Stereotypes In The Movie Mulan

When Mulan returns home, she returns to the normal expectations of a woman which puzzles her comrades. “Traveling together for twelve years, they didn’t know Mulan was a girl. ‘The he-hare’s feet go hop and skip, the she-hare’s eyes are muddled and fuddled. Two hares running side by side close to the ground. How can they tell if I am he or she?’” (Frankel). Mulan relays the difference between men and women but also states that when both are faced with an obstacle like war, there really is no difference between them. Therefore, Mulan becomes a master of both the worlds of men and

In “The Lion King”, Disney uses animals to tell a coming of age story. In this film, characters are used to symbolize racism. From the beginning of Simba’s life, his father forbids him to go to the Elephant Graveyard. Upon further investigation, the viewer learns that the graveyard is resemblant of the ghetto. Even the inhabitants of the graveyard are voiced by minorities and participate in illegal activities one would imagine happening in the ghetto: i. e. stealing food, kidnapping the king’s son. Gail Robertson’s essay, “Snow Whitey?”, states that the “embedded messages [ in “The Lion King”] can only be described as despicable” (43). This essay also on points out the “ghettoization of Blacks and Hispanics” (43). In the film, the integration

The idea of feminism has not always been common. The term “feminism” wasn’t introduced until the 1970s. This shows how society didn’t allow anything that had to due with everyone being equal because of the standards that society constructed. In all the versions of Mulan, I think that Disney’s Mulan was the most strict on her having Ancient China’s role of being a woman. This would be having kids, helping clean around the house and not working for money, but working for her husband and kids. In Disney’s Mulan, her family is more hard on her to be a lady and for her to be the proper role of a women. This is because they went to a “matchmaker” to find her husband, and after saving everyone several times, she was still looked down upon because she was a woman.

Animated films are commonly regarded as innocent and enchanting with little influence on the ideological beliefs that develop in children. Yet it is evident that this rhetoric is detrimental to the understanding that children are highly susceptible to influences from film and lack necessary skills to think critically. Thus, animated films instill ideologies within children that follow them throughout their lives. The predominant white narrative within the Disney film Pocahontas misrepresents Indigenous culture by portraying them as savage, bestial, and primitive caricatures while the falsification of historical events sets to maintain the archetypical white Anglo-Saxon supremacy, creating hegemonic ideologies that decisively impact how Indigenous people are viewed negatively within society and internally feel Otherized, causing confusion of personal identity. I will begin by articulating how films provoke fantasy, fears, and social concerns to garner audiences for profitability. These provocations are rooted in the ideologies of the dominant culture at the expense of Indigenous peoples. I will then express how the ‘Self’ (white men) and the ‘Other’ (Indigenous people) are segmented within Pocahontas and the effects this has on the relationship of Indigenous people to society. Next, I will discuss how the false representation of historical events creates cultural hegemony and reinforces categorization of Indigenous people. Lastly, I will demonstrate that the negative and

To complete this sociological journey I used the concepts from chapters 3,4,5, and 8 of the textbook Sociology: A Brief Introduction, 11th ed. by Richard T. Schaefer. Mulan is a Disney movie character that has to face many sociological problems that threaten her physically and sociologically. Her social role is to become an obedient wife to her future husband, but Mulan just could not conform to the gender role that was expected of her, thus creating a role conflict. And as the movie progresses Mulan refuses to give into the norms of China and instead trusts in her values and takes on the duty of protecting her significant others from the war against the Huns. In the process of training. She isn’t given many life chances because of her being apart of the group known as women and men don’t respect or understand this group. Mulan meets Li Shang, who has the achieved status of captain, but some soldiers believe that the title of captain is an ascribed status because of the status of his father. This causes conflict and insubordination between the captain and the soldiers. Mulan takes on the personality of Ping to hide her identity and this action eventually has severe consequences due to the impersonation of a soldier being a very serious crime that could’ve brought on a fatal punishment, but she was spared due to her heroics later on. This is her journey from a girl to a soldier.

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.

