University of Osnabrueck

Department of Literary and Culture Studies

Winter Semester 2006/07

Seminar: (7.120302) Introduction to Gender Theory

The Representation of Gender in

Walt Disney′s "Mulan"

Blum

, Sonja

European Studies, 3rd Semester

Submission date: March 30, 2007

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction 2

2

Short Summary of Disney′s "Mulan" 2

3

The Representation of Gender 3

3.1

The Protagonist Fa Mulan 3

3.2 Treatment

of

Women 6

3.3

Depiction of Men 6

3.4

Meaning of Song Texts presented in Disney′s "Mulan" 8

4

Gender as Performance 9

5

"Mulan′s" Influence on Society 10

6 Conclusion:

Disney′s

"Mulan" ­ A feminist movie? 12

7 Appendix 13

Bibliography 17

1

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The Representation of Gender in Disney′s "Mulan"

1 Introduction

"How can they tell if I am male or female?"1 With this last line of "The Ballad of

Mulan" the (anonymous) author raises the gender question already in the 6th century.

In this essay, I would like to analyse The Representation of Gender in Walt

Disney′s "Mulan"2, using the structure of the movie to focus on The Protagonist Fa

Mulan, the Treatment of Women and the Depiction of Men. Additionally, the inquiry

concerning the Meaning of Song Texts in Disney′s "Mulan" appears useful as these

always play an important role in conveying movie themes. In order to establish a

connection to the seminar on which this paper is based, I will illustrate how the

movie is a good example for Judith Butler′s theory of Gender as Performance. Last

but not least, I would like to show the Influence of Disney′s "Mulan" on Children

and Society because fairy tales and movies

"[...] do influence the manner in which

children conceive the world and their places in it [...]"

3. Drawing the "Conclusion",

I will try a careful approach to find out if Disney′s "Mulan" might even be

considered as a feminist movie.

2 Short Summary of Disney′s "Mulan"

Walt Disney′s motion picture movie "Mulan" is loosely based on an ancient

Chinese poem "The Ballad of Mulan" and set in 15th century China4. It deals with a

brave girl named Fa Mulan who is in search of self-definition and in this process

enters the Imperial army disguised as a man and manages to save the country.

Fa Mulan is an impulsive girl who is expected to be a disciplined daughter and a

future caring wife. However, after a catastrophic visit to the local matchmaker, she is

reproached for being a disgrace to her family and predicted that she will never find a

husband. Later that day, messengers of the Emperor announce that the Huns have

invaded China and that one man from each family is obliged to fight in the Imperial

army. Mulan′s elderly father obeys the command but it is obvious that he would not

1 Lau, J.:

Ode to Mulan

; http://www.yellowbridge.com/onlinelit/mulan.html; as of March 28, 2007

2 In the following, I will refer to the Disney movie "Mulan" in inverted commas and to the protagonist

Fa Mulan without special labeling

3 3 Zipes, Jack:

Don′t Bet on the Prince. Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North American and
England

; Gower, 1986; p. xii

4 cf. Wikipedia:

Mulan

; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulan; as of March 20, 2007

2

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survive the battle. Therefore, Mulan steals her father′s armament, dresses as a man

and runs away to join the military in his place.

In confrontation with the enemy, Mulan manages through a tactical maneuver

to win the battle. However, she has received an injury and her secret is revealed. As a

consequence, Mulan is left behind while her company enters the city in order to

celebrate their victory. As she realizes that a small group of Huns has survived and

attacks the Emperor, Mulan succeeds with another peculiar strategy to rescue the

sovereign. She is glorified as a heroine and offered employment under the imperial

crown which she thankfully refuses. She prefers to return to her family to which she

now has brought great honor.

3 The Representation of Gender

3.1 The Protagonist Fa Mulan

"The heroes are male because that has been the unconsidered choice, the norm,

the American selfhood. Woman is the exception; man is the default setting [...]"

