Mulan, A Great Example For Women

Mulan is a 1998 Disney film inspired by the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. The film was critically acclaimed and was also a box office success. Over the years, it has become a true classic and a great example for women.

Fa Lulan is the only daughter of Fa Zhou, an ex-soldier with ailing health. Mulan must attend a mating ceremony to honor her family. Everyone is nervous at the prospect of the ceremony. Because in those days, women eagerly waited for the moment that they would be matched with a good man and thus honor their family.

Family values ​​and the role of women as good housewives are deeply ingrained in their society. Mulan will therefore have a lot of pressure on her shoulders. But she doesn’t feel like she’s ready for this. Because she has other hopeful expectations and goals. Everything seems to be ending in disaster. Mulan feels guilty that she has disgraced her family and that she does not fit into society.

At the same time, the Chinese army is waging war against the Huns. The emperor asks that one man from each family go to war to fight. Mulan makes a drastic decision. She will disguise herself as a man, leave her house and join the army.

Honor and duty in the movie Mulan

According to the values ​​of the traditional family, the man is the hero. The woman has been relegated to second place. These rules are firmly embedded. But Mulan doesn’t seem to fit these rules completely.

During her visit to the mating ceremony, we see how the young women follow all the rules. They look very excited with the prospect of finding a husband. On the other side there is Mulan. She gets ready at the last minute and writes on a “cheat sheet” what to say.

She really doesn’t know what is expected of her. Mulan knows she must honor her family. She also really wants to pay tribute to her parents. But everything goes wrong at the pairing ceremony. So she begins to reconsider what her real duties are.

In the end, she breaks all the rules. She breaks with tradition and takes her father’s place in the army. However, she doesn’t just do it for her father. Because she does it for herself too. Mulan must find her place in society. She also has to prove to herself that she is valuable and more than just a model woman.

The Symbolism of the Sword

When Mulan decides to disguise himself as a man, something very symbolic happens. She cuts her hair with her father’s sword. This small detail can easily be overlooked. We could also assume it’s just part of Mulan’s transition period, the change and the start of a new adventure. But behind all this is something else. For both the hair and the sword are laden with symbolic connotations.

If we think of mythology, we will see that the sword always has to do with honor. The sword is also associated with “the man.” It represents triumph, personal growth and honor in battle. Every great warrior has his sword with which he has won battles. The sword Mulan uses is her father’s sword. This is the sword he used to honor the Fa family. She takes the sword and cuts her hair with the sword.

The symbolism of the hair

The hair also contains a certain symbolism that has to do with honor. Just think of Samson. His hair was the symbol of his strength and his honor. Moreover, we associate long hair with femininity.

The same symbolism can be found in the Cantar de Mio Cid. El Cid’s beard was a reflection of his honor. The more fights he won, the more his beard grew. That is why the emperor in Mulan has an impressive white beard. It is a symbol of the wisdom and of the great honor he possesses. So he has the longest beard in the community.

Now Mulan is a failure. She has shamed her family and herself. So she cuts her hair and does it with the sword that was once the object of her father’s honor. After saving China, she eventually returns from her military service. She gives her father the sword and the other objects that the emperor has given her. In this way she gives her family the credit back.

The women in Mulan

As we’ve seen, Mulan is a totally atypical female character and one we’ve never seen before at Disney. She is a rebel, a woman who defies the rules. She shows us that each of us can do anything we want. No man is worth more than a woman.

When the emperor asks the people for help, he only asks one man from each family. He also stated that this man could not be replaced by a woman, even if he was in poor health. Mulan thinks this is unfair. She is young. So she can serve China better than her father in his condition at the time. Because due to his ill health, he could never survive.

Initially things are not easy for Mulan. But soon she manages to overcome these obstacles. She gains the respect and recognition of other soldiers. Then they discover that she is a woman. Some really can’t accept it, even though she saved them and proved herself a good warrior.

A woman in a man’s world

There are several moments in the film that show how difficult it is to be a woman in a man’s world. Many men don’t listen to women. They even tell them to “shut up in the presence of a man.” Some men say to and about women that “they will never be worth anything here because they are women.”

But despite the setbacks, Mulan becomes a heroine. She breaks all stereotypes and saves her country. In this way she shows that she is not inferior as a person just because she is a woman. In her we see a personality before and one after the war. In the beginning we saw the young carefree Mulan. But it’s gone now. Now she has proved that she is a strong and courageous woman, just like any man.

She probably didn’t realize how serious war was until she arrived at the camp and found no survivors. There she finds a doll that she had lost. A doll symbolizes the feminine and the childish side she has left behind. That encounter with the doll is an encounter with herself, with her true self. It also marks the end of innocence and a step towards adulthood.

Mulan is not a princess. The film doesn’t talk about her beauty either. She is anything but a typical Disney princess. She plays the role of a normal woman with hopeful hopes and dreams. She is a woman who wanted to conquer and show that she is in no way less valuable than men.