Mulan

Mulan in Maureen Murdock's Heroine's Journey

A central theme in Mulan is honor. Chinese culture dictates that every child seeks to bring honor to their family. They must forever uphold that honor—whether it be through a favorable marriage for daughters, or achievements on the battlefield for sons. As a young girl from a well-off family, Mulan was taught to believe that becoming the perfect bridal candidate was the only way to bring honor to her family. However, as news of the battlefront situation with the Huns makes its way to Mulan's town by way of an army draft, Mulan chooses to save her family instead of upholding traditional gender roles. Mulan's choices shame her family and mean she could even be disowned. But in choosing the risky path, however, Mulan proves herself as truly honorable: she has a courageous, selfless heart that puts itself in harm's way to save a loved one. Following the context of Maureen Murdock's Heroine's Journey, these opening stages of Mulan's development align with "separation from the feminine" and "identification with the masculine." She bombs the bridal matchmaking, but slips without hesitation into a soldier's armor. Thus, Murdock's phases allow us to view Mulan's rebellion against traditional Chinese culture through a gendered view: the stereotypical role of women is one of empty decoration and uselessness. A girl must fail as a woman and step into the role of men to have a truly honorable heart.

In the opening scenes, against the bright but desperation-tinged melody of "Bring Honor to Us All" Mulan struggles to conform to the expectations of her family. They hoped for her to become an elegant, meek wife. She had to please not exactly the male gaze, but the gaze of traditional society—represented by the Matchmaker. She is never paraded before a crowd of suitors in the matchmaking but tested by a sour-faced, nitpicking elder—the Matchmaker. The Matchmaker represents the traditional female gender roles: both are suffocating and more than a little ridiculous. Mulan can no longer play chess, run in the fields, or protect her family as she's stuffed into a tight dress. She’s even forbidden to speak without permission. “Men want girls with good taste,” go the lyrics of "Bring Honor to Us All,” “calm, obedient, who work fast-paced…in order to satisfy the recipe for an instant bride….how could any fellow say no sale?” The feminine in this Heroine’s journey represents objectification and lack of individuality or free will. Brides are simply products to be sold, exchanged. Not quite able to conform, Mulan prays in song to her ancestors: “Help me to not uproot my family tree, keep my father standing tall.” For her and women, the only way to bring honor to their families was to pass the standards of the Matchmaker—society—and get married. Similarly, her family sings “guard our girls, and our future, as it fast unfurls. Please look kindly on these cultured pearls. Each a perfect porcelain doll.” Daughters are seen as pretty, empty objects, ‘cultured’ and perfected. They represent the fast-unfurling future for many families, but only in the sense that they may bring in a powerful husband or may birth a healthy son. Daughters could not bring honor or fortune to their family in of themselves.

“I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” another major musical number in Mulan is sung by General Shang as he whips up his new recruits (including Mulan, as Ping) into shape. “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” exhibits the standards for masculinity. “Did they send me daughters when I asked for sons?” Shang exclaims, noting the mens’ “spineless pale patheticness.” (We can infer that Shang considers daughters to be comparative with those qualities). Shang’s tutorial for manliness sounds rather impressive: “We must be swift as the coursing river (be a man), with all the force of a great typhoon (be a man), with all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moon.” While women were to be as silent and submissive as possible, men were to be raging fires and great typhoons. Never do the lyrics mention anything about beauty standards for men—mens’ role in Mulan isn’t to sit pretty, but to be the war hero, the protector, the breadwinner. It’s notable how Mulan’s three new friends are all vastly different in appearance. But these men aren’t judged for their faces or weight. They’re only judged by what’s on the inside—grit, valor, strength, enough to protect their country. It’s a stark contrast to the girls paraded before the Matchmaker, each made as slim and powdery-white and silent as possible. As a woman, Mulan needed a husband to attain honor, and could only watch her father ride off to die lest she shame her family by flouting tradition. As a man, ‘Ping’ could bring honor and save his entire counter with his own strength.

When Mulan identifies with the masculine, she suddenly has the power to save not only her father’s life, but all of China’s. Instead of becoming a trophy men went to war for, she stepped onto the battlefield herself. Failing in her femininity allowed Mulan to freely embrace her masculinity as a soldier (as stylized by the Murdocks' journey) and become a true heroine. If Mulan were a successful bride, she would be happily married and would not bravely sacrifice herself for her father. These suffocating gender roles thus prevent many women from proving their honor. Separation from the feminine represents a separation from the rigid rules for Chinese women; a separation from passivity and fragility. Identification with the masculine represents stepping into the battlefield, the world of men, and embracing the associated valor and honor. Mulan aims to prove that any daughter can protect her family as well as a son could, when living beyond the restraints of society.