Women In Disney Film: Mulan

Mulan is Disney animation about a story with a strong woman protagonist, who is Fa Mulan, directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook in 1998. The film is based on Chinese legendary story of Hua Mulan. Overall of the film shows Chinese Confucian and traditional values with unique regulation, culture, and traditional system in their society. According to diegetic elements of Mulan which is defined as elements that consists of events, characters, objects, settings, and sounds in the story, the main event is a story about how Mulan who is not suitable for traditional woman role in Chinese ancient society overcomes the prejudice of gender role with exceptional behaviors as joining Chinese military troop secretly instead of her father who was wounded by former war. The movie Mulan is a narrative in terms of categorizing one concept that describes and arranges the sequence of events in a cause-and-effect order. In that sense, the movie starts to narrate certain disparity between Chinese Confucian and traditional cultural characters of gender role and protagonist’s inner human nature overall the movie, and that disparity leads the protagonist to overcome internal and external conflicts in progression of the story. This paper will analyze how Mulan demonstrates characteristic culture in Chinese society which shows stereotypes of gender role in the past, and what kinds of methods protagonist use for overcoming and deviating from a traditional gender characteristic by providing

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.

The song “Honor to Us All’ supports Mulan’s lack of free will. In these controversial lyrics, the townspeople can be heard singing “A girl can bring her family, Great honor in one way, By striking a good match, And this could be the day”. Here it is viewed that she is expected to bring honor to her family by marrying a man that matches her social standing. Before Mulan could find a suitable mate however, she had to look and act the part. According to these lyrics found later in the song, “Men want girls with good taste, Calm, Obedient, Who work fast-paced, With good breeding, And a tiny waist” this is what men found most attractive in a female

Women characters in fairy tales enforces innate characteristics that women are expected to have. Women are expected to be graceful, self-denying, self-sacrificing, modest, submissive, chase, affable, pure, and polite (Gilbert and Gubar 23), while being “slim, pale, and immobile in a porcelain-like manner (25). However, men are prepared to be competitive, authoritarian, and power-hungry (Zipe 3). In the story of “Mulan”, a young woman cross dresses as a man to join the military, in each version, her reasons for joining are slightly different. Many readers view Mulan as a symbol of women empowerment, however it can be argued that Mulan is another representation of the enforcement of innate female characteristics that are popular in the American

This all points out a clear message that women are worth less than men. And if you would argue that Mulan proves her worth by becoming a soldier and saving her country, it must be remembered that she did it all, as a man and not as a woman. Gender roles applies for men as well in this movie, though not to the same degree. The song “Be A Man”, while it is extremely catchy, seems to suggest that all men and only men should be “swift as a coursing river”, have “all the force of a great typhoon”, “with all the strength of a raging fire”, and be “mysterious as the dark side of the moon”. Mulan has accepted these ideas and becoming the best soldier in the camp only shows that she “became a man” in order to do

Mulan creates the idea that, “being a woman,” is being useless or not needed. While men are seen as powerful and strong, women are portrayed as vulnerable and weak. This idea is shown when Shang says, “she’s a hero” and the Chi-Fu says, “she’s a woman. She will never be worth anything.” (Mulan). Mulan also shows gender roles when they sing the song, “You’ll bring honour to us all”, which shows Mulan getting ready to meet her arranged bachelor. This scene shows the message that a woman’s only goal is to find a husband and take care of him. Watching this film might discourage and make girls think that finding love is more important than doing what they want in their life. Another example of how the film shows how the men value women is when they sing, “A girl worth fighting for I want her paler than the moon with eyes that shine like stars, My girl will marvel at my strength, adore my

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

Cultural have push for female characters in mainstream films. Female leading roles have changed slowly in media. A strong female characters, with her own identity, agenda and courage’s attitude. From the old Disney movies, it showed the gender roles in media cultures. However, Disney recent produces princess that is independent, brave and heroic. It shows a strong female leads who stand along their male counterparts. This concept encourages the idea of equality between genders and built an acceptance of concept of definition. Frozen, Disney Princess movie shattered all previous gender role limitation. The story focused on two strong female leads, two sisters Princess Anna and Queen Elsa. The story focuses on Anna selflessly search for

The legend of Mulan, the Chinese woman warrior, was first presented in an annonomous poem called “the Ballad of Mulan” which dated back the 6th sentury Tang Dynansty. The poem was written in five segments; each one represents Mulan’s origin, experience in the battlefield, and also sense of obedience to her family. The legend lives on as it is passed from one generation to other generation through diverse versions such as storytelling, poem, and movies. Ultimately, the ballad takes on a new form when it was adapted into a 1998 Disney animated feature. This is the first time Disney has drawn on an Asian

Despite what seems to be positive empowerment of females alike, Mulan in fact does not encourage the individual empowerment of women through separation of traditional gender stereotypes. In fact, Mulan emphasizes the roles between binary genders that ensure privilege of men over women. Additionally, the film shows how such stereotypical gender roles affect society through social oppression of the minority group. Throughout the film, it is obvious that, although it is possible to have gender performativity, there is disempowerment of women and a man’s life is that which is more significant than a woman’s.

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.

Men, Women, or transgender we are all human. Each human can act in whichever way they please. However, does this break a traditional gender norm? A traditional gender norm is the types of behaviors which generally considered acceptable, appropriate or desirable for people based on their actual perceived sex or sexuality. Gender norms can be seen in various television shows, movies, and music. However, how do we know if these gender norms are okay to be seen in these forms of entertainment? In the movie Mulan directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook it illustrates how a women cross dresses as a man to fight in the chinese war in which she takes her father’s place. Mulan illustrates how traditional gender norms can be broken by showing that Women can prove themselves, and there is nothing wrong with that.

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