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Mulan, an American animated musical action-comedy-drama film released in 1998, has been well received by critics and the public with grossing $304 million, earning Academy Award nominations and winning several Annie Awards including Best Animated Feature. Adapted from an ancient Chinese story on a legendary girl Mulan who volunteers to join the army by masquerading as a man in order to replace her aged father, the film integrates non-Chinese value, ideology and expectation into the original narrative. However, this transculturation giving rise to cultural hybridization accounts for an inevitable fall in cultural authenticity owing to anachronisms of distinctive Chinese icons, inappropriate linguistic expressions and superabundance use of exotic cultural elements. This paper will examine to what extent cultural reformulation has transferred the conventions, ideologies and moral values of the source culture by comparing the film to Chinese legend of Mulan, and then analyze the “inauthentic” reconstruction and deterioration of culture in a global context.
Plot
The film story is set in Han Dynasty, while the Middle Kingdom is facing Hun’s invasion led by Shan Yu, forcing the Chinese emperor to command one man from each family to join the Chinese army for counter. Mulan decides to impersonate a male and conscript taking the place of her limped father so as to certify her contribution to the big family. She serves in the army for over 10 years and hides her female identity from her fellow soldiers until the end of the war. At last she kills Shan Yu by tricky ideas, defusing the crisis of the whole country. Although the emperor intends to give a big honor to her, Mulan refuses the offer to appoint her as a minister; instead, she goes ba...
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Samuel P, Huntington. "Civilizations in History and Today." The Clash of Civilizations and the Remarking of the World Order. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. 40-55. Print.
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Wang, Georgette. “Globalization and hybridization in cultural products: The cases of Mulan and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 8. London: Sage Publications, 2005. 175-193. Print.
Xu, Mingwu and Tian, Chuanmao. “Cultural Deformations and Reformulations: A Case Study Of Disney's Mulan In English And Chinese.” Critical Arts: A South-North Journal Of Cultural & Media Studies 27.2 (2013): 182-210. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Oct, 2013.
Zuo, Rui-fang, and Liu, Feng. "Study on Cross-cultural Interpretations of Mulan." US-China Education Review 30th ser. 4.5 (2007): 67-75. Docstoc. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
Mulan goes through being rescued when she fights Shan-Yu on top of the roof of the Emperor’s palace and Mushu helps Mulan pin Shan-Yu down and blow him up with fireworks. Mulan‘s ego decreases when Mushu successfully tries to help her get rid of Shan-Yu. She considers herself a hero now and does not want Mushu to think she cannot fight her own battles. Mulan in the end disregards her ego in order for her to not die on the roof. Mulan crosses the final threshold when she returns to her home with the gifts from the Emperor hoping her family will forgive her for leaving the family to go fight in the war. Her father accepts Mulan’s new power and wisdom and told her that, “The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter.” Mulan’s return to the past is pleasant and safe knowing that nothing can change her family’s love and affection for her. In addition, Mulan enters into the final step in the hero’s journey: the freedom to live. Mulan shows her freedom to live when she invites her soul mate, Li-Shang for dinner. This event marks the end of Mulan dwelling on the past and makes her excited, but not concerned about what the future
Set in the Northern Wei dynasty of China, the gender roles of China were simple as depicted through song in Mulan. “We all must serve our Emperor… a man by bearing arms, a girl by bearing sons.” Mulan’s one and only role in life is to marry a man, who she is deemed fit for and to bear many sons and tend to the home. She is to live a life of homely domesticity. This is perhaps one of the most obvious motifs that don’t shine a nice pretty light on Mulan. Mulan has to go to a beauty salon in order to meet the matchmaker and “bring honor” to her family. At the salon, Mulan is mercilessly soaked in a freezing bath, has her hair tied up neatly, her waist laced up, and is overloaded with excessive make-up and jewels. The potential brides, Mulan included, are thus made to look like “cultured pearls, each a perfect porcelain doll.” According to the beauty specialists, “A girl can bring her family great honor in one way, by striking a good match.” They preach that “Men want girls with good taste, calm, obedient, who work fast-paced, with good breeding and a tiny waist.” This demonstrates heg...
Kong, L. (2005). The sociality of cultural industries: Hong Kong's cultural policy and film industry. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 11(1), 61-76.
Mulan tells that the story of brave Mulan. Mulan did not want her elderly father to fight in the war, so she disguised as a man and joined in her father 's army. Finally, Mulan defeated the Huns and Shan Yu (leader of the Huns) with her partners in barracks. This Disney film portrays the conflict perspective, feminism, and symbolic interaction perspective.
Disney promotes Sexism in Mulan. When the Chinese military begins to draft men, including Mulan’s elderly father, to fight against the invading Hun army, Mulan pretends to be a man and takes her father’s place in the army. This is important because this shows that Disney men do not see women as equals. Disney popularizes the use of drugs in this
One thing that Tangled did demonstrate was the need for a modern reboot not only for Disney animated films, but to the “musical” genre as well. Some argue that as Disney enters into a ...
