Fun fact, the writers intentionally cut the "girl worth fighting for" song short with the implied death of a little girl to show that they aren't fighting for glory or a bride but for the future generations. The " girl worth fighting for" is a little girl who gets to grow up in a world of peace.
@@ashleypanzica2696 I like to also see that part as Mulan, being the only woman in the army, represents the women who are killed in war when all the men have always been representing (and concerned about) the men who die due to war.
It’s the one thing I wish my own father said to me, but he said the exact opposite to me, repeatedly. But it’s made me who I am so can’t complain too much
The score when Mulan chooses to take her father's place will never not be one of the most badass and impactful tracks ever composed for a Disney movie. And the ending of "Girl Worth Fighting For" is one of the most instantaneous gut-punches and still bone chilling all these years later.
I was actually surprised Oscar didn’t comment on that part! I always get goosebumps when I see the scene where she decides to take her father’s place- the music shift matches her expression, it’s so perfect
That moment reminds you that, though it's on the tail end of it, it's very much still part of when Disney was solidly good and pumping out great films. And, of course, that Disney is not afraid to go dark still.
Fully agree. A problem with many of the female leads in recent movies (especially Marvel, but also the live action Mulan) is that they follow the same idea that "you are already perfect, all you need to succeed is to get rid of your self doubt". This can be a powerful message if done right, but it is hardly ever done so. What makes Mulan here a strong female character is not that she is prefect and completely capable at the start, but is a human, as flawed as anyone else, and that used her flaws to find her own way, to become unique and turn them into strengths. She has a complete character arc where she isn't suddenly all powerful just because the plot demands it, but even in her final fight, she is all on the defensive and only succeeds through cunning and finding the opening (and the help of a little dragon). I have the feeling, too often, movies take a shortcut in writing female leads, by reducing the complexity and the difficulties of their character arcs (in contrast to male lead movies) from a flawed person that can grow and learn, that becomes a better version of themselves.
Seriously, she can have both feminine and masculine traits. She can make mistakes but learn from them. She can be heroic but also vulnerable. Just write a great character, that's all. I think the issue we see today is superficial appeal to the female audience, it's corporate contrived "feminism" it's pandering and hollow. As a woman it sucks to be shown something so fake and expected to care like I should be happy about it, I just want a great character that's all.
Exactly! Not just that she learns how to fight well, but she's smart and can be comedic as well. She's such a well-rounded character. Female leads so often now can't be comedic or physically weak. And either have multiple romantic interests or is positively against having any. I always go back to this movie when having the discussion about the problem with a lot of "strong" female characters in movies now
Yeah, exactly, I liked she can have both traits: She doesn't quite fit in with the femenine group or completely with the masculine group, she can go her own way that's what I felt. By making human her character, we can feel her complete
That's how female leads in CDramas basically are. Yes they do have the "badass" fighter type (usually an assassin) but she's not presented as invincible and she works best with her love interest who helped her do a face-heel turn thus a character growth.
I feel that having Mulan not be a rebel at the beginning of the movie makes her more interesting. And it's a more interesting way to deliver the message that society is unfair than having the leading lady flat out say at the beginning that society is unfair like other Disney princesses from the 90s.
I like that it *does* place that emphasis on duty and social/familial responsibility too. It isn't just some story about "you're an individual and you need to express that individuality even at other peopels' expense." So often these movies preach the message that you should never abandon whatever specific thing you want to do because everyone else is telling you to do so. They're in the wrong and you're in the right, follow your truth, etc etc. It's one thing I loved about Coco too. By the mid point in the movie, the main character sees the value of family and decides that if he has to sacrifice his dream so save someone else, that's a worthwhile thing to do. And through that growth, he's rewarded by that same family. I dunno, I'm just sick of this hyper-individualism that suffuses all of American culture. Heaven forbid someone put the community or family first instead of themselves.
but iirc unlike all the other disney princesses from the time mulan was actively trying to fit the expectation of society and family had placed on her where the others were actual princesses and such and were rebelling against those expectations. mulan wasn't really rebelling so much as trying to keep her father alive by tricking everyone like she did
@@lionheartt15 That's kind of what I'm saying. I think it's more interesting to criticize society without having the main character criticize society (at first anyway.) Sort of a show-don't-tell thing
"Nothing more masculine than embracing your feminine side" Never thought I'd hear a guy say this, but I completely agree! 😊 It's been years since I've seen Mulan, I forgot how amazing the "be a man" sequence is!
