I watched Disney’s Mulan while visiting Carnegie Mellon University, which seems fitting because it is the alma mater of Ming-Na, who is the voice of the movie’s main character. After doing a little research I found out that the movie is based on the very real Chinese legend Hua Mulan, an eighteen year old Chinese woman who goes to war in place of her elderly father.
But enough with the cute fun facts, now to what I actually thought about the movie…
Mulan might just be my favorite Disney movie. Ever. It came out in 1998, when I was about five, and I distinctly remember first watching the movie at my grandma’s house when I was eight. I liked it when I was younger because it wasn’t just about wearing a princess dress and finding prince charming. It was an interesting story expertly peppered with funny bits of slapstick comedy, the perfect recipe for a great children’s film. Plus it had its fair share of fighting scenes, which I think I enjoyed because I was a bit of a tomboy when I was younger.
The one thought that I kept having while watching the movie was that FINALLY, after sixty plus years of making animated movies, Disney actually managed to crank out a movie that sends out a positive message to young girls. Yes, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The Little Mermaid are all great Disney movies, but they aren’t exactly what I would call paragons of feminism. Though Mulan does have its faults it clearly sends out the message that women shouldn’t be regarded as second class citizens because they are just as valuable to society as men. Right in the beginning of the movie with the song “Honor to us All” and Mulan’s trip to see the village matchmaker Disney actually acknowledges the oppressive gender roles that assert that women’s only purpose in society is to look pretty and find a husband. I found the fact that Disney acknowledged this issue (in their own light-hearted, sing-songy Disney way) extremely surprising, as in earlier movies Disney made a habit of avoiding this topic. Though in the beginning Mulan tries to conform to the traditional gender expectations, she ends up shattering them by sneaking off to join the army. The ironic song “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” pokes fun at the notion that only men are capable of excelling in the army. During the song, Mulan initially struggles with her combat training, but she works hard and refuses to give up, which eventually leads to her surpassing all of her male counterparts. OK, so at first she does have to dress up as a man in order to be taken seriously (an issue that some feminist critics find disconcerting) but in the end Mulan eventually sheds her disguise and saves China as a woman, prompting the emperor and half the population of China to bow to her in respect.
I also enjoyed Mulan because it doesn’t possess the typical Disney “prince charming” cliché. Yes, Mulan does fall in love with a handsome young general during her stint in the army, but, unlike other Disney characters, she doesn’t drop everything and blindly chase after him. In the end, he actually ends up chasing her. The best part is, when he finally finds her, they do not immediately get married nor do they ride off into the shimmering sunset together in order to begin living “happily ever after;” Mulan simply asks him to stay for dinner with her family, which is the way it should be.
No comments:
Post a Comment