Kudos

Mulan is a pretty young girl who disguises herself as a man and joins the Chinese army in place for her father. While in the army she has to become the “typical” man, brave and fearless. She fights in a war shows bravery and fearlessness; even rescuing the Captain. After being discovered she continues to show her bravery by not caring about what people think, she only has one mission and that is to protect the emperor. She tries to tell people about the Huns and even though no one would listen she decided to take matters into her own hands. He fights the head person of the Huns, Shan-Yu, to protect the emperor. She in return for her bravery and success of protecting the emperor she was honored by the emperor himself in front of China.

Disney usually portrays women as fragile, following and/or seeking dependence on some man; Snow White, Princess Aurora, Cinderella, and Ariel. They would do anything to “get their man”. They all were girly girls and played the part as did they men; strong, masculine, going through trials to save their damsel in distress. Mulan is somewhat the opposite. She does go through some obstacles to please her family and the tradition in which her culture sets. She ends up going against everything that her culture teaches them knowing full well that she could pay the ultimate price, her life. She did not even need the lust or want of a man to motivate her to make her decoction to join the army. She does it to save her father which shows that she cares for his wellbeing but yet shows that she’s brave. Then during the boot camp for the army she over comes the obstacles and proves to everyone that she can make. They all think that she is a man, a weak man at that but she shows them all. Then during battle she shows fearlessness and through this she saves many lives and takes those who are threating the Emperor. When she is discovered to be a woman after saving the Captain’s life she accepts her fate of death. In the end she does not receive the punishment. She still continues to show bravery till the end.

On the side of the men and how they are portrayed by Disney is slightly altered than their usual portrayals. Even though most of their men are brave and strong there are more feminine ones and are often make fun of.  They men strive to be buff and masculine, even tough. They even objectify women in a song. “A woman worth fighting for”, women are their motives for fighting in this war; to show that they are strong and brave. On several occasions they rely on Mulan for support.

I think that Disney switched it up with this film in a good way. The heroin is a pretty, strong, brave woman and there were different types of men to explore the different types. Kudos to Disney, I think that they combined the new and old thoughts of the genders and their roles through these characters.

Defining

“I am a writer who happens to love women. I am not a lesbian who happens to write.”

-Winterson

In the society of yesterday and the present time, gender and identity has been a big part on how a person is viewed. For example if something about you is different from the status quo of society it becomes the defining property of that person. Such as if a women is ambitious about her work and about excelling in the work place she is considered a bitch but when a man shows the same aspects he is just considered as being driven and focused. Why is it that when both a man and a woman who have the same aspects in personalities one is thought more highly than the other? Society has placed thoughts and ideas into our minds since we were children about how we are supposed to act or function in our society and if we stray from those “guidelines” we will mostly be looked down upon. Women are supposed to be mild manner, obedient, and are mainly looked at as a follower. Men on the other hand are portrayed more as more dominate, rebellious, and mainly a leader figure. These images on how specific genders are supposed to act and the roles that each of them have been set in, have been shown to society for a very long time. Therefore it has been heavily submerged into our culture.

We often add labels to others and ourselves based on what our accomplishments are and how that reflects on us. For example, when Hilary Clinton was running for President no one really in the media really listened to her speaks, not even to critique them. All they cared about was how she dressed and how her hair was styled. The media sure did pay attention when Obama or McCain had things to say. They listened to their political views on current events were and what they planned to do if they became President. Why is it that way? Is it because Hilary was a woman and therefore her views were not as important as Obama’s or McCain’s? This could be contributed to the gender labels or expectations that are so deeply imbedded into our culture.

Culture today puts the gender of a person as the defining feature of identity; instead of the person themselves as the defining feature of their identity. Sartre would say that “existence precedes existence,” and that is the way our culture must view itself.