Presently, Disney known for its mass media entertainment and amusement parks technically bring warm feelings to many children and some adults. Personally, Disney elicits magical fantasies that children enjoy and further encourages imagination and creativity. For decades Disney has exist as an unavoidable entity with its famous global sensation and reach. Furthermore, Disney is a multibillion dollar empire with an unlimited grasp on individuals and territories. An empire per se, since they own many media outlets, markets, shops, etc., you name it they got it. However, the film Mickey Mouse Monopoly presents an entirely new perspective on the presumed innocence projected in Disney films. This film exposes certain traits Disney employs and exclusively portrays through its media productions, specifically cartoons for directing and nurturing influence beginning with children. Mickey Mouse Monopoly points out camouflaged messages of class, race, and gender issues in Disney films that occur behind the scenes intended to sway viewers towards adopting Disney values.
In China, during the Hun invasion, many men were forced to fight as soldiers in war. There was one family, the Fa household, that did not have any son, only a daughter. Due to that, the father was summoned to go to war, though he was previously injured in a past war. In order to keep her father safe, their daughter secretly took his place and went to war, disguising herself as a man. This girl, was Mulan Fa. She is a Disney princess that many young girls adore in today’s world, but she is also known for defying the roles of men and women in society. She evinces the bravery and heroism that women legitimately possess. Tina Fey is just like Mulan, they both signify the genuine power that women have in society. Tina Fey explains that “My unsolicited
William Shakespeare once said, “[My] honor is my life; both grow in one; take honor from me, and my life is done.” The idea is touched upon in both the book Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston as well as Disney’s Mulan were family honor is more important than anything else. Mulan was directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The film Mulan retold the story of a woman warrior who took her father’s place in battle and became a savior of China.The movie uses many elements from the original story told in the chapter “White Tigers,” but adds many modern twists in order to make the story more appealing for a newer generation. In both stories of Fa Mu Lan the elements of sacrifice, silence and voice, cultural practices of ancestor worship and filial piety, and Chinese stereotypes are present.
Overall, the Disney movie, Mulan, demonstrates gender roles, socialization of gender roles, and consequences of breaking the gender roles. By Mulan going to war for her father, in China, many things were at risk, life, honor, and the country of China, itself. Displaying the characteristics a man had was the only way for Mulan to survive, granted, she was not great at displaying woman characteristics in the first place. Being caught in war, as a woman, meant death, but Mulan was lucky for her bravery when saving Captain Li Shang, for he spared her life, which allowed Mulan to help save China and the emperor in the end. Even though China had very strict gender roles, Mulan broke them to save her father’s life and became the person she was meant to be.
Cultural nationalism is a force that permeates through films as a reflection of the country of origin and production. Naturally, it focuses on national identity shaped by cultural traditions and language – a concept that proves problematic when appertained to Irish film and how the ‘Irish Mind’ is translated on screen. Unlike many other countries, Ireland lacks the strong foundation of indigenous voice to solidify its films as Irish, despite the early efforts of Douglas Hyde and others to restore the Gaelic language. Since the linguistic footing of Ireland was crippled by the widespread use of English, the hope of a distinctive culture was put into the Irish Literary Revival; such hope was then catechised by the Roman Catholic tradition for
Since the creation of films, their main goal was to appeal to mass audiences. However, once, the viewer looks past the appearance of films, the viewer realizes that the all-important purpose of films is to serve as a bridge connecting countries, cultures, and languages. This is because if you compare any two films that are from a foreign country or spoken in another language, there is the possibility of a connection between the two because of the fact that they have a universally understanding or interpretation. This is true for the French New Wave films; Contempt and Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and contemporary Indian films; Earth and Water directed by Deepa Mehta. All four films portray an individual’s role in society using sound and editing.
In the Disney film Mulan, the character for Mulan plays an important part to support the example of a woman not satisfied with her state of being and subordinated position in society and therefore, takes action to show others her true capabilities and qualities. This prototype is scarcely depicted in today’s cartoons and films so that children rarely identify with this image. “Mulan” helps to promote this role model of an intelligent woman and could be the first step in breaking gender constraints. In addition, it might teach children that they have to find their own state of happiness rather than trying desperately to fulfill society’s expectations.
The classic Disney movie, Mulan, is often praised as a film involving feminist empowerment, but upon closer look just the opposite appears to be true. The classic storyline includes Mulan, a young Chinese woman, taking over her fragile father’s place in the Chinese army, disguised as a man named Ping. She trains among the other soldiers, becoming one of the very best with her accompanying guardian dragon, Mushu and a cricket her grandmother gave her for luck for the matchmakers by her side. She ends up saving all of China by revealing that the Huns are back and invading the country, and is honored as a hero. This movie breaks away from the typical damsel in distress princess story by having a single woman save all of China. However, on Mulan’s journey she faced extreme female shaming, and experienced stereotypes attempting to belittle her; all
The Representation of the East-Asian Culture in the Cymbeline Poster and the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Video Cover