Mulan Stereotypes

One of the biggest stereotypes is society is gender. An unborn baby girl has her closet filled with dresses and hair bows but who is to say she is going to be a girly- girl. We do not know the answers; we just make assumptions based on gender. A little boy is seen as though he is supposed to like sports and want to participate. A little boy may My not want to play sports but simply read a book. He chooses to play sports because that is what is expected of him.

These stereotypes were strongly enforced when in The Searchers the Reverend comes to the family’s house to announce that the father is setting off with him to battle the Indians. The men are looked after, they have their coats taken off them and they are served food and drink, whereas the woman re running around after them ensure they’re satisfied, when the men set off the women collect for them there hat and give them to the men leaving. This is a perfect example of the typical housewife stereotype in a western film. The women were always the carers and the men were the bread winners, this scene demonstrates the

In Mulan, there are a number of times where there is a constant enforcement of male and female stereotypes. The first song, “Honor To Us All” reads “A girl can bring her family great honor in one way...and serve her emperor, by striking a good match” (6:09-9:06), and when Mulan’s true gender is revealed in front of the other soldiers and general, she is told that “there was something wrong with her, [because] she is a woman!” (1:00:26). In fact, when she arrives at the Imperial City to warn her friends of the enemy’s arrival, her own sidekick Mushu reminds her that nobody is going to listen to her because she is “a girl again” (1:08:28). Throughout the film, there is a hidden message that regardless of what Mulan has achieved, women are going

Disney’s animated film Mulan captured the hearts of many of the corporation’s fan’s hearts when it first arrived in 1998. The film is based on one of China’s most beloved poems entitled “The Ballad of Mulan,” which tells a similar story of a young woman dressing up as a male in order to enlist in the army to protect her father. Disney’s Mulan focuses heavily on the individual struggle of main character to find out who she is and where she fits into society, which deviates away from the original storyline drastically. The differences are formed due to the large differences between the ancient Eastern culture that is trying to be portrayed and the Western ideals that Disney incorporated to make the movie more relatable for the modern Western viewers. While this movie is full of imagery that paints a picture of a strong female lead that conquers evil by being her “true self,” it also contains many gender stereotypes that stem from the culture of the ancient Chinese belief system. Upon examining the movie further, it becomes obvious that the importance of accepting and conforming to gender roles that Mulan represents is not only rooted in Chinese culture but also finds origin in the cultural views of the West.

Obviously this cannot be accomplished while living a female gendered existence. Mulan begins the deconstruction of ideal masculinity through the reality of gender as performance. As the heroine learns what it takes to “be a man” viewers may choose to mock or idealize the process, but it is ultimately an act. Still, as Limbach would have readers remember, after the day is finally won Mulan happily returns to her role as obedient daughter and possible wife of Captain Li Shang (Limbach, 2013,

The Disney version of Mulan, naturally imposes decades old gender stereotypes which are popular in the American culture. The story begins with Mulan on her way to the matchmaker. While, getting ready there is a list of qualities that a respectable woman is expected to be in order to find a man. These qualities are both physical, such as having a small waist and a gorgeous face, as well as personality based, because they are expected to be disciplined and respectful. In addition, the woman’s makeup and dress are completed so the women look like little porcelain dolls, perfectly beautiful but quiet. On multiple occasions, Mulan is reprimanded for speaking when not spoken to, for example, when she defends her father in front of the whole town,

Gender Stereotype is a generalization made towards a specific gender that makes a simplistic generalization about their attributes, differences or roles of that group of people. Gender stereotypes in theatre are generally over exaggerated to help portray a story and the ideas of the author or director to the audience this helps build the character and the plot line while helping the audience understand or make comparisons between real world and theatrical world stereotypes. The directors can use this as a positive or a negative way to build characters. A stereotype in public domain can be interpreted different by every single person making it harder for the writer or director to get his point to the viewing audience with out loosing the relationship that is trying to be build between the character and the viewer.

For young age children, Disney movies has always played a big part in their childhood. For many people when watching movies such as Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella. They tend to only see it as family films with the same message, which is the princess getting her happy ending by marrying her prince charming who helped her in distress. These movies basically convey the message that women are not strong enough and have the courage to overcome certain obstacles within their lives without a man. But, the movie Mulan breaks this gender stereotype as it portrays a woman with a more masculine personality, opposes feminine stereotypes, and challenges the idea of men being more intellectual than women.

