Mulan (1999, VHS)

The Huns came onto the historical scene in the late 5th century, AD, they swept through most of the European continent, destroying and killing everything in their way. Some historians believe the Huns attempted to invade China early in their existence. Not all historians agree, but they do know the Huns never destroyed China, or collected tributes from the Chinese. It is believed they were repelled in their attempts to rape and pillage there.

Disney's Mulan takes this story of Hun invasion and turns it into an animated musical.

Mulan is a young girl growing up in China. Which means she is essentially worthless to her family, except to the extent that she can hopefully get married upwards in the societal ladder, and give birth to a son. We are first introduced to Mulan as she prepares to go off to meet her match maker so she may be graded and matched with the appropriate husband. For some reason doing successfully will bring honor to her family. Honor to her family and ancestors is really the main focus of Mulan's life to this point. Mulan does poorly, and feels she has shamed her family. She arrives home and sings a pretty sad song. She doesn't look very highly upon herself. But what he song does say is that she doesn't recognize the girl she sees in her reflection. This is a good thing. As her exterior appearance is what everyone else, (society) has told her she must be. She awaits the time when her reflection will be what she feels inside. Mulan easily sees herself as something other than a perfect daughter, wife and mother. Mulan has aspirations of some sort, yet we do not know what. Her father sits with her to comfort her, finds a flower which has not yet bloomed amongst all others, and states: "I bet when it blooms, this one will be the most beautiful of them all." This type of talk becomes common to MULAN, many of the Chinese seem to speak in fortune cookie like proverbs.

We see perhaps Mulan's father is a good guy who really loves his daughter. He still has a belief in her that she will become great. The saying sounds nice at the time, but when you think about it, it is very negative. We can look into the saying and see that he is stating Mulan is not yet beautiful. That he is not yet proud of her, and that he sees her as only a girl, there seems to be no Father to Daughter love there, but Mulan certainly loves her father. He seems to mean everything to her. Honoring him is what she is striving for. We quickly see that Mulan is not looked highly upon by her father.

The Huns are coming.

The invasion of China has begun. The emperor is aware of this, and despite the reassurance of his General, he orders a draft; one Male from each family must join the military. When word comes to the village Mulan lives in, she hurries forward to protest the order that her father, older and crippled from an earlier war, must join and fight. She has spoken without being spoken to. Something a woman should never do in this society. "Mulan, you dishonor me"

Mulan, shocked and bothered by the fact that her father must go off to what is certainly death in the army, speaks out at dinner time, which looks more like Tea time. (It seems that Disney believes Chinese just sit around and sip hot tea.) It is here that Mulan is told she ought to learn her place. "I know my place, it is time you learned yours", her father says angrily. Mulan's place is apparently to just be what everyone else wants her to be, with one notable exception. What she wants to be.

Mulan decides to leave home, and to take her father's place in the military, something illegal for women to do. Mulan steals her fathers armor, his sword, cuts her hair and goes off with her trusty horse to join the military, praying to her ancestors one last time before she leaves. The importance of Lineage is emphasized strongly in MULAN.

Mulan goes off to the military, who are portrayed largely as drunken, brawling slobs, with no organizational skills, or discipline. Here is where we meet Eddie Murphy as the little dragon, Mushoo. The ancestors have been awakened by the prayers of the older woman in Mulan's family. Even her ancestors argue in spirit over Mulan. Most see her as a disappointment. Mushoo has been sent down by the ancestors to protect Mulan and help her with her transition into "becoming" a male in the military. Of course it is purely by accident that Mushoo is really the dragon which is sent down to protect Mulan. Eddie Murphy as the wise cracking dragon protector of Mulan adds comic relief to an otherwise serious film. I feel Mushoo only takes away from a movie which does have very serious messages.

When Mulan finally gets to the military, she has to begin training under the command of a Man who's qualifications include being 1st in his class, and coming from good lineage. It really has nothing to do with qualifications, which will become apparent shortly. He does, however, push these troops to train and become a somewhat formidable force. Mulan works harder than all others, we figure it is to become a great warrior and bring honor to her family. Mulan trains and becomes the best soldier in the little contingent she is a part of, which still looks more like the Chinese version of Robin Hood's Merry Men.

The Huns are still on the move, and have destroyed a village and killed off the regular army. The small band of drafted warriors, finds this, along with no survivors. They need to return to the center of China to warn the emperor, instead, they run across the Huns attacking.
The commander, being the military strategist that he is, decides they must stand and fight, regardless of the absurd odds that are against them. They are so greatly outnumbered, it is suicide to stand and fight. Mulan takes charge, defeats the charging Huns and saves the life of the commander. In the process, she is injured, but she has saved China, and her fellow soldiers, and most importantly, gained the trust of her commander, and the guy who I suppose we are to believe she has the hots for. But this doesn't seem to be a love story in the least bit. Mulan passes out and is taken to a doctor for treatment. The secret isn't going to last any longer. Mulan is discovered to be a woman. The penalty? Death. Does anyone care that she has just saved all their lives? That she has saved China by running off on her own and taking action to defeat the Huns? No. She is a woman. She has disgraced them, she has broken the law by serving in the military, and therefore must die. The Commander knows he must kill her, but instead spares her life, because she saved his in the battle. He calls them even, and proceeds to leave her alone, without provisions in the snow. That in itself seems to be a death sentence.