Another way to fight against racism is rejecting any kind of stereotypes and educates ourselves. Due to computer games, internet and television, everybody is exposed to stereotype and this can have an effect on how we view others. For example, a mother points out her concerns about how the classic movie The Lion King. She emphasizes how the hyenas that were the bad characters in the movie had voices that make them sound as black people and Spanish speaking people. She explains the effects that this made in her son who randomly relates black people with bad guy. She says “Once, while we were driving through the city not from where we live, my son saw a young black man running down the street. He said to me “Why is that kid running? I said, I

The character of Kong, according to the race reading, independently acts as a semiotic representation of the white man’s perception of black men. The film’s narrative takes us to Africa, asks the audience to embark on an adventure to a land so lost to the modern world that its inhabitants exist side by side with dinosaurs, which Brian McKay argues to be the most “obvious symbol for the perceived primitive nature of Africa and Blacks” (McKay, 2005) The gorilla that they bring back from that island may now be an icon of popular culture in himself, but before King Kong was released there was another image of popular social consciousness that he was associated with, which were the disturbingly dehumanizing cartoons of black people as monkeys popularized

In Mulan, there are a number of times where there is a constant enforcement of male and female stereotypes. The first song, “Honor To Us All” reads “A girl can bring her family great honor in one way...and serve her emperor, by striking a good match” (6:09-9:06), and when Mulan’s true gender is revealed in front of the other soldiers and general, she is told that “there was something wrong with her, [because] she is a woman!” (1:00:26). In fact, when she arrives at the Imperial City to warn her friends of the enemy’s arrival, her own sidekick Mushu reminds her that nobody is going to listen to her because she is “a girl again” (1:08:28). Throughout the film, there is a hidden message that regardless of what Mulan has achieved, women are going

From the minute one is born the division between genders is placed. The phrases “act like a lady” or “be a man” become everyday practices and lifelong slogans. Fairy tales are always focused on women who play the beautiful damsel in distress persona and on men who play the handsome knight coming in to save them. Whether you are female or male, it is important to remember that these fixed characteristics placed on genders are never to be reinforced. In a world full of gender stereotypes, the Disney movie Mulan challenges the societal construct of masculinity and femininity by proving that gender roles are not fixed traits, but socially constructed views that can be changed.

In the movie, “Mulan” the gender stereotyping is different than in the movie, “The Lion King.” Although she is portrayed as a strong female she still needs a man in her life. Giroux states, “Mulan may be an independent, strong-willed young woman, but the ultimate payoff for her bravery comes in the form of catching the handsome son of a general” (Greene 582). This teaches that young girls should strive to be beautiful so they can find a handsome man that will want to be with them. Men, on the

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

Throughout the movie Mulan, there are many instances when women's gender stereotypes are present as well are reinforced. Mulan reinforces the stereotype that being a women, means being useless, needy and no important. One of the many songs in the movie, “A Girl Worth Fighting for” is one particular example of how women are depicted as house wives and nothing more. It focuses on physical appearance, and all of mens views and desires in a women while ignoring a females ability and intelligence. One example is when one soldier comments, “It all depends on what she cooks like…beef, pork, chicken…mmmm” focusing on her cooking skills, implying

She might not be the most feminine, she doesn 't wear a big poofy dress. No corset or high heels, but her natural beauty is what separates her from the rest. Mulan doesn 't need a man to stop her from pursuing her goals and accomplishments. She knows how to fight, be strong, and push through tragic times in her life. Her mind set shows that you don 't need to worry about being perfect and that you should just be yourself. Throughout the movie her main goal isn 't to fall in love which is one my most favorite points in the story that you do not need a prince to make you happy. And she also demonstrated that women can be strong and fight even though people expect them to be damsels. I also love how she carries herself with confidence, beauty, and modesty. Mulan is a strong, intelligent, independent woman. She aims to bring honor to her family and, more importantly, to find out who she truly is. She uses intelligence and persistence to succeed in the army and save her country. She does not rely on beauty or status to get her places.

Another way to analyze gender in Mulan is to examine society 's expectations of female versus male roles. In Mulan, it is apparent that society has different expectations for each gender and the roles they should play. Before she meets with the matchmaker, Mulan recites the characteristics the Chinese society believes makes a perfect woman, "quiet and demure, graceful, polite, delicate, refined, poised"(Mulan). Mulan is accused of bringing dishonor to her