Mentor Archetypes In Disney Movies

911 Words2 Pages

I was watching a Disney movie. I know what you're thinking, why is this teenage girl being lazy on a Saturday night? Well, I don’t know. As I was looking at the movie, I noticed a person following the hero. “Wow! Is this like a sidekick?” I ask myself, Why is this person giving wise advice and why is their sayings different from other movies? How did he or she overcome that? I remembered something from english class. It was something about archetypes. I told myself, “Wait this is like the mentor archetype!” Around the world, there are a lot of movies and books that come or are made from different cultures. How? When it comes to Disney and superhero movies they come from everywhere. For example, the movies Mulan, Moana and Pocahontas. But …show more content…

I am going to explain how the Chinese culture is used in a disney movie called Mulan. In this movie, you meet the mentor name Mushu. He is a dragon that was sent by her ancestors because they wanted to help Mulan with her adventures. This shows that this story takes place in China and from the Chinese culture. According to the lines of the 1998 Mulan movie she stated, "Oh my ancestors sent a little lizard to help me” (Mulan 1998). In this scene, when Mulan was trying to pretend to be a guy, she was expecting something from her ancestors. They sent someone to guide her. She sees a huge shadow shaped like a dragon. It was this loud voice with flames in the background. Mulan thought it was a huge tough dragon but it turns out it was a little ragon. It shows that in this culture Mulan’s ancestors sent a dragon to guide Mulan through her adventures. This dragon helps her. Also, reveals that cultures can be different from …show more content…

In this movie, the mentor is Grandma Willow. She is an ancient and wise figure that is a tree. In the past, this tree has given advice to the mother of Pocahontas. Whenever she needs advice, she goes and visit her. According to the movie 1995 Pocahontas, “I told her to listen all around you. Our spirits child they live in the earth, the water, the sky. If you listen, they will guide you” (Pocahontas 1995). In this scene, it is showing that she is asking for advice from a wise character. This indicates that in different cultures, there could be a wise woman or man. Additionally, they could have other sayings that could mean something in the

Show More
Related

  • Princess And The Frog

    781 Words  | 2 Pages

    Film analysis with a critical eye can give the viewer how animation giant Disney uses literary element to relay key messages to the audience. Walt Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” is a perfect example how different literary theories like ‘the Marxist theory’ and ‘Archetypal theory’ can be embedded in the simplest of the fairy tales. The different literary elements in the movie, shows a person how characters like ‘the banker’ and the setting of the houses helps to portray the socio-economic differences in New Orleans at that time. Applying ‘the Marxist theory’ and ‘the Archetypal theory’ to the plot, characters and the setting, shows how movies can be a medium to confront social issues and to prove that all fairy tales are of the same base.

    Read More

  • Hero's Journey In Creating The Myth By Linda Seger

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Creating the Myth,” Linda Seger outlines the essential aspects that make up the hero myth, and why movies that follow this outline are generally successful. In her analysis, she begins with the idea that every hero myth revolves around a hero who is called upon to accomplish a feat that nobody else in the story is able to do. The hero’s journey begins with an unlikely person being called upon to serve a purpose greater than themselves. Along their journey, the hero is influenced by several archetypical characters that either help the hero, or try to deter the hero from accomplishing their task. The hero’s journey ends when they have accomplished their task, and in doing so, become a greater person than what they were in the beginning. A film that found tremendous success by following this outline was “Kung Fu Panda.”

    Read More

  • Examples Of The Hero's Journey In Mulan

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    Overall, “Mulan” does an outstanding job of portraying the popular story telling of the hero’s journey. Creators are still, to this day, using the easy pathway of the hero’s journey because it is easy to understand as long as all of the steps are met. This brings people of all sorts of cultures and religions to come together to sit back and enjoy a story

    Read More

  • Mentors In The Hobbit

    1333 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shadows and mentors. Completely opposite characters…right? Not exactly. Through examining the two media texts, you may discover the similarities between the purpose of the shadow and the mentor. A mentor is a character who teaches and gives the hero advice. If you study the role of the shadow, you may notice that the shadow also teaches the hero valuable lessons. The similarity is how they both affect and benefit the hero, despite their opposite goals. In The Hobbit, Bilbo gains from Thorin and Smaug, the evil on the journey. J. A. Proveda agrees with this point having stated: “The villains that Bilbo and the thirteen dwarves meet during their expedition to the Lonely mountain act for their own benefit.” Moreover in Star Wars, Luke Skywalker

    Read More

  • Mulan vs. Kung Fu Panda: The Battle for Accurate Portrayal of Chinese Culture

    1201 Words  | 3 Pages

    Disney’s version of the story of Mulan, depicts Mulan as a young girl in what appears to be medieval China, who from the first scene until well into the second half of the film is shown studying and memorizing the rules by which she is expected to live. In the film as oppose to in the original story of Mulan, Mula...