@SilvanaPuris2310 I wish so too. And not in the sense that people ARE trying to do, by claiming they are women when they are men. But more like, being confident to confide in a someone about something sensitive, or embracing be a dad of a lil girl and trying to understand their brain and sensitivities, being more comfortable with sharing emotions, defying stereotypes like loving to be a cook and homemaker, etc. There are ways to enjoy the feminine side as a man without crossing lines. And women could also learn to do likewise, embrace some of their more traditionally masculine traits without fear of judgement.
@@h.s.6269 Transphobia isn't very noble Chinese warrior of you. Men can and do embrace their feminine side and they are still men. Trans women are women, there is a difference, not that I'm expecting you to understand that right away, but I hope you do better in future. Without that comment, I agree.
36:00 fun fact. The reason Atilla the Hun called Mulan "the soldier from the mountains" and wasnt shocked by her gender, was because the Huns did have female warriors.
@@Brandy_2228 So? It's incorrect information whose correct info is literally spoken multiple times in the film. How do you get that wrong? They mention Shan Yu by name several times. 🤦🏼
@@MontgomeryWenis Not to mention the Huns never attacked China and this is a completely different group (though some scholars think the Huns were descended from them, but it's debated), so I'm not sure why anybody would call him Attila in the first place. He would be way out of time and place.
It's funny cause I'm sure if I sung it in my discord groups, I guarantee you someone would finish it. Wouldn't matter if they were in the thick of another discussion, lmao
I've been in meetings where the manager says "let's get down to business" and have to suppress the urge to blurt out the rest of the line... Doesn't help that everyone else my age at the table are thinking the same thing.
This movie changed my life as a kid. I was always more of tomboy but grew up with Cinderella and Snow White princesses. Here we had a woman using both (traditionally seen as) female and male attributes to face challenges and make her own way. There is not one right way to be a woman and be worthy and seen and appreciated. 9yo me felt inspired. It meant so much
I never understood this line of logic. I'm a Mexican, and I never once felt like I wasn't represented by Disney movies or anything because the characters were white or Chinese or what have you. I look at Mulan and I see myself reflected in her because she exhibits some qualities that I admire and strive for. We don't need someone to look like us or anything silly like that. We can just find the things worth admiring in each individual and identify with that.
@@NovusIgnisI don’t really understand how your comment relates to the previous comments. But I’m going to try to explain why I agree with that logic. Show White was a very passive character who was "classically" beautiful, fragile, innocent, naive, waiting for someone else to rescue her… attributes that are often seen as feminine and are often told to girls as something to strive to look/make yourself like, too. When you’ve already realized that you are strong, curious, adventurous (or nobody has told you that girls "shouldn’t" be like that), characters like Snow White can make you feel like you’re failing as a girl or you are not normal. And girls who were already told to be passive or not be inquisitive or only focus on looking good for a man to rescue them feel validated because characters like Snow White are admired and serve as "perfect" role models. It can also just be a movie or just a character for some kids. It depends on your environment and what other characters or real life people you’re confronted with. If you only ever see passive female characters and rescuing male character, you very likely will think that that’s the way it should be. Because children think that what they see, what adults show them, is the way the world works. A character like Mulan can - potentially - show or remind you that, for example: there are different types of people no matter the gender, that it’s okay to be strong and curious, that it’s okay to want to be strong but also have empathy/"female" attributes, that you can find friends in unlikely people, that you don’t have to look or behave a certain way to be a girl,… You can transfer that concept to race/racism just as well because it mostly depends on what your parents/society showed and told you. If your parents managed to make you relate to lots of different people (disregarding gender, skin color, age, body type,, …), it won’t matter to you what attributes a fictional character might have. In most societies or cultures, that’s something your parent actively have to work for, though. Because while children are born without (e.g.) racist tendencies, lots of people/media around them will show racism, making the children think that that’s the correct behavior. And some children are also more receptive or observant than others, too.
