Fa Mulan

"As long as you don’t choose, everything remains possible.” 118 year old Nemo Nobody is the last living mortal in a world where something called telemerization has created a population of semi-immortals . He tells of his life at three critical points: at age nine, age sixteen, and age thirty-four. This is no ordinary story however, as he tells of alternate life paths, often changing course with the flick of a decision or by some seemingly insignificant event. One path leaves Nemo married to…

Within the world of contemporary art, an issue that often presents itself is the issue of context. In many cases such as the one I will present in this essay, the idea of understanding and appreciating a piece of work is often quite difficult without the back-story. Not only does context place the work in time, but also allows us as viewers to further relate our own experiences to what the artist is trying to say. This process of obtaining context through research therefore allows for a deeper…

One of my all time favorite Disney movies Mulan was based on the fifth century Chinese poem the Ballad of Mulan. As little contemporary evidence exists other than the poem, it is unknown whether she was a real or fictional person. In the movie Mulan is portrayed as a very beautiful, strong, and brave woman who disguises herself as a man named Ping and joins the imperial army to defeat the huns in the stead of her old and very weak father and ultimately saves China. Anyways to get to the good…

Simba and Mulan: Children with Families Unlike previous Disney animated movies such as Snow White and Cinderella, family is an important theme in the movies The Lion King and Mulan. Simba, the main character in The Lion King has a father, mother and uncle who are all appear onscreen and play a role in his life. Similarly the title character Mulan has a father, mother and grandmother who she is very close too. (Interestingly, both Mulan and Simba are only children.) By the end of both of their…

beliefs are evident in “Honor To Us All.” Grandmother Fa’s verse explains how an apple will grant Mulan serenity, a pendant will give her balance, and jade will bring her beauty. Also, Grandmother Fa reiterates the cricket’s luck and jokes how with Cri-Kee “even [Mulan] can’t blow it.” Another example of Grandmother Fa’s comic relief is when she disagrees with the Matchmaker’s initial impression of Mulan, “Who spit in her bean curd?” At the end of the film, Mulan’s parents are happy to have her…

interpretation of Mulan illustrates various ideas of gender. One specific topic Disney touches on regarding gender would relate to the idea of masculinity. Characters such as Mulan’s father Fa Zhou, the “Hun” villain Shu Yu, Mulan’s love interest Li Shang, the emperor’s adviser Chi Fu, Mulan’s three soldier friends, and the emperor all demonstrate or challenge an idea of masculinity. Both Fa Zhou and Mulan’s soldier friends undermine or question male authority in Disney’s Mulan. Both Shan Yu and…

what Disney character Fa Mulan, pictured above, is attempting to do. Disney’s Mulan is set in the Han Dynasty, which is considered to be the golden age of China. In that day and age, sons and daughters struggled to bring honor to their families. To be honorable, young women had to be great housewives with beauty beyond compare and young men needed to prove themselves at war. At the young age of 16, Mulan…

A long time ago in ancient China, Mulan lived with her parents and her dog named, Little Brother. Mulan is the only child in her family and she feels responsible for maintaining the family honor. Mulan is trying to bring honor to her family by going to the matchmaker, but she fails. The matchmaker tells her she will never bring her family honor. When Mulan comes home from visiting the matchmaker, her parents are upset and she feels upset. She knows if she was to be herself she would break her…

resent the Chinese culture. However, she really seems to identify with the figure of the women warrior. As a kid she was told the story of Fa Mulan and to wants to be like her. Even as she gets older she still fantasizes of being a woman warrior, “I’ve looked for the bird...I was that eager to find an unusual bird” (51). The bird signifies the beginning of Fa Mulan’s journey as a woman warrior, and the end of her life as…

Mulan: A sociological analysis The animated motion picture “Mulan” produced by Walt Disney, directed by Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft, retells the story of a Chinese folktale regarding a young woman named Fa Mulan who struggles to construct her identity amidst the confines of a highly traditional family and social culture. At first glance, Mulan seems to be a feminist film encouraging the individual empowerment of young women as she demonstrates her courage, resourcefulness, and ingenuity.…