Within Disney’s Mulan, gender roles, linguistic differences, and racial concepts play a substantial role in telling the story of a young girl saving China from the Huns. At first glance, while the film may utilize an innocent plotline typically geared for young children, stereotypes and racist themes abound, prompting the question of how much of the movie is authentic, and how much of the film is the American perspective on Chinese culture. After an anthropological analysis of the film, it is seen that the gender stereotypes, use of accents, and racial differences not only assist the characterization of what is “Chinese”, but also provide the audience identification and relatability to the protagonist.     Primarily, the protagonist Fa

She gives a more positive review of Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) with few disappointments of how she represents the female gender. Griffiths believes that she is a great female role model because she portrays feminine characteristics, but still has strength within her. She brings up that she believes her strongest quality wasn’t in combat and that she wasn’t a fighter. She believes Mulan’s (Ming-Na Wen) strongest qualities is that she was smart, courageous, and resourceful. She proves that you don’t have to be seen as strong by rejecting all feminine characteristics. I agree that it’s important to see a role model who doesn’t just reject all of the typical female characteristics and just wants to be herself. However, I do think that Mulan was still knowledgeable and good at fighting after she trained in the army. That is what she was meant to learn while training. She was very resourceful and used her intelligence often to help, but there was definitely times that she was shown fighting some of the Huns. I find it wrong to downplay her knowledge in combat, even if it didn’t appear as often in the film. The second article is by Janet Maslin and appears in the New York Times. Maslin holds a more critical viewpoint of the film. She critiques the animation and historical portrayal of China as lacking in accuracy and compared to other films. Maslin points out how gender stereotypes are heavy in the

Mulan, another Disney princess film, was released in 1998 during a wave of feminism. At first glance, Mulan seems like a feminist film encouraging individual empowerment of women. However, the film is not free of the traditional stereotypes. Disney does try to get rid of the stereotypical “Damsel in distress” story, but, upon watching the movie a couple more times, one can see that it isn’t as feminist as it first appeared. Mulan strengthens a binary understanding of gender stereotypes the privilege men over women.

From the minute one is born the division between genders is placed. The phrases “act like a lady” or “be a man” become everyday practices and lifelong slogans. Fairy tales are always focused on women who play the beautiful damsel in distress persona and on men who play the handsome knight coming in to save them. Whether you are female or male, it is important to remember that these fixed characteristics placed on genders are never to be reinforced. In a world full of gender stereotypes, the Disney movie Mulan challenges the societal construct of masculinity and femininity by proving that gender roles are not fixed traits, but socially constructed views that can be changed.

Being born a woman, Mulan however is not able to perform ‘girl’ tasks properly. Through the song “You’ll Bring Honour to Us All” (Mulan 1998) the film shows Mulan getting ready and

Mulan was filmed in 1998 during the third wave of feminism, which is the “advocacy of women 's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men” (dictionary). Mulan isn’t a typical princess, but a women who saves her father from going to war with the Huns. Disney does stray away from the typical “damsel in distress” storyline and brings a new foundation of ideas to the big screen. Where Sleeping Beauty the idea of “a prince will come” and save you, to Mulan who challenges the ideal gender roles and what it means to be a women with equality to men. The film does talk about the idea of gender stereotypes but the film is solely based upon women empowerment and individualism. Stereotypically women cook, clean, and attend to the children around the house; these typical stereotypes are found in Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White. In Disney films, the women start to become more individualized and empowered, similar in Princess and the Frog-where she works hard to achieve her goals-, Brave-where she becomes her own person-, The Little Mermaid-who has different ideas for how she wants to live-, and Mulan- who challenges the idea of feminism-. In Disney’s big screen film, Mulan, both masculine and feminine stereotypes are reinforced and the resilience to break out these gender role stereotypes due to family dynamics.

An animated Disney movie called "Mulan," was directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook in 1998. The moral of the story is that women can be just the same as men can. I support the general meaning of the movie. I believe men that and women should be treated equally and that women should not be seen as weak or frail. Women are more than just wives or slaves and can-do jobs that have traditionally been set-aside for men. They can be successful and bring honor to their families in other ways.