Mulan, a great example for women

Mulan is a 1998 Disney film inspired by the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. This film was a success both critically and at the box office and over the years has become a classic.

Fa Mulan is the young only daughter of Fa Zhou, a former soldier in poor health. Mulan must go see the Matchmaker to honor her family.everyone is worried about what may happen during their visit to the Matchmaker, since the aspiration of every woman in her context is to find a good husband and, thus, honor the family.

Family values ​​and the role of women as good housewives are deeply rooted in the society of the time and Mulan will be deeply pressured; She doesn’t feel prepared, she has other aspirations and dreams. The visit will be a disaster and Mulan will feel guilty for having disgraced the family and for not finding her place in society.

At the same time, the Chinese army has waged a war against the Huns, so The emperor requests that one man from each family go to fight in the war. In Mulan’s family, the only man is his father, therefore, he will be the one who must serve China. Mulan opposes this decision because he knows that, due to his health, his father will not survive. Mulan will pretend to be a man, run away from home and join the army.

Honor and duty in Mulan

The values ​​of the traditional family, of the patriarchal society, where The man is the hero and the woman is relegated to the backgroundlimited to the home, are more than established, but Mulan doesn’t seem to quite fit into them.

During their visit to the Matchmaker, we see the young women maintaining their manners and, surely, very excited about finding a husband; Mulan, on the other hand, prepares at the last minute, makes chops so she can remember what he has to say and doesn’t really know what she has to do. Mulan knows that he must honor his family and, truly, wants to bring honor to his parents; however, He fails in his attempt with the Matchmaker, so he reconsiders what his true duties are.

Finally, he breaks the rules, he breaks with everything established by going to the army in his father’s place, and she doesn’t do it just to save her father, but she does it for herself. Mulan must find her place in society and prove to herself that she is good for something, for something more than being an exemplary wife.

When Mulan decides to dress as a man, something very symbolic happens, Mulan cuts her hair with her father’s sword. We could overlook this detail and understand it only as Mulan’s transition, the change and the beginning of the adventure, but there is something else; Both the hair and the sword are loaded with symbolic connotations.

If we think about mythology or chivalric novels we will realize that the sword has always been linked to honor; the sword is another part of the man it accompanies, represents victories, personal growth and honor in battle. Every great knight has his sword and, with it, has won battles.

The sword that Mulan uses is her father’s sword, the sword with which he brought honor to the Fa family. Mulan takes her instead and cuts her hair with her. Hair also has a strong symbolic meaning related to honor. If we think about Samson, hair symbolized his strength and honor. In turn, long hair is associated with femininity.

Same as in The singing of Mio Cid The Cid’s beard was a reflection of his honor and, the more battles he won, the more abundant his beard became. Thus, we see the emperor in Mulan with a huge white beard, a symbol of the wisdom and great honor he possesses, since he is the emperor and is the character with the most abundant beard.

Mulan has failed, She has dishonored her family and herself, so she cuts her hair and does it with the element that was once her father’s honor.. Upon returning from the army and having saved China, Mulan gives his father the sword and the objects that the emperor has given her, thus returning honor to his family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fBvwINDEcE

Women in Mulan

As we have seen, the role of women in the society presented in the film is completely secondary. Mulan will be a totally atypical female character never seen before in Disney, Mulan will be a rebel, a woman who challenges the rules and shows us that any of us can do anything we set our minds tobecause no man is more than any woman.

When the emperor asks for the help of the people, he only asks for the help of one man from each family, and cannot be replaced by a woman, even if her health is weak. Mulan considers this fact unfair, since She is young and can serve China in better conditions than her father.who probably would not survive such a challenge due to his delicate health.

Mulan must measure her words and act like a man to go unnoticed. There is a moment when the soldiers sing a song about women and everyone asks that she be “a beautiful flower”, “that she knows how to cook”, etc. Mulan appeals to intelligence and cunning, to a woman you can talk tosomething that causes rejection in the rest of the soldiers because they are not the qualities they would expect to find in a woman.

For Mulan, things won’t be easy at first. However, soon She manages to surpass herself and earn the respect and recognition of the rest of the soldiers.. When this first obstacle seems overcome, They discover that it is a woman and some begin to not accept hereven though she has saved them and has proven to be a good warrior.

There are several occasions that we could take as an example of how difficult it is to be a woman in a man’s world., where many stop listening and even go so far as to tell her to “hold her tongue in the presence of a man” or that “she will never be worth anything here because she is a woman.” Despite her adversities, Mulan will be a true hero, she will break all those canons and stereotypes and save the country from her, showing that she is no less for being a woman.

We see a before and after in her, the young and carefree Mulan that we saw at the beginning has disappeared, proving to be a strong and brave woman, just like any man.

Probably, He was not aware of the seriousness of the war until he arrived at a camp where there were no survivors.. There, she will find a doll that she had lost, a doll that symbolized the feminine and childish part of her and that she will leave abandoned in that place. This encounter with the doll represents an encounter with herself.with his true self and, at the same time, the end of innocence and the step towards maturity.

Mulan is not a princess, and her beauty is barely alluded to. She is far from the prototype of a Disney princess. She represents the portrait of a woman like everyone else, with aspirations, dreams and the desire to improve herself and show that she is not inferior to men.

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