A while ago I watched Disney's "Mulan.
The movie "Mulan" is a fictional movie that takes place in China centuries ago.
Thinking back to grade six and our China unit as well as the grade eight unit on Japanese culture, I happened to remember that honour was very important to families of oriental decent at this time. Many people were killed, simply because they brought dishonour to their family. In this movie, her father's love for his daughter overpowers any honour she rekindled for her family's dishonerable name.
Movie Summary:
At the start of the movie, a young woman named Mulan is shown getting ready to be matched with a husband. Having ruined her chances of being the “perfect bride” after spilling tea on her matchmaker, Mulan brings a great deal of dishonour to her family's name. Soon after, the Hun's attack Mulan's country and the governor is forced to take a man from a many selected families to battle for their country against the Hun's.
Because Mulan's family was chosen and her father is the only man in the family, he must go forth to battle. Seeing that her father is unfit for battle having served for the country in this way before and is now very old, Mulan decides that she is going to take his place, in order to protect her father, and hoping to bring back honour to her family name. As Mulan's ancestors see what is happening, they choose to send out a protector for Mulan, a friendly dragon.
Being that only men could go to battle, Mulan dresses up as a man named Ping, who is the supposed unknown son of her father. Mulan attends a training camp so she will be fit for war, and narrowly escapes being discovered as a girl.
As the Hun's burn down more cities, the troops set out to war. During a surprise attack by the Hun's, Mulan causes an avalanche which covers all of the Hun army and just narrowly escapes being wiped off the edge of the cliff herself. In the avalanche she saves the leader of the army's life, and also ends up getting hurt. Back at camp, the troops celebrate their victory, while the doctor assesses Mulan's injuries, and also finds out that she is a girl in disguise.
The regular penalty for going against the laws in this way, being a girl disguised as a man in the battle field, is death, however Mulan saved the life of the army leader and in turn he saved her life. After this discovery Mulan was on her way back home when she saw the Hun army climb back out of the snow.
Not wanting to return home without renewing her family's honour, she made her way to the parade being held in the main city, to celebrate for the win against the Hun's, to warn the army of the danger that still exists. Being a woman and not a warrior, the leader did not listen to her, so she resorted to telling her warrior friends instead.
The Hun's attacked the city and took the emperor hostage, but Mulan had already devised a plan to combat their actions. After the battle was over, the emperor offered Mulan a place in his advisory, however Mulan declined and instead decided to go back to her home. The emperor thought it was only fair to give her a token of his gratitude and gave her a necklace with the royal symbol and “ultimate honour” to her family.
Returning home Mulan is greeted by her entire family who are more happy to see her than ever before. The last part of the movie is Mulan talking to her father, who says that his love for her is far more important than any honour her family could ever have.
Throughout “Mulan” a variety of mythological archetypes appear.
Some being:
Heroic Archetypes
Hero as a Warrior: Mulan fights as a warrior in the battle against the Hun's
Proto-Feminist Hero: Mulan is the hero of the movie and is a woman
Archetypal Journeys
Warrior's Quest to Save Her People: Mulan goes to war to fight for her country
This also applies to Mulan saving her father from dieing in battle as she takes his place instead to keep her father healthy and safe
Stages of the Hero's Journey
Departure: Mulan's family must send on man from their family to go to battle against the Hun's. She realizes her father is unfit to go to battle and decides she must go to battle for her family
Initiation: Mulan joins the army, thrusting her into a world of weapons and brutality
The Road of Trials: Mulan attends a training camp where she must reach an arrow at the top of a pole, when carrying an extra twenty or so pounds.
Mulan “defeats” the Hun warriors in an avalanche taking both mental and physical strength
The Innermost Cave: Mulan is found to be a woman after obtaining an injury from the previous battle against the Hun's and is no longer allowed to be a warrior.