Mulan goes through another self esteem lowering time of her life her. We learn the reason she went to war was not to bring honor to her father, but to prove to herself she could do something right. She sees herself as nothing but a failure, and figures it is time to go home and disappoint her father yet again.

Instead, Mulan is able to save the day again. The Huns aren't dead, they only should be. There is no possible way they could have survived what they went through. Mulan sees them, and hurries off to warn the military who are being honored as China's heroes. Who is really missing is Mulan, she was the real hero, yet when she arrives she is told to get out of there, and her warning of the Huns coming is ignored. Suddenly it is to late. The Huns take over the city, the Imperial Palace, and are going to kill the Emperor. Mulan, of course, comes up with the plan which leads to the infiltration of the palace, and the rescue of the Emperor. The leader of the Huns blames the commander, Shang, for foiling his plans, Mulan finally stands up and takes credit for something, as a woman. She battles and wins, with the help of Mushoo. Mulan is then approached by the Emperor, who comes up with all these negative things to say about what she has done, but then finally thanking her and rewarding her for what she did for China. Mulan has brought much honor to her family, and she returns home.

Mulan presents her rewards to her father, who drops them aside and hugs Mulan. The greatest gift he could get is having Mulan for a daughter. Dad is proud, then the Commander shows up looking for her, he is interested in Mulan, and since he is of good lineage and has a great reputation, everyone is happy. Does the Commander even like Mulan? I'm not sure. It takes the Emperor to tell him to quit being stupid and go after her. You don't find a girl like that every dynasty, he tells him. Do they live happily ever after? Who knows. I suppose.

What messages does Mulan really have?
A girl who means little to her society, except for her ability to please her in-laws, and her husband, and most importantly, have male children.
In the beginning we see the story of a girl with no self esteem. She has a purpose in life, she knows it herself, yet she doesn't know what it is yet. She does know she doesn't want just what everyone else has planned for her. Mulan wants to actually do something. She wishes not to be a silent servant sitting at home, waiting on her elders. But this would be her role.
Instead Mulan is willing to take a risk. Mulan, as the heroine sets out to do something right. It doesn't seem to be what she wants, just anything. It doesn't even have to be what is "right" for her, she only wishes to accomplish something correctly to prove she can to herself. When she does, she still sees herself as worthless, as she does not find acceptance amongst her peers. Mulan defines herself not as successful after accomplishing something as important as she has, but rather as a failure because of how someone else sees her.
In a way, Mulan is a tragic hero as a male soldier. It is only after the truth is out, and Mulan is able to walk about as a woman, that she really saves everyone, and begins to show self confidence. Perhaps this is a story of being true to yourself. Mulan, posing as a man was successful, yet she wasn't accepted when the truth was revealed. Nothing, other than her gender, mattered. Mulan realizes she can't go on pretending to be what she isn't when the secret is out. Yet, she becomes more effective, and a leader when she is free to be who she really is.

Does Mulan ever get the self esteem she lacked early in the film? I can't say. We really are left with that question unanswered. Mulan is a girl who has issues, some given to her by her father, others given to her by society's views of what she should be. She may have worked some of those issues out, but there isn't any scene where we know these issues have been resolved. Does her father love her for being the daughter that she is? Or does he love her because she has brought Honor to her family? That too, is unknown.
I believe MULAN is the story of a girl who has to go through her own personal war, with herself, in order to figure out what it is she wants in life. I believe Mulan actually loses this war. She accomplishes something great, and that seems to be enough for her. After she has done this, she seems ready to accept what everyone else has planned for her.

Mulan is lucky, she has survived the war, and more importantly, she has heard words she needed to hear from her father. All her life she strove to please him. It didn't seem to matter much what she did, she didn't bring honor him, even though she was always striving to do what it was he wanted her to do. Once she has finally gone off and done her own thing, and done it well, she returns home. Fearing rejection, she approaches her father, finding instead, love and acceptance. When she returns home, her father has missed her greatly, it is often the possibility of losing someone permanently that makes one realize just what it is they could potentially lose, Mulan's Father has realized this, and he loses the macho image, and actually opens up to Mulan, he tells her just how much he has missed her and how glad he is to have her as a daughter.

Every father should realize how important his daughter is.
Every daughter should hear that from her father.