An Ode to Mulan

To say that only one image, or even one aspect, of this iconic Disney movie affected me as child would be an understatement. Mulan’s vivid animation, memorable musical numbers, and adventure-filled story influenced me on numerous levels. As a budding artist, I was captivated by the refreshing animation style that was, in a sense, a character itself, bringing the charcters to life as if they had jumped from a Chinese wall scroll. The musical numbers further illustrated Mulan’s journey, with songs that conveyed characters’ emotions where dialogue or inner monologue wasn’t enough. Some of the songs have remained stuck in my head to this day—particularly this one:

The above song (among the others in the movie…especially this one) marks Mulan as the adaptation it is. As a child, I vaguely knew the movie’s plot wasn’t originally penned by Disney (after I learned that Hercules was based on things called “Greek myths”). But, as a child, I pretty much believed the movie’s depiction of Fa Mulan’s story was a pretty accurate rendition. The Disney wizards, in fact, took quite some creative license with the Chinese legend. For example, according to the original lyrical ballad from which the movie’s based, there is no conclusive evidence that Mulan underwent a geisha-esque transformation only to fail under the village matchmaker and disgrace herself and her family, eventually driving our heroine to “bring honor” some other way.

The Ballad of Mulan is a little more straightforward and simple. A young woman who hears her country is drafting the eldest male of each household wants to take her father’s place, because her father is too old to fight even though he is the eldest/only male of her family. By her own merits, she sets out and joins an all-male army and, posing as a man, leads her country to victory. When offered with material rewards of honor, Mulan’s only wish is to return home with her family; and only then does she reveal to her people that she, a woman, had fought alongside men.

From the original poem, the story of China’s own “woman warrior” grew into a novel—with a few added details about the heroine (e.g. Mulan was proficient in martial arts before she joined the army), but still following the basic tale—and eventually, the tale of Fa Mulan grew in popularity across many dynasties.

In the same way, Disney’s Mulan added flesh to the “skeleton” of this Chinese legend, with a more sympathetic backstory/motivation for Mulan, a more concrete, more threatening antagonist (the Huns), a romantic interest/further motivation for Mulan (Li Shang), a slapstick trio of comedic relief, a slew of talking animals, a straight-to-DVD sequel…etc, etc. Moreover, there are at least nine other movie/TV adaptations of Mulan’s story—ranging from more mature, live-action battle flicks, to another animated version starring Mulan as an anthropomorphic caterpillar.

What makes The Ballad of Mulan such an adaptable, repeatable story? An obvious reason would be the feminist angle the legend seems to convey: that a woman was able to overcome cultural expectations and fight in “a man’s world” while saving her people in the process. However, the story seems to be another example of just overcoming obstacles, whatever they may be, for the right reasons. In whatever adaptation of Mulan’s story, the heroine risks her life, not for a self-righteous desire to prove sexist authorities wrong, but for one simple, selfless reason: to spare her father from a gruesome, needless death in battle.

For a purpose like that, audiences would definitely hope the protagonist succeeds. Who would try to stop her from fighting in her father’s place? Who would be cruel enough to stop her from doing a good deed? The struggle between following the “law” or following the “heart” appears in other works in history as well (e.g. Antigone by Sophocles) and continues to pull audiences in a mental tug-of-war. Mulan’s story leans more towards following one’s heart; and in the heroine’s case, following her heart and fighting in her father’s place, despite cultural obstacles, left China with one of its greatest legends. Such a compelling story convinced me to revisit and to reflect on one of my favorite childhood movies.