    Read More

  • A Girl Worth Fighting For: A Critical/Cultural Analysis of Disney’s Mulan

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast the Mentoring Style

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    A mentor is someone who shares one’s wisdom, knowledge or experience with one’s junior person so that the person could learn and grow. Mentors have many different style of training or passing on their knowledge to other people. The movie “Something the Lord Made” directed by Joseph Sargent shows a kind of mentoring style in between the two main characters Dr. Blalock and Vivan Thomas who invent a way to treat “blue babies” back in the 40s. Vivan Thomas is a brilliant black men who wishes to go to college, and to become a doctor; however, due to the Depression, he loses all his saving. Instead of going to college, Thomas finds an opportunity to work in the hospital. Dr. Blalock, Thomas’s employer, discovers Thomas’s incredible knowledge in medical, and promotes Thomas as his assistant instead of a janitor. Dr. Blalock is a mentor to Thomas. Dr. Blalock trained Thomas with only a high school certification becomes a medical scientific lab technician. Although Dr. Blalock’s mentoring style of Vivan Thomas is similar from my high school speech team coach Mrs. Kuznicki mentoring style of me, they both speak out their criticism of other without consider other’s feeling, and also acknowledge mentees for what they have done, but Mrs. Kuznicki treats me with more patient, less selfishness and encouragement than Dr. Blalock treats Thomas.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Pantheism In Pocahontas

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pocahontas and her friends, Meeko the raccoon and Flit the hummingbird visit Grandmother Willow. Grandmother willow is a spiritual talking willow tree that talks to her about what her path in life should be. Grandmother Willow then warns Pocahontas to the English that are coming. The English settlers land and begin to dig for gold under the orders of the leader of the expedition named Ratcliffe.

    Read More

  • Myth And Archetypes In Alien By Ellen Ripley

    1868 Words  | 4 Pages

    Cinema has been producing the same hero narrative for centuries. Hero films follow a ten-step sequence to properly set up and execute their story. These movies range from stories of transformations, searches, or a journey back home. Archetypes help to add variety and depth to these stories. Ridley Scott directed Alien, in which Ellen Ripley embarks on a journey where she must survive an alien who is out on a murderous rampage. Alien adds originality to its storyline by choosing a female lead instead of a male, but it still incorporates the same heroic attributes that make a story successful. In this “going home journey” film, Scott is able to incorporate the hero myth and archetypes towards the official hero Ellen Ripley.

    Read More

  • Heracles: From the Myth to a Disney Movie

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the days of mythological origin to the origin of pop culture, various mythological stories have been adopted and presented to newer generations. Some of these presented adaptations of mythological stories have significantly been modified in order to be deemed entertaining by audiences in a pop culture generation. Thus, my study will seek to compare mythological hero's during their time to how they have been depicted in modern day. Moreover, my study will analyze the similarities and differences between the Greek hero Heracles and his replica character, Hercules, depicted in Disney's adaptation of this myth. Although there are few similarities between the two versions, the differences between Heracles and Disney's Hercules are prominent. These differences help modern day audiences relate more easily to the characters in the story. Furthermore, the alterations have enabled a new aspect of heroism to emerge since Disney tailors it's movies towards youth who can seek valuable lessons from animated movies. Disney's choices through these alterations will be determined by focusing on the main plot, characters presented in the movie, peripheral details, and the notion of being a "true hero" that Disney presents.

    Read More

  • White Tigers vs. Mulan

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Mulan

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Disney movie, Mulan, is a fantastic movie that depicts gender-stereotyped roles, socialization of gender roles, and consequences of over stepping one’s gender role. Both males and females have a specific role in the Chinese society that one must follow. Mulan made a brave choice pretending to be a man and going to war against the Huns in place of her father, risking serious consequences if she were to get caught. She broke the socialization of gender roles and could have been faced with very serious consequences of her actions. The Chinese society in Mulan exemplifies the typical gender roles of males and females, the consequences of displaying the opposite gender role, and showed what the society expected in males and females in characteristics and attitudes.

    Read More

  • Communication in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

    578 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lindo Jong provides the reader with a summary of her difficulty in passing along the Chinese culture to her daughter: “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught her how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it's no lasting shame . . . You do not have to sit like a Buddha under a tree letting pigeons drop their dirty business on your head . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. . . . but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character . . . How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289).

    Read More

  • The Influence of Disney Films on Society

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Feminism In The Movie Mulan

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

More about Mentor Archetypes In Disney Movies

Open Document