Disney/Gender Roles

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, our class is watching a documentary called "Miss Representation" in AP Lang and Comp. The film is about the media and how it negatively influences and/or portrays women. In one segment of the film, a statistic stated that between 1937 and 2005, only one Disney character was not seeking love as a main aspiration. The question I will be answering is "Between 1937 and 2005, which Disney character was not aspiring for love?". The answer to this question was found on this website.

So, what is the answer to this question? Which disney princess was not seeking romance? The answer is Mulan. Mulan was the only disney princess that was not looking for a handsome prince. Her mother and father kept pushing her to find a husband and get married, but Mulan did not want to. As a girl, her duty was to bring honor to the family and make herself a desirable bride according to Chinese tradition. Instead, Mulan pretends to be a man in order to fight in the war in place of her aged and woulded father. She chops off her hair, steals her father's armor, and takes off on the family's horse without telling anyone. She defies gender stereotypes and fights to save China. She trains to be a strong warrior with all the other men and does not want to be treated differently based on her gender.

Later on in the movie, Mulan is stabbed and her true gender is revealed when her wound is bandaged. The other men are outraged and leave Mulan on the mountain while they go to spread the news of the Huns' defeat. Mulan was treated as an outcast simply based on the fact that she was a woman, and the men thought they were the only ones who could fight for their country and be warriors. In the end, Mulan proves she is capable of more than what people expect of her when she tricks the Hun onto the rooftop and challenges him to combat. The hun is eventually killed and Mulan is praised by the emperor.

Mulan brought honor to her family through a greater act than making herself a desireable bride. She saved China and kept her dad from having to fight when he was too frail to do so himself. The emperor was proud of Mulan and this made her family very proud.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulan

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120762/plotsummary

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/disney-princess/articles/45394/title/disney-princesses-role-models-young-girls