The amount of detail that Old School Disney drew from real life is the hallmark of their golden age. It shows the amount of love and passion they had for their craft. For The Lion King, they sat down with actual Lions to learn their mannerisms, they went into the wild to capture the true spirit of the African Savanna. For Aladdin they delved into deep Arabic lore and traditional stories, and spent weeks to get individual seconds of animation *just right*. Old School Disney were Artists first, movie-makers second. And their downfall into propaganda-pushing, short-cut narratives, and vitriolic fan-shaming is one of the great tragedies of the new millennium.
@@Choalith_Ikanthe Basically do a research on the subject. It's practically mandatory for anyone writing a setting. Heck Tom Clancy did his research into military aspects of his novels so well that you'd think he was an ex-military.
Fun fact, during the song Honour to Us All, the women are singing Mulan can bring honor to her family by striking up a match. (Meaning finding a good husband) Although she would literally strike a match to cause the avalanche that wiped out the Hun army.
no theres no hidden meaning there. if you want something thats at least plausible the line "boys will gladly go to war for you" is at least a little believable as instead of fighting to marry her they're inspired to fight with her
I think the most impactful moment is when you realize that the "girl worth fighting for" has changed from a romantic partner to the little girl with the doll who was killed by the Huns.
"why doesn't China have a bigger fighting force?" They did. Our crew just walked through the field of their corpses. On a less sad note, the charge of the Huns is one of those 'we have to completely reinvent the field of animation in order to create this scene' moments of Disney animation. The behind the scenes for it are really cool.
Pretty sure China had other armies but sicne it is a big empire they were stationed in other places for defencive purposes plus word didn't fly as fast as nowadays that the empire was attacked and it would probably take weeks for the word to go to the other armies so they can mobilise and move to defence, but that would lead to the other territories to be wide open to attack. This is one of the issues some of the great empires had back in the day. Their army at full force could not be beaten, but it needed to be spread in different places of the empire as the bigger the empire the more enemies it had.
A few things that make this movie so special 1. When Mulan challenges her father on how he is prepared to die for honour He replies "I will die, doing what's right" This hints to us that the father is less about honour as a duty but principle He does think it's the right thing to give your life to defend your country and family from invaders 2. The film tackles the idea of masculintiy and gender norms Long before that was a heated issue Mulans first attenpts to "be a man" fail cause she follows both her preconceived ideas and mushu's ideas of what a man is And over time the line gets blurred as what saves the day is not manly strength but ingenuity and that is genderless and sexless, it is available to everyone. The trio even surrender their manliness to disguise themsevles to overcome the huns 3. When Shan-Yu sees Mulan and recongizes her, he doesn't look at her as a woman, but as the soldier, becasue huns had less oppressive gender roles for females 4. When shi fu goes at mulan at the end, the trio put themselves in front of her and protect her Defying the high councilor, and showing their trust and friendship is solid.
Well said, and I also love that they all ultimately succeed through both ingenuity and working together as a team, leveraging each others’ strengths. Yes she’s the hero, but she’s not so ridiculously OP that she does everything on her own.
@@abbiejo6822Yes, the three guy are comic reliefs but never shown as incapable soldiers once they completed training. And they can do things Mulan can't. Like lifting a horse to save her for instance 😅
@@orelliaorellia142 This is something I love about these movies from this time in animation and storytelling. The comic relief isn't just there to be funny, they are characters in the story too, and they impact its outcome.
What do you mean "before that was a heated issue"? That was a HUGE issue in the 90s and gender equality was a major topic. Really, it had been since the 60s, but it was on everybody's lips in the 90s. Having a movie where a girl was a badass and the main character was directly because this was a major topic at the time. I sincerely do not know what people thought the 90s and early 2000s were like, but it was certainly much more engaged with equality and trying to be politically correct, and better at it, than people are today.
i love how the stone dragon couldnt be awoken by mushu because the dragon had already awoken in mulan to protect her family i find that truly beautiful
@@JoshuaNelson-kl5zb not really. By then, it’s strongly implied that the statue was just a statue. There are dragon motifs all over Mulan’s decision, which comes as she sits under