Andrea Gonzalez

ILS 2390

Professor Wolfe

12/19/2019

Essay 1: Mulan Through A Feminist Lens

During the third wave of feminism, Disney launched the movie Mulan in 1998, so maybe

this will justify why at first sight, Mulan seems to be a feminist film that encourages women to

empower themselves. The film is not stripped of traditional gender roles, despite

promoting feminist illustrations. While the film can be called progressive by getting away from

the usual narrative of "damsel in distress," we see that it is not as egalitarian as it first seemed

after further consideration. Disney's Mulan reinforces a simplistic view of the gender stereotypes

that favor men over women. Furthermore, the film highlights stereotypical feminine qualities and

shows how difficult it is to overcome stereotypical gender roles.

The Disney movie “Mulan” is the story of young lady who finds it difficult to conform to

the society’s standards for women in her time. While she struggles with the pressure her family

and society are putting on her, she ultimately decides to run away from home and join the army

posing as a man (Ping) in her father’s place. This action is extremely dangerous, not only

because of the battles she would have to encounter as a soldier, but as a woman, joining the army

is a death punishable crime. In the army, Ping becomes a trustworthy and respected soldier after

saving his peers in a major battle against the Huns. At the climax of the movie Mulan is

discovered by her peers and is forgiven and sent home to a dishonored family. After, Mulan

becomes aware that the leader of the Huns is still alive and discovers his plans to kill the
emperor. She endangers herself and manages to save the emperor and China from the hands of

the Huns. At the end Mulan becomes China’s hero and receives the emperor’s crest and the

Hun’s sword to show her family their honor has been restored.

Mulan portrays the two important sides of gender stereotypes, while men are seen as

intelligent, powerful, strong, and the only ones worth fighting for their country; women in the

other hand are expected to be feminine, quiet, weak, and vulnerable. The film does a great job

portraying the patriarch ideas women have been forced to live in since the beginning of times. In

the scene when she visits the “matchmaker”, we can see how she learns that a girl can only bring

honor to her family by marrying into a good family and being the servant of a man. During those

scenes the film portrays the idea that a woman’s main goal should be to find a husband, take care

of the home, pour tea and be gracious.

On the other hand, the movie also portrays the sexiest image of what society values in a

woman. During the scene where the soldiers are in the camp and they start singing the song “A

Girl Worth Fighting For”, the soldiers singing the song reinforce the idea that a woman “worth

fighting for” is beautiful, a good cook, and able to reinforce a man’s masculinity. Furthermore,

when Ping (Mulan) asked if they would like a girl who has a brain, they all react in disgust. This

reinforces society’s expectations that a girl should not be smart, rather she is expected to be

brainless and just focus on taking care of her household and husband’s ego.

The movie also does a great job portraying how hard gender stereotypes are to break.

Mulan is given an influential role in China’s empire after rescuing the Emperor playing a place

that is stereotypically male. Mulan also returns home to be a good daughter instead of smashing

through the glass ceiling and undermining gender roles. When Mulan arrives back from the war

with the enemy's sword and the Emperor's crest, she should have been considered a hero. On the
opposite, her grandmother says “Great, she brought home a sword. If you ask me, she should

have brought home a man” (Mulan 1998). Mulan protected all of China, but only becoming a

bride is really what remains important to her family rather than to bring glory to the country. Her

heroic efforts have not been recognized as a woman; yet she is still expected to bring honor to

the family as a bride. It shows that while women can be effective in a men's world, what really

counts in fact is that they adhere to their feminine gender stereotypes. This does remind women

of their traditional role in society and gives the perception that it is futile to deviate from these

established expectations, indicating that these assumptions remain deeply embedded in society.

In conclusion, Mulan is not stripped of traditional gender roles and prejudices, given

some feminist images. In reality, the film could potentially be more problematic than other

Disney films because it conceals gender inequality by concealing it within overall female

empowerment messages. The song “A Girl Worth Fighting For”, stresses the feminine stereotype

characteristics. Mulan aims to depict female inferiority at the end of the film by stressing that

women are considered good only when they have found a partner, despite any "masculine"

achievement or courage. The emphasis is on Mulan's gender roles throughout the film, not her

efforts to save China or save the life of her father. Hence, Disney's Mulan promotes gender

inequality by presenting representations to audiences that perpetuate the idea that women are

inferior to men, and that feminine characteristics will always be secondary to those of the higher

male sex.
 References

Field, Anna. “Viewing ‘Mulan’ Through a Feminist Lens.” Prezi.com, 4 Jan. 2013, prezi.com/su-
uelbuvhpp/viewing-mulan-through-a-feminist-lens/.

Fung, Julianne. “Feminist and Queer Analysis of Disney's Mulan.” Feminist and Queer Analysis
of Disney's Mulan, mulananalysis.weebly.com/.

Mulan. Disney, 1998. Film.

“Mulan.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0120762/plotsummary.

Parks, Melinda. “How Fourth-Wave Feminism Is Changing Disney's Princesses.” How Fourth-
Wave Feminism Is Changing Disney's Princesses | Highbrow Magazine, 19 Dec. 2019,
www.highbrowmagazine.com/4388-how-fourth-wave-feminism-changing-disney-s-
princesses.