” Hong Kong asked, but America was too busy rambling more questions.
“-Mulan’s kind of badass, dontcha think? I kinda like what they did-”
“America,” Taiwan interrupted, covering his mouth with her hands. He fussed, but she didn’t pull away. “I take it you’re pretty happy with it, huh.”
“Yes!” he said, finally pulling her hands away, but keeping them in his own. He stretched his arms as if in a cheering motion, raising hers along with his. “We tried hard to make it awesome, and I must say, I think it’s pretty awesome.”
She laughed, letting him wave her arms around excitedly. Nothing quite got America as energetic and enthusiastic as his movies did.
“It was acceptable,” Hong Kong finally confessed, and Taiwan grinned at him while America beamed, letting go of her hands and attempting to high five Hong Kong. But the former British colony only stared. Giggling, Taiwan took her brother’s hand and slapped it against America’s in a very weak, shifty sort-of-high-five.
“What was that?” he asked, staring at their hands.
“A high five!” America replied with a grin. “You don’t know what they are-?” he paused, and then nodded solemnly. “Never mind. I forgot you used to be England’s. No wonder you didn’t know.”
“Hm,” he replied, hands slipping into his sleeves again.
Taiwan, giggling to herself the entire time, sank back into the couch and leaned across America to steal the popcorn bowl. She offered a piece to Hong Kong. “And today will always be remembered as the day Hong Kong learned how to high-five!”
“A momentous day!” America laughed, but Hong Kong only snatched the popcorn piece, crunching it in his mouth. It was maybe a little fun, but he would never admit it (although he did resign himself to the fact that Taiwan would now insist on high-fiving him more often than not).
“I will admit,” Taiwan muttered, glancing at America, “that montage song was pretty catchy.”
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You?!” America said quickly, getting pumped at the mere mention of it. If Taiwan didn’t interrupt him, she felt like he would have just started singing it right then and there.
“That’s the one,” she said, catching a subtle nod from Hong Kong (she knew he’d been amused by the scene).
“It’s my favorite!”
“Somehow, I am unsurprised,” Taiwan grinned.
“I can get you guys soundtracks if you want!”
“That will not be necessary,” Hong Kong remarked without thinking, but then he awkwardly turned away. “Unless you want to, of course,” he added. Taiwan giggled, vastly amused, but Hong Kong’s accidental reference of illegality went completely over America’s head.
“Then I’ll get it to you sometime!” America grinned, popping a piece of popcorn in his mouth. “They’re gonna dub it, I think.”
“They usually do,” Taiwan remarked, leaning back comfortably into the couch. “You said that before, too.”
“Did I?” America blinked. He’d said a lot of things before.
“Yes,” Hong Kong answered.
“Oh.”
“You were easily excited, no worries,” Taiwan grinned, patting him on the head. He pouted at her, but she only giggled.
“Do you wanna watch it again?” he asked.
“What? We just finished it.”
“Soooo?”
“Maybe some other time,” Taiwan said, letting him down gently.
“Fiiiine,” he conceded, sinking into the couch.
“Oh don’t be a baby! We watched it, enjoyed it, and said so. What else do you want to stroke your ego?” Taiwan teased.
“Heeey, you didn’t have to put it like that.”
“It was the greatest movie I have ever seen in my entire life, America! I am awed and inspired!” she replied. Hong Kong hid a smirk.
America’s mouth twisted into a slight frown, but she giggled, lightly punching his arm. “You know I’m kidding. Mostly.”
“Are you really?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” America drawled, popping popcorn into his mouth and watching her out of the corner of his eye. She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Now you’re trying to tease me,” she said, leaning over him a lot more slowly than necessary, causing Hong Kong’s eyebrows to wrinkle in disdain. She ate a piece herself before taking a casual sip of her soda. “It’s not working very well,” she grinned.
“Perhaps we should watch the movie again,” Hong Kong interrupted curtly. Taiwan giggled, leaning over to hug him, while America just blinked.
“Nah,” Taiwan replied. “But maybe there’s another movie to watch?”
“I still think we should just watch Mulan again. It’s really short!” America chimed in.
Taiwan rolled her eyes. “You don’t want to overload on it, do you?”
“That would never happen!” he smiled.
“With you, probably not,” Hong Kong added, nibbling on some more popcorn himself.
“You make it sound like a bad thing,” America pondered aloud. “Why would you want to overload on Mulan?”
“Too much of anything can be a bad thing,” Hong Kong replied studiously.
America tilted his head to the side, about to reply, but was cut off.
“I heard China’s even letting it in as one of his whole ‘ten-movies-per-year’ thing?” Taiwan asked, shifting the subject slightly and munching on more popcorn.
“Yeah. He complained a lot at me, but then he turned around and wanted it anyway,” America replied, scratching his chin.
“He complained a lot to us, too,” Taiwan sighed, frowning a little. “I kind of started tuning it out.”
“Hn,” Hong Kong agreed, and Taiwan figured she didn’t need to translate this time.
“I still don’t get why anyone would put a quota on movies. Except France. But he’s France. So that’s expected,” America said.
“And you don’t expect this of China? I mean really,” Taiwan grumbled. “You’re lucky he’s letting this in at all.”
“Well of course he would. It’s his legend!”
“That you edited,” Taiwan added, stuffing several pieces of popcorn in her mouth at once.
“I made it awesome!”
“It was pretty awesome before,” she shot back, pursing her lip a little.
“Well yeah, that’s why we chose it! Plus it gave us a lot of leeway!”
She rolled her eyes, catching Hong Kong doing just the same. “Well, whatever! Nice job, America. I applaud you because you could have done something terrible with something awesome.”
“Nothing I do ends up not awesome!” he grinned, ruffling her hair. She fussed, brushing it with her fingers back into place.
“I’m sure some people might beg to differ.”
“Heeeey,” he whined, and Taiwan only bopped him lightly on the head.
“You know it’s true, somewhere deep down.”
“Hmm. Nope!” he said with a big grin. Both Taiwan and Hong Kong rolled their eyes.
They continued munching on popcorn, sipping soda, and talking about the movie; somehow, popcorn found itself scattered across the living room floor, and even though it was Taiwan’s house, Hong Kong knew he’d probably be the one to clean it (due to impatience in waiting for his sister to do so herself).
After America left, Taiwan wandered back into the living room to find Hong Kong very quietly humming “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” Giggling, she attacked him in a hug… that he might have subtlety returned. Maybe.
-
END
-
The entirety of this fic came about after I read an article called "Disneyfying and Globalizing the Chinese Legend Mulan: A Study of Transculturation" by Joseph M. Chan. Any and all facts or allusions are straight up jacked from my reading of it. The movie itself was actually pretty popular overseas, especially in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Taiwan even made an adaption of the legend that took some elements from the Disney version.