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Attila The Mulan Essay

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A good Disney production cannot get by without a malicious, demonical villain whose inhuman appearance or hurtful and immoral behaviour will scare the children watching the animated movie enough, so that they will shudder at the thought of becoming just like the evil character and the didactic lesson will be taught. Walt Disney Animation Studios since its very beginnings created films with a clear, morally unambiguous plot line in which good must always overcome evil, no matter how challenging the process. In the year 1998, when Mulan, Disney Studio's adaptation of The Ballad of Hua Mulan, was released, the concept of presenting Chinese or any Eastern people in a negative way was quite foolish, particularly since Disney products are marketed around the world. Therefore a villain was needed, one that would help the post-colonial world, shaken after two World Wars, create a more positive image of the contemporary people. According to an article by Joshua J. Mark in The Ancient History Encyclopedia, the Huns were a nomadic tribe who “became the most powerful, and most feared, military force in Europe and brought death and devastation wherever they went” (n. pag.), under the command of Attila the Hun. …show more content…

The Huns were a warning from history. With their Chinese credentials established, their attacks on the Roman empire could be presented as part of an inevitable cycle of conflict between East and West. (qtd. in Mark, n. pag.) The above quotation indicates that a similar process was possible in creating the movie which used the Huns as inhabitants of West Asia. All the same, in the film industry's slight inaccuracies are always to be expected and the portrayal of the leader of the Hun Army, Shan Yu, as ruthless and merciless is enough to point towards Attila as a model.

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