Is the Story of Mulan an inspirational tale to women or a subtle reminder by Disney about a woman’s place in society?

One could say that they Disney princesses are all the same – Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty- they’re all tall, skinny, undeniably beautiful with their long flowing hair and fabulous gowns. They all play the damsel in distress, completely helpless to fend for themselves in the real world. They all await their happily ever after with the handsome prince charming. Mulan however, is different – or at least upon first glance appears to be. In the film, this young woman plays two opposing roles. On one hand, Mulan is the clumsy young woman, considered such an unfit bride that even the matchmaker considers there to be no hope for her “You are a disgrace, you may look like a bride but you will never bring your family honour...” On the other hand, she also plays Ping, the fearless young soldier who was loved by all, who grew from strength to strength and pretty much singlehandedly saved China from the invasion of the Huns. In order for Mulan to save her father from conscription she must give up her female self to pose as a man and join the army. This however, as far as Mulan is concerned, isn’t such a huge loss as she feels she really doesn’t fit in as a traditional Chinese woman. In the opening song she lists all that she is expected to be as a woman, as the perfect Chinese woman – quiet, demure, graceful, dainty... it is immediately clear that Mulan is none of these things. She sees the traditional makeup as a betrayal of who she really is – “when will my reflection show, who I am inside”. Her true self seems more a quick thinking, brave and fearless Samurai Warrior – but as a woman she cannot be this. We could describe Mulan as a protofeminist as she completely refuses to conform to what is expected of her as a woman. Her outright dismissal of her expectations to be seen and not heard, to sit and look pretty and aim to be the perfect wife, but rather, in contrast, she strives to be strong, intelligent and independent. On the surface, Disney may portray this as a pro feminist, girl power, sort of film but upon closer inspection that isn’t really the message that it sends out at all. Mulan isn’t concerned by women’s chores or women’s clothes but rather about saving her father from conscription. Yes, in the film Mulan doesn’t follow the typical Disney princess path and her main role in the film isn’t to look pretty and wait for prince charming to find her. Although the film does suggest that a woman can be a better man than the man himself, reading between the lines however, the film Mulan isn’t as pro feminism as it first seems. To begin with dress, both gender roles experienced by Mulan are reflected through the different items of clothing which she wears, for example through the transition from delicate feminine dresses to the heavy armour worn on the battlefield. In order for Mulan to save her father from conscription and ultimately bring honour to her family, while saving China from the invasion of the Huns along the way, she must dress as a man. Mulan must cut her hair and change her appearance as best she can in order to fit in with what is considered a capable warrior. As well as Mulan making changes to her physical appearance she must also make changes to her physical presence. As she prepares to leave home so goes through a series of changes using items that represent a gender. Her father’s summons, an artefact of masculinity and in it’s place leaves her hair comb, an artefact of her own feminity. She cuts her hair short with her father’s sword and ties it in a fashion associated with men at that time. Although Mulan now looks more like the other soldiers she still has traces of her feminine self that she can’t seem to shake so easily. Mushu tires to help her by advising she adopt a more masculine tone of voice, change her posture and exert more aggression. This appears comical throughout the film as Mulan’s tiny feet, feminine movements and half hearted attempts to join in with the masculine banter of the other solider don’t really work as well as she had hoped. Rather, practicing these stereotypically male characteristics makes Mulan almost laughable with the viewer watching on with the sentiment – silly Mulan, she’s never going to be a good solider, she’s a woman and trying to act outside her typical role, she becomes a joke.
