Mulan is one of the greatest Disney movies that was made in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. For it’s time it was revolutionary, inventive and all around a heartwarming movie that taught so many lessons in it but I’m going to try an address a few of them in this blog. Usually I focus on Disney movies that didn’t turn out how they wanted it too, but this week I wanted to shine a light on one of my favorites.

Mulan is a young girl who’s living in a country fraught with war all around her. She has grown up with certain expectations of her, when she will marry, when will she grow up and start to become more a “woman” (whatever that means at the time) and yet she can’t help but feel that she wants- no needs more in life. Disney from the beginning with Mulan gives us a character that young girls can relate with, mostly every girl around the world has felt like they were being pressured into a certain image or look a certain way for the people around her. She is struggling with her identity even more as the movie progresses, the war getting closer and the expectations of her growing. Disney gives us one of the most amazing songs, “Reflection” as Mulan battles internally not knowing if who she is anymore is for the people around her or who she really is.

In Chinese culture cutting your hair can signify a huge change, or the loss of something.

Mulan, like most of us, does everything she can to find herself and with that comes in taking her dad’s place in the war disguising herself as a man and determined to fight for her family no matter what. The way Disney weaves in the lesson of how important family is and staying true to yourself is portrayed in the most amazing way. We are left rooting for Mulan and her journey of finding herself and also interested in how she is going to keep up the cover of pretending to be man surrounded by so many men while training.

Yessss

I know this blog is about breaking down the plot of Disney movies but I have to mention the song, “I’ll make a man out of you.” that beautifully shows through song how Mulan is figuring out who she is, fighting through doubts from herself and peers and even proving that she’s there for a reason and is going to show that. The way Disney uses the idea that being a man means being a certain way and switching it on its axis by Mulan doing what the rest of her peers couldn’t do was a rare thing for a movie at the time and really needs to be applauded.

I could go on and on about Mulan, every scene almost but in the end Mulan is a movie that Disney did right with. It showed her journey, her growth, her strength, and most importantly gave a beautiful representation for so many different types of people to look too.