Disney Film: Mulan

For my final paper where we had to pick a topic from current popular culture, I decided to write my paper with the focus on Disney movies. More particularly with the focus on the Disney princess movies. When it comes to the Disney movies they have always been and will always be such a huge part of our society. While growing up most children grow up watching these movies and get the idea that that is what they want to be when they grow up. When you ask a young girl what she wants to be when she is older there is a good chance that she will say that she wants to be a princess when she grows up. I have always been such a huge fan of Disney movies and I have a feeling I always will be. I found it very interesting this semester when we spend the short class period talking about the Disney female and male characters. It is rather interesting and something that I can say that I really never noticed before but the fact that the majority of all the female characters all had the same face shape. Whereas the males there were none two that were the same. However for this paper I will be looking into the relationship to cultural meanings about gender and other identity markers, such as race, sexuality, and cultural norms as seen in some of the more classic well known Disney movies.

Even in the movies, sociology can be found. Most people think sociology is limited to just worldly problems, but it can be it can be a very broad term. Symbolic Interaction is a communication theory that states society and individuals are created based upon the interactions between each other. One Disney movie that stands out is Aladdin. I feel this movie does a great job of providing examples of symbolic interactionism. My plan is to discuss symbolic interaction and provide examples of the theory.

In the past years, Disney/Pixar has revolutionized the premise of their movies by shifting away from princesses and portraying resilient male characters as the protagonists of their highly successful animated feature films. From 1995 to 2008, Disney/Pixar released eight films, all of which included a male lead, yet these characters are arguably unlike any other protagonist in early Disney animated films. In their essay, “Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Disney/Pixar,” Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden call attention to the new manner Disney/Pixar use to depict their heroic male characters in their movies. Gillam and Wooden claim that Pixar is using their movies to promote the acceptance of a new standard of masculinity capable of embracing feminine traits, as conveyed by the male characters within the films. As a viewer, it is easy to recognize the emasculation of the male protagonists within Pixar movies, however, the authors’ claim is faulty; they fail to acknowledge that society now has room for a new sympathetic man because it is straying way from a patriarchal beliefs of the past.

She was a woman in China therefore, she was expected to take on the role of wife, mother (eventually), and daughter of China. This created a role strain because Mulan wasn’t that kind of daughter of China. She was meant to be a warrior of China. A protector, not a submissive, but this was common in Chinese culture during this time period. This treatment of women was a stigma that was often accepted because of the underestimation and disrespect that most men had towards women. Men expected women to please them and cook, clean, and bear children for them. But that was not in the cards for Mulan. She ended up overcoming all of these stigmas when she completes training and came out on top. But Mulan’s journey from woman to warrior was not an easy one because she had to constantly hide herself from the others and she also had to fight

Mulan for instance, being a girl, saved China from the Hans. Even though she pretended to be a man in the beginning, she ended up saving the emperors life as a girl. To add on that, she dressed her male friends as women as well to distract Han’s army. The director of Mulan used the female identity to its full advantage rather than bringing out her insecurities and her weaknesses. Mulan is a true hero.

Mulan is a Disney animated film that takes place in ancient China during Han Dynasty War. Mulan is a young girl in China, the only child of her honored family who struggles to find her identity and meaning in society. While Mulan is a lovable, spirited girl who doesn’t fit in with Chinese tradition because she speaks her mind and follow her heart. Being a girl who experience culture, gender role, and self-image demonstrated what a non- tradition person will do to bring honor to her love one’s and the family.

From the very beginning the Huns in Disney's Mulan are portrayed as evil incarnate. In the opening scenes, they are associated with an eerie atmosphere heightened by ominous sounds. The Huns do not appear immediately; they are introduced by suspense, preceded by the appearance of a bird of prey. A Chinese soldier, standing guard on the Great Wall of China is not even attacked by the falcon, he is caught by its wing, almost as if the Huns were trying to warn their enemies of their arrival, showing that they do not fear the resistance.

In the movie Mulan by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook the directors show a women named Mulan who pretends to be a man to fight in the chinese war. The war emerges when the Huns invade China. The storyline of the movie takes place in China during the Hans dynasty. Mulan pretends to be a man so she can take her father’s place since he is too old to fight. Mulan takes her father’s armor and sword and escapes to the camp. Mulan signs up for war and she goes to a training camp. Being a man was difficult for Mulan. However she did obtain help from her two sidekicks Mushu a small dragon, and Cricket a lucky cricket. Mulan does experience some obstacles during her training. Some obstacles Mulan comes across to are reaching an arrow at the top of a pole and running up

ELMIRA (WENY) - Fantasia the Disney movie, a floppy disk and a DARE t-shirt were just some of many items that took former Riverside Elementary School students down memory lane. This afternoon the 5th grade class of 1991 reunited to open up a time capsule they buried 25 years ago.

We need to understand that the filial piety presented in the movie with the one in the original legend is different, because in the movie Disney portrayed back the filial piety based on American people’s understanding and stereotypes on Confucianism. In this way Mulan described as a free individual who does not want to be bounded by the strict rules of Confucianism. Although, most of the time Mulan expresses her refusal to Confucianism, she still represents the value of filial piety to her father by disguising herself as a man warrior and taking her father’s duty in a war. In this sense, Disney tried to show Mulan’s dutiful character by bringing out Mulan’s “manly” and rebellious personality. However, in order to strengthen Mulan’s head-strong personality, Disney deliberately lessened the value of obedience and replaced it with Mulan’s pursuit of identity. In this sense, Mulan is described as being confused of her real identity. She is given two difficult choices between fulfilling her role as a potential wife or listening to her own calling (She wants to find her own love without the interference of other people, including her parents). Moreover, the Ballad never explicitly tell the relationship between Mulan and her parents; but everyone can assume that Mulan does not have “a close relationship” with her parents unlike the one depicted in the Disney’s version. Because in filial

The appearance, attitude, behaviour and voice of the two Disney heroines Mulan and Snow White are very different. This is because they were produced in different decades. Mulan is a story set in Imperial China, the story is about Mulan a sixteen-year-old girl who dresses as a man and goes to train in the army in her father’s place as he has already fought a war and end up saving all of China from the Huns, it was produced in the year 1998. On the other hand Snow White’s world is a perfect, fairy tale land and is about a beautiful girl who falls in love with a prince and is forced to leave her palace because of her evil step-mother and falls into a sleep-like death after eating a poisoned apple and is awoken by loves first kiss, it was produced in the year 1938. The expectations of women when Mulan was created were very different from the

Watching the trailers before movies in the theater and going home waiting for the day the movie comes out. The anticipation would build up and excitement would grow day by day. Finally, the day would come and walking out there would be no disappointment. Disney never fails to make great movies and it’s all due to certain characteristics they apply in the best films.

Many believe that Ariel is a bad role model for children, especially young girls who look up to Disney Princesses. Many of these people believe that she changed her body for a man, and that no young girl should be taught to do the same. Many people think that the little mermaid is one of the least feminist princesses created by the Disney company, but unfortunately, these views are incorrect, and have weak supporting evidence. Ariel was anything but an anti-feminist, and actually was an advocate for women’s and mer-people’s rights. The little mermaid is the youngest (only sixteen at the time) in her family. While she may be little, but she made a big impact in her world, and is still making an impact on the world around us today.

Mulan, in fact, has more in common with male Disney leads than the female Disney leads. Mulan is a thinker. She 's resourceful, like Aladdin. She is quick to act, like Eric (from The little Mermaid.) And she sacrifices herself for the sake of others, like Hercules. She also speaks her mind, even in a culture that does not allow such a thing. She doesn 't waste time pining about "will I ever

“When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.”