Mulan

   Review by MC17
   
   Disney's latest animated production, Mulan, portrays a 2000-year-old
   legend about a young woman in ancient China who does not want to be
   the disciplined feminine wife expected of her culture. When China has
   to defend its borders and her weak and sick father is conscripted into
   the army, she cuts her hair and goes in his place dressed as a man.
   
   This movie has a lot of potential for challenging gender roles in
   patriarchal culture, and as a Disney film it does better than might be
   expected, but in the end Mulan's defining victory is not the defeat of
   China's enemy or saving the thousands of lives or proving that wimmin
   can play important roles in society with brains and physical prowess.
   Instead her defining victory is finding a husband.
   
   Some of the shortcomings of the film were imposed by Disney when in
   fact the legend was more progressive. According to the Director of the
   Chinese Culture Institute in Boston, "When (Mulan) did something to
   save her army, instead of being proud, she was afraid of being
   punished by death. This is totally opposite of what history showed.
   There were real women who contributed a great deal to the country as
   warriors, and history praised them."
   
   In Disney's film, Mulan is a young girl who doesn't know how to use a
   sword or shoot a cannon, but joins the army to protect her sick
   father. However in the legend Mulan was trained as a soldier by her
   father, wins battles and is given the title of general by the emperor.
   Her father raised her like a son and taught her the military
   maneuvers. She was a capable commander.
   
   In spite of their revisions of the legend which help Mulan avoid
   taking on the patriarchy head on, Mulan is a step forward for the
   capitalist and patriarchal Disney. Although Mulan's physique is not
   that far from the sexy little mermaid and Pocahantas, at least she
   passes pretty well for a man when she cross-dresses. And Mulan's
   determination and battlefield quick thinking are fitting
   characteristics for a female hero.
   
   Mulan challenges the patriarchal ideal of wimmin when her fellow
   soldiers are dreaming of the perfect womyn and she asks what about a
   womyn who can use her brain and speaks her mind. And when the soldiers
   who had hailed her as a hero as a man no longer listened to her as a
   womyn she points out that she is not a different person than she was
   when they thought she was a man.
   
   The setting in ancient China makes it easier for Disney to take on
   gender stereotypes without offending the modern day patriarchy. It is
   easier to say that society was backwards in the way it treated wimmin
   hundreds of years ago or in some fantasyland rather than attack the
   patriarchy in modern culture. But the issues raised by Mulan are
   relevant today.
   
   Many feminists stop with their critique of patriarchy where Disney's
   Mulan stops: by pointing out the faults of previous societies or other
   cultures. All who are seriously interested in fighting the patriarchy
   must examine the role of imperialism and the contribution that First
   World privilege makes to the oppression of Third World wimmin and men.
   
   MIM works towards a society where romance culture is not the defining
   reality of existence for men or wimmin. Under communism life has
   inherent value because all people are working for the good of society
   and hence for themselves. And only when we have eliminated the
   patriarchy will we be able to enjoy relationships with others without
   power games and gender roles.
   
   Notes: AP June 23, 1998.