5. Fa

Mulan is such an exception. She is the heroine of Disney′s motion picture film

"Mulan". As noted in "Understanding Disney"

"[...] the hero succeeds [...] because

of what they do [...]"

and

"[...] heroines require nothing beyond what they are born

with [...]"6

. Considering this distinction, Mulan deviates even twice from

"the

norm"

of fairy tales: not only is she the heroine of the story but also does she achieve

this by her actions. The way towards being a heroine in a patriarchal society,

however, was a major challenge for the protagonist. At the beginning of the movie,

Fa Mulan is forced into the stereotypical feminine gender role but cannot fulfil it

properly. Consequently she suffers from self-reproaches and the humiliation of being

criticized in public.

The first appearance of the protagonist is the young girl sitting on her bed and

writing characters of a `perfect woman′ on her forearm. For the meeting with the

local matchmaker, she tries to memorize the following qualities: a woman has to be

"quiet and demure, graceful, polite, delicate, refined, poised, punctual."7

Speaking

5 Reising, Russell:

It′s a Dirty World after All

; In:

American Quarterly

; Vol. 49, No. 4; John Hopkins

University Press; Baltimore, MD, December 1997; p. 857

6 Wasko, Janet:

Understanding Disney. The Manufacture of Fantasy

; Polity Press in association with

Blackwell Publishers Ltd.; Malden, MA, USA, 2001; p. 133

7 Disney′s "Mulan". Special Edition; Directors: Bancroft, Tony/Cook, Barry; Walt Disney

Productions, 2004; Chapter 3, Time 00:03:00

3

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of punctuality, she heads towards the city in order to be transformed from the

tomboyish girl to a

"perfect porcelain doll"8

. Though, seeing herself in the mirror

does not seem to make her really happy. The dress and the make-up appear more like

a costume to her, a façade. This styling does not represent who she really is and how

she feels but her family and society expect appropriate behavior from her.

At the matchmaker′s Mulan is told once again that in order to "[...]

please [her]

future in-laws, [she] must demonstrate a sense of dignity and refinement. [She] must

also be poised and silent."

9 These characteristics are inculcated into the girls′ minds

and in the sense of Simone de Beauvoir, Mulan

"[...] is not born, but, rather,

becomes, a woman [...]"

10

by imposed behavior.

The encounter ends as a disaster and the matchmaker tells Mulan that she

"[...]

may look like a bride but [she] will never bring [her] family honour

.

"11

Her outer

appearance does not reflect who she is inside. When Mulan arrives home and takes

off her make-up from just one side of her face, this picture visualizes her inner

conflict. It shows her true self and the woman she is supposed to be. How she suffers

from the previous experience and the inability to fulfil the social expectations is

expressed in the song "Reflection" (see Chapter 3.4).

After having discussed the war issue with her father and being told that she needs

to find her place in society, Mulan decides that she will join the army in her father′s

place. The depiction of her changes from woman to man clearly illustrates the

elimination of stereotypical feminine features. She is cutting her long hair short,

changes her dress for her father′s military uniform and substitutes the prescription

notice with her hairgrip.

Arrived at the boot camp, Mulan - now disguised as the man Ping - has to get

used to the masculine behavior of her comrades and tries to adopt their gender role.

At the beginning, she is not integrated into the group; she is bullied and sleeps

outside the camp. Although she is not as strong as a man, she manages as the only

trooper to complete a difficult task on account of her intelligence and great

discipline. She holds her ground in a man′s world and is accepted as one of the best

8 ibid.; Chapter 4, Time 00:08:27

9 ibid.; Chapter 4, Time 00:09:49

10 In: Butler, Judith:

Performative Acts and Gender Constitution. An Essay in Phenomenology and
Feminist Theory

; In: Conboy, Katie/Medina, Nadia/Stanbury, Sarah:

Writing on the Body. Female
Embodiment and Feminist Theory

; Columbia University Press; New York, Chichester, West Sussex,

1997; p. 402

11 Disney′s "Mulan"; Chapter 4, Time 00:10:51

4

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