MULAN: RISE OF A WARRIOR

When barbarian hordes threaten Mulan’s homeland, the brave and cunning Mulan
disguises herself as a male soldier to swell the ranks in her aging father’s stead. The warrior’s
remarkable courage drives her through powerful battle scenes and brutal wartime strategy.
Mulan loses dear friends to the enemy’s blade as she rises to become one of her country’s most
valuable leaders.
The symbols that are represented in this movie are the tiger name, giving up love, flag,
armour, small tablet with their name and picture with it and only male can go to battle and can
learn kung Fu.
In China the Tiger symbolizes bravery and power. Mulan’s friend Tiger receives that
name because he is brave. In the movie Tiger did not show fear when he knew that he would die
but instead he sang their warrior creed:
“A century of human
Life is like a dream
Life and death occur
Heroes have no regrets

Protect my homeland
Show off my nation’s pride
What joy is there in life,
What regrets in death

There are enemy winds up north,

But home fires down south
I miss my wife and children and my home
They are across the mountains faraway ”

Mulan’s selfless and patriotic act of giving up the man she loves for the good of
the country is a symbol of her love for China and for the Wei province specifically. She knows
that if there is a union between the ruling families of each province then there will be peace in
the future and she puts this ahead of her own happiness symbolizing her love for her country and
her willingness to sacrifice for it.
The crown for Rouran’s tribe are the highest place and only those nobles can inherit it.
And from the movie the son of the king killed his father for power and authority. So that he
could do what he wanted which is to attack the wei province which is against the will of his
father.
The flag symbolizes freedom. It symbolizes patriotism, love for country and sense of
nationhood of the Wei people in their unceasing quest for their country.
The general in the battle field is so important. Killing the general of the enemy
symbolizes defeat for that team. Which in the movie when Rourans attacked the base of the Wei
army, Mulan was about to be executed but these incident give her the chance and she
successfully killed the general of Rourans which encourages her team mates.
Armours also have symbolism. In the movie Mulan has given a red armour which is the
highest rank and black was the lowest.
Small tablets with their name and picture on it symbolizes their identity and when they
were unlucky on the battle field these tablet will be given to their family which is the sign that
their father, husband, son or brother was killed on the war.
Only male can go to war and can only learn Kung Fu, this symbolizes that female for
them is just for household purposes and getting married like what Mulan’s father said that “ I
should not never teach you Kung Fu” another is that when his father were getting prepared for
the battle he told to Mulan “… tomorrow you’ll getting married”
I also want to share some important motifs in this movie, one is that the love for the
country, pretending and last one is the family.
The love for country motif. This is a very strong motif throughout the movie. At various
intervals characters remind each other of why they are fighting. Nobody wants to be at war or
participating in bloodshed but they all do so because they love their country and are dutiful
citizens of it.
Second one is the pretending motif. The key characters in the movie do an awful lot of
pretending, for example Mulan pretends to be a man so that she can fight in place of her father.
Wentai pretends to have been killed so that Mulan starts to think with her head again and not
with her heart, as she had been when she prioritizing his safety over the success of the battle
plan. The pretences harm but to protect a loved one from being put in a position of danger or
detriment to themselves.
The last one is the family motif. The movie begins and ends with Mulan’s family; she
makes enormous personal sacrifices both for her father’s health and his safety but also to enable
him to retain his honor. She does not want to be discovered to baa woman because this would
bring about great dishonour, if people knew that he allowed a daughter to take up arms in his
place. She also not want news of her execution to reach her father so she asks that it is kept a
secret. At the end of the movie when she can have anything that she wants from that chooses just
to be allowed to go home to her family. Throughout the film the importance of family is shown
to be what drives Mulan and it is a constant motif in both her character and in the film as a
whole.