After having seen the Hun's are not dead, she continues to break the rules and follow the other warriors
Return and reintegration with Society: Mulan cones up with a brilliant idea to save the emperor and defeats the Hun's
Characteristics of the Hero's Journey
The hero is naive and inexperienced: Mulan has never been in war before and has no training
The hero meets monsters or monstrous men: Mulan meets and fights against monstrous men in the Hun's army
The hero has a strange wise mentor: Mulan has the friendly ancestor dragon who gives her advise
Another of Mulan's mentors is her grandmother, although she sometimes gives Mulan advise tho do things that could end up getting her in trouble
The Hero is one of a kind or special: Mulan is the only girl in the army
The hero has guides: The friendly dragon ancestor who is brought back to life to help and guide Mulan
Situational Archetypes
The Initiation: Mulan realizes her father is unfit to go to battle when she finds him fall trying to wield his old sword. At this point she realizes she must go to fight in the war to protect her father from getting hurt further and she must obey the law that her family must send someone to war.
Symbolic Archetypes
Supernatural Intervention: Mulan's ancestors bring the friendly dragon back to life to help and protect her
Colour:
Gold- This colour is seen in the palace of the emperor, suggesting that this is the place of majesty, and also suggests that the emperor is truthful and wealthy as the colour gold represents majesty, truth and wealth.
Blue- Mulan's grandmother is seen wearing blue clothing throughout the movie, suggesting that she is innocent and truthful. This idea of the grandmother being innocent is contrasted by her telling Mulan to do things that could result in trouble
Another character seen in blue throughout the movie is the emperor's assistant. This choice in clothing suggests that he is also innocent and truthful
Throughout the movie, Mulan herself is seen in many blues, which suggest that she is innocent and truthful as well
Green- The warriors fighting against the Hun's in battle are all seen in green, suggesting that they have hope and value growth. This is supported in the movie as they are hopeful to defeat the Hun army and they are fighting to allow for the city to continue growing, instead of being burnt to the ground by the Hun army
Being that Mulan was a warrior in the army at one point as well, she is also implied to be very hopeful. The movie backs this up by showing her continuing to help the country by returning to the town and warning the warriors about the living Hun army, even though she could not defeat them her self, she had hope that the warriors would listen and defeat the Hun's on her behalf
Black- The Hun army is seen in black throughout the entire movie, which implies that they are evil and will cause chaos and death
Red- The friendly dragon set down by Mulan's ancestors to protect her is red, suggesting his willingness to make sacrifices for Mulan
White- Mulan is also seen wearing white, along with the other mentioned colours, this colour suggests that she is good and pure and is out to create peace
Shapes:
Circle- Seen on the emperor's hat, which implies that he is a very intellectual, thoughtful person, who values unity. This could mean that he values unity as a nation with other nations, which would explain why, initially, he did not want to fight the Hun's
Triangle- Many of these shapes are found on the emperor's clothing, suggesting that he is a good communicator, as triangles represent communication
Nature:
Clouds- Clouds usually suggest mystery, so in the movie “Mulan”, there are clouds covering the sky right before the Hun's attack, to caution the viewers with this idea of mystery, suggesting that anything could happen.
Snow- Snow normally presents the idea of coldness and bareness. When Mulan's army comes across the burnt down village and they find the general dead it is snowing, which emphasizes the feeling of the members in the army having found their general murdered.
Mountains- Usually suggesting the idea of goals, when Mulan is on the mountain it has the opposite meaning, in that Mulan's goals are shattered on the mountain, when she is found to be a girl and is no longer allowed to be part of the army and advised to return home, having regained no honour for her family's name.
Character Archetypes
Hero: In this movie, Mulan is the hero because she saves her father from begin hurt more and she saves her country
Mentor: Mulan has two main mentors in this movie, her Grandmother and the friendly dragon. The Grandmother gives her advise on what to do to become the “perfect bride” and gives her hints she needs for her journey, when the friendly dragon is with Mulan on the journey and offers help to her with regards to her actual tasks, such as giving her advise on how to be a man.
Loyal Retainers: Mulan's horse, the “lucky” cricket, and the friendly dragon all aid her on her journey.
In a time when honour meant so much to Mulan's family, she was forgiven out of their love for her.
If Mulan had been a man in the army and had brought the same amount of dishonour to the family, do you think the family would have been as forgiving as they were to the female Mulan?
Keep in mind that men were viewed more highly in that society than women were.
Do you think that the gender of Mulan would matter in this society today?
What kind of evidence can you find to support this?
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