Role of Gender in “Mulan” by Walt Disney

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Role of gender
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

The movie Mulan is about woman who went to the military to save her father’s life, to make her family happy and make people proud of her, and this woman was called Mulan. Mulan is an animation movie created by Walt Disney in 1998.

This movie is a way to learn about the Chinese culture. Also, the movie has a lot of points; these papers will discuss four argumentum topics. The four arguments questions are: the role of gender in mulan? What makes Mulan happy, lessons learnt by women from the film and the appropriateness of the theme?

Role of gender

Role of gender is understood as the “behavioral norms that are usually associated with male or female in a given social group” (Giroux 1).

Mulan is a female character in the movie described as independent and not thinking about finding a husband like other women but she is instead trying to transform herself to a man the fact that Mulan remains subordinate to men despite her abilities and capabilities qualifies her into Giroux understanding of gender.

The movie showed men as the undisputed heroes and any feat by a woman to match this was considered exceptional and Mulan is taken to be special.

This was showed when Mulan, despite her success in the army, still had to defend herself before her dad who showed the respectful and submissive character and expectations of women and to some extent to which her dad was not interested in her distinctions (Blum 5).

This is despite Mulan joining the military to rescue her father, she cannot however stand up to her father as opposed to other men in the military because it is only her father who understands her whereas other military men don’t know that mulan as a woman since she exhibits the qualities of a man

There was gender inequality in Mulan; this was due to the fact that there were social expectations of each gender that were strictly observed. Since it was a patriarchal society there was male dominance and control of women.

Women were treated as inferior and only existed to serve men as evidenced in the family of Mulan where her father refuses to appreciate her efforts.The fact that the little girl informed Mulan that no one would listen to her because she was a woman was a clear indication of how women were ignored in the patriarchal society.

This was also evidenced at the end of the movie when the emperor’s counselor Chi Fu comments that despite Mulan’s success, she still was a woman and not worth anything (Blum 5). This is a clear indication that women are not worth any appreciation or recognition and hence no gender equality in Mulan.

Mulan shown men as unclean; she picked this construction about men when she entered the military. In the military, she noticed men “picking their noses, spiting on the ground and showing bad manners” (Blum 5). Also men were depicted as strong and violent people who could easily start a fight.

This point was supported by the words of Robert Connells that “violence is a way of asserting masculinities” (Blum 7). Men were taken as people who did not think carefully before they acted as was demonstrated by their combat against the bad people which they never won unlike Mulan, a woman who thought carefully before she acted and she made successes by winning over the battle.

She achieved this by looking for a quicker way of breaking the door as opposite to the men who tried to break the door using physical strength. Women were presented as negative; this was seen in the emperor’s counselor Chi Fu.

He described his superiority over women by rebuking them and his personification of stereotyped negative masculine characteristics (Blum 5).

Mulan describes a society that is characterized by strict role definition based on ones gender as illustrated by the fact that Mulan’s father and the emperor are against her joining military because she is just a woman, women are suppose to be married off and oriented towards domestic tasks.

Gender stereotyping was an overriding act in the movie. This was deep rooted to the extent that an exemplary action by a woman could not erase it. Mulan was severally scolded; this however changed in some conditions, for example, when she saved the lives of fellow soldiers she was referred to as a heroine and given a respect.

She was abandoned and despised when it was realized that she was a woman (Heather I). Mulan’s happiness-being man or woman

Mulan was happier being a woman than a man; this was demonstrated by her desire to venture into men related roles. Mulan proved that there were several ways of bringing honor and dignity into a family other than only through marriage and by her excuse that she did not need a man to be respected.

That she was proud of being a woman was demonstrated by her respect from her dad, a demand expected of women in the society. Any determination by a woman to overcome this mentality was criticized, ridiculed and despised as demonstrated when Mulan was referred as treacherous snake when she was discovered to be a woman, this happened despite her achievements as an army officer (Giroux 123).

