In your daily life, you come across a new person every day. Each person, for instance, has a different background, a different race, and a lot of various stories waiting to be told by each person across the nation. We live in a world of a diverse group of people and some would think that living in a diverse world would form a ground that is united in order to be 'equal,' but that is far from being true. I'm not talking about the inequality that people from different races face or about the backgrounds of each person...I’m talking about gender equality.
From the very beginning of time till even today, cultural practices have and still form boundaries. Over the years males and females have always been separated and males have always had more power and more dominance over us women. The way men were raised in the way of superior and you can never change a man’s mentality. Over time this became a set of gender limitations.
For instance, the movie Mulan is about a girl who is the only child of an honored family who risks everything to help her family. At the beginning of her visit to the matchmaking ceremony, we see every woman there excited to find the love of their life. Mulan in other words gets ready last minute and writes a cheat sheet to remember everything she has to say.
(3:46) Mulan knows she must honor her family and wants to do anything to bring honor to them, but she has no idea what she’s supposed to do. Furthermore, when everything goes wrong at the matchmaking ceremony that’s when the lady states, You may look like a bride, but you’ll never bring your family honor.
So, then that’s when the Huns then invade China to defeat them one man from every family has to help and fight in the army. Mulan's father has a wound and cannot walk correctly, yet he decides to fight for his country to continue honoring his family. Mulan decides that it shows that she is worthy she dresses up as a male and cuts her hair with her father’s sword to steal away her father's place in the Chinese army. Ancestors wake up and then choose to send Mulan a little dragon to help her in the mission.
The days passed by, and Mulan and the male troops were more than ready to defeat the Huns because they had just finished the training camp. After being spotted and followed by their enemies, Mulan was forced to come up with a quick solution for this situation. But then, her real sex identity will no longer be a secret she then decides to risk everything to save her town in China.
The main theme of the movie Mulan consists of gender equality. ITobe was treated equally and was able to join the army Mulan had to dress up as a guy if not they would have not let her fight for her country in China. In the movie, the hair and the sword have symbolic meanings. The sword means honor, and the sword is connected to the man. It presents achievements, victory, and honor in a battle. Every great knight has a sword that they have used to win a battle. That was the sword that Mulan used to chop off her hair which brought great honor to her family. The hair also had a great meaning to it which was strength and honor and was associated with femininity.
Mulan is aware that she has ruined her reputation because she decided to sacrifice her own feminine identity as well as use her father’s sacred weapon to make a statement that even though she’s a woman, she’s willing to do anything that will help those in need. Nowadays a lot of women are like Mulan they’ll sacrifice anything for their families.
As we’ve seen, Mulan is a female character and has never been seen before in Disney. Mulan is a rebellious woman who defies the rules. She shows us that any of us can do whatever our heart desires. No man is worth more than any woman.
When the emperor asks for people’s help from the village and asks specifically for one man from each family. The emperor stipulated that this male could not be replaced by a woman, even if his health is weak. Mulan considered this so unfair. She is a young woman who can serve China better than her father in his current condition. He would never be able to survive the Huns due to his bad health.
(1:20:00) For Mulan, things are not at all easy at first. However, she soon manages to overcome every obstacle in her way and gain respect and recognition from the soldiers since the movie states, You stole your father’s armor, impersonated a soldier, dishonored the Chinese army, destroyed my palace, and you have saved us all. Then they discover Mulan is a woman, and some just can’t accept it, even though she has saved the village and has proven herself a good warrior and courage’s woman.
(1:12:00) In the movie captain Li Shang states, we’re the only hope for the Empire now to move out. That’s when Mulan arrived at camp and found no survivors. That’s when she opened her eyes and realized that the army was tougher than what she thought. There Mulan finds a doll she had lost, that doll symbolized the feminine and childish side she has left behind because now she has evolved and matured as a woman. The encounter with the doll is an encounter with her real self. It also marks the end of Mulan’s innocence and a step toward maturity.
Mulan is not a little girl anymore or a princess, and the movie doesn’t talk about her beauty. She is far from being a Disney princess. Mulan represents a normal female with hopes and dreams. A woman who wants to overcome anything in her way and show that she wasn’t anything less than a man and that a man would never be able to dominate a woman and be superior to her.
Despite the difficulties, Mulan came across throughout the movie she turns out to be a heroine woman. She breaks all of the stereotypes in her way and saves mainland China, showing she is no less or more than a person because she is a woman. This all sums up the theme of Mulan because now she has surprised herself with the fact that she can be as brave as a man.