Mulan Stereotypes

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In the Disney movie, Mulan, the main character, Mulan, challenges society’s expectations of gender stereotypes by showing a disinterest of how women in a feudal society are supposed to act and as the movie progresses, she defies expectations of what it means to be a man and a woman. In the beginning of the movie, Mulan is being prepared to become a bride for a possible suitor; this is an example of stereotypical women’s roles. In China’s culture, the goal of children is to bring honor to your family- and in this case, girls /women honor their families by getting married, being a good wife and having kids. While the boys/ men bring honor by serving the Emperor, protecting the land and going to war. Mulan is labeled a misfit and viewed as an outside because of her lack of etiquette as she is messy, clumsy and a terrible housewife …show more content…

The first one being that, all the male gender roles are intact; throughout the movie, all the men are still seen doing “masculine” activities such as being strong, messy, lazy and athletic etc. Also, at the end of the movie, Mulan made her society overlook the fact that she was a woman and accept everything that she did for her country. She proved her worthiness and was finally seen as the hero she truly is. But after all is said and done, Mulan is offered a prestigious and usually male dominated job in the Emperor’s palace, but instead she decides to go back home with her family to be an obedient daughter and a wife to the lover she met on her journey. This ultimately presents a contradictory message that girls/ women can be heroes but when its all over, they just end up back in the household. It should also be noted that Mulan only achieve such success because she was disguised as a man; which promotes the notion that success is a “male”

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