Mulan
As you could probably realize from my URL, I am a major
advocate for any and all Disney creations. I love them to death, I hold them
near and dear, I grew up watching them, and my children will watch them because
they brought me happiness. I have realized that, as I’ve gotten older, I have begun
to notice and analyze more of the plot line than I ever would have as a child.
There has been one plot point I never understood while
watching the movie, Mulan. As
everyone knows, Mulan is a young Chinese girl who has come of age and is
supposed to be getting married. Yet, she cannot seem to fit to any of the
typical standards for a woman of her age. She can’t play the part of a quiet
and obedient wife. Her father is being drafted to go to war against the Huns
and he is already injured from a previous war he had participated in. Mulan
tries to convince her dad that it’s too dangerous but her father only speaks of
family honor and says that her inability to follow orders shames them.
In order to save her father and prove herself, Mulan takes
her father’s armor and goes to war in his place, disguised as a boy. Throughout
the movie, Mulan trades off between her usual voice and her “man” voice. She
was also bathing in a river with her hair down when a few fellow soldiers got
in and no one had the slightest clue that she was a woman. While her façade was
an important plot point and even a comedic point throughout the story, I find
it hard to believe that no one realized that she was a woman.
She has a high voice, she came to training with no muscle
mass, she is relatively petite and she has a feminine face. The fact that these
burly men with whom she spent mass amounts of time with hadn’t realized that
she was a woman is a bit unrealistic. Of course, it’s all a cartoon for
children who most likely wouldn’t be analyzing gender roles, so I suppose
realism isn’t exactly what they were going for.
Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteThank you, so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it! <3
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