Mulan is happy as a woman since she is more interested in displaying to the male chauvinistic society that what men can do, women can also do it better

It can also be argued that Mulan was not happy and proud of being a woman. This was because despite her joining the army, she disguised herself as a man and went further to demonstrate the physical and mental qualities that were typical of men and other masculine qualities.

She disguised herself as a man till she returned home from the fighting and it was only noticed and realized when her male soldier friends came to visit at their home of which they were amazed. It is upon realization that she was a woman that led to her abandonment by her fellow soldiers. After knowing if Mulan was happier as a man or as woman, women can learn a lot from the film.

Women should learn to overcome criticisms emanating from the public and self reproaches and they should be determined to succeed even in a patriarchal society, they should define themselves.

Consequently, women should overcome the insurmountable odd of stereotyping in the same way that Mulan overcame it to join the army which was predominantly men domain and that eliminated the stereotypical feminine mentality. This stereotyping of women as people to perform certain limited roles should be despised.

This was depicted by a young girl who mentioned certain qualities of a typical woman which included quite and shy, graceful, polite, delicate, poised and punctual (Blum 3).

Women should also learn that the desire to succeed is inherent and only demands personal conviction. The fact that Mulan joined the army and succeeded in fighting the battles clearly showed this notion, and that the stereotyping was just mental constructions by men in the society.

The determination of Mulan to overcome social constructions by men and the perception of woman in society to become successful in the army should actually act as a motivation to women who are faced with similar challenges or those who come from similar societies.

Just like Mulan women should be determined to break the gender specific prison, the social norms of the society and seek to move towards independency and self-definition of a woman (Blum 6). They should always demonstrate determination to succeed and the ability to pass tests.

The story inspires women who once cowed from challenging men and eliminates from their minds the traditional school of thought, the story ended by praising women, the story also supported that women be given positions that match those of men.

The story gave women a hint? of what an independent modern woman should be like. The determination by Mulan to prove herself and to discover and appreciate her identity is the exact picture of a young woman today.

Modern women are struggling to define themselves and to justify their worth and they often get into trouble when they try to define and distinguish themselves. From the story, women can learn that it is not the physicality that defines gender roles but intellect and tenacity that defined.

After all what you have read above, the appropriateness of the message being passed in the movie is gender equality and should be encouraged. There are always gender related roles and women are considered to be subordinates to men.

The role of women in the society is the domestic one and there are specific professional fields that are reserved for particular genders. The message in the movie Mulan is appropriate especially for women who are marginalized in various contemporary societies.

Women will learn how to overcome certain odds that the society traditionally expects of them by taking an analytical look at Mulan and how she managed to succeed in such a patriarchal society. Women will find Mulan a perfect role model who can inspire their determination to succeed in life in societies which have not fully accepted women as equals of men (New York Times 1).

The message is also appropriate for men that what men women can do it better. In addition, men can learn from the movie that times are changing and the traditional expected roles of women have changed and they should pave way to the realities of a modern woman who is prepared to do all roles that were reserved for men.

No man seems to learn from this message, this is demonstrated by the failure of Mulan’s dad to appreciate and recognize the efforts of Mulan and also when Mulan is ridiculed by other fellow military men when she is realized to be a woman (Gonzales 1).

Conclusion

The movie is about strive for gender equality in the society, Mulan in the movie epitomizes women who are struggling for space in the current society which is dominated by men who are unwilling recognize the upcoming position of women.

The ridicule and the despising of Mulan despite the exemplary task she performed and that was unmatched by any man describe how women are unappreciated. The movie indeed brings fore to the reality that men and women are equal and what men are able to do can also be done by women.

Works Cited

Blum, Sonja. The Representation of Gender in Walt Disney’s Mulan. New York: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.

Giroux, Henry. Breaking in to the movies: film and the culture of politics. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003. Print.

New York Times. “Film Review, a warrior, she takes on Huns and stereotypes”. New York Times Review, 1998. Web.

Gonzales, Edward. “Review of Mulan”. Slant Magazine, 1998. Web.

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Role of Gender in “Mulan” by Walt Disney

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