Although Mulan looks quite different here she is still herself, perhaps a more outwardly tomboyish version of herself. However, instead of Disney allowing Mulan to be herself in this way, they almost ignore her fierce warrior side in favour of yet another Disney princess. In toy stores it is rare to find a Mulan doll where she is dressed in her armour but there are plenty of Mulan dolls in dresses, one doll entitled, “Mulan Glitter Doll”. This seems to be focusing on only a small part of Mulan, not praising her for being a fierce warrior but rather portraying her as yet another pretty airhead, helpless to look after herself. It is possible however, to buy a “warrior outfit” for your Mulan doll, but the very fact that this is a separate accessory, that it is just an “outfit” to dress her up in suggests how the fierce heroic side of Mulan is being overlooked in favour of being just another pretty, sickly sweet princess. When the Huns are finally defeated at the Emperor’s palace thanks to both Mulan but also because of the help of the other soldiers who interestingly dressed up as women – “ugly concubines” . Although these cross-dressing soldiers do aid in saving the day, is the idea behind it to make women feel good about themselves, does it say, yes women can help in saving the day too, of course not by any heroic or intelligent means but by simply distracting the guards by giving them something to look at, thus, objectifying women in the process. The anti climactic ending, in contrast to the ending of the original Chinese story (Hua Mulan), Mulan chooses not to persue novel opportunities and take the job that the emperor has offered her but rather return home and simply continue with her life as before. Instead of solely returning home though as a dutiful daughter who at last restored her family’s honour, Disney feels incomplete whithout Mulan having a love interest in order to have her happily ever after. Although there were only subtle hints throughout the film of Mulan’s attraction to Shang, any kind of feminist, ‘strong independent woman who don’t need no man’ type of attitude is completely blown out of the picture as Mulan gives up an amazing career opportunity in order to have dinner with Shang at her home. It is highlighted that this is Mulan’s happy ending by the grandmother who exclaimed (just before Shang’s appearance at the house) “she should have brought home a man”. This suggests that no, of course Mulan could never have been happy without a prince charming type to end up with. This ending to the film seemed like a completely missed opportunity for Disney, if they infact did want to show Mulan as the feminist heroine then surely that would have been better achieved by Mulan working with the emperor to bring equal rights to women all across China. Also the initial impression of “sisters doing it for themselves” was not all that accurate as the film progressed as Mulan wasn’t exactly by herself. As with every Disney film, she too had a sidekick who’s duty it was to advise, guide and protect Mulan. Mulan’s sidekick, the miniature dragon, Mushu is depicted as the ever present male protagonist and technically it was actually he in the end who completes the act of killing the leading bad guy, not Mulan. Of course it could be argued that it was Mulan who killed him and thus saved all of China as she had a huge hand in it. It seems it was the omni-presence of Mushu that suggests that Mulan cannot manage being on her own, or more so cannot manage being completely without male assistance. Another point which takes from the feminist angle of the film is the objectification and suggested inferiority of women throughout. The men sing about having a pretty wife who can cook while Mulan’s suggestions of the woman worth fighting for to be one who “has a brain and always speaks her mind” but, of course, such proposals are easily dismissed by the men with a disinterested reply of “nah”. When Mulan tires to stand up and protect her father as the Imperial Envoy call out the names of those to join the army the actions of all men present, including her own father are ones of shock, embarrassment and shame. This suggests that is it dishonourable and inappropriate for a woman to voice her opinion against a man. Under Chinese law a woman is to be killed rather than to be allowed disobey rules of the patriarchal society – Mulan’s mother asks the father to go after her once it is discovered where Mulan has gone, but he declines, saying, “ if I go and discover her, they will kill her”. Even after Mulan had saved the lives of her fellow comrades during the attack of the Huns, the discovery that she was a woman made her a traitor. The discovery of her sex made her untrtustworthy and her achievements and words insignificant. She is no longer a friend or a hero but a “treacherous snake”. When Mulan later discovers the return of the Huns her attempts to warn the captain are greeted with him asking why she should be trusted, her reply, “You said you’d trust Ping, why is Mulan so different”.
From the beginning Mulan is trying to find her place in society. What Mulan truly wants to be is fierce and strong, capable and trusted, however even though she is portrayed as the heroine in the end she never really achieves this. Mulan is the heroine, not the hero, she is the woman how had a huge hand in saving the day but she does not gain the respect she deserves. In their apparent attempt to portray Mulan as a protofeminist, Disney have failed and have only gone to show that although Mulan may be the hero and pushed through the patriarchal boundaries, as a woman she could only ever achieve a certain status and ultimately end up back where she started.

Bibliography. * Mulan (animated film) - Disney, 1998. Directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. * Animating the Youth: The Disnification of Children’s culture. – Henry A. Grioux, * Invisible Women, contemporary Chinese Cinema and Women’s film - Positions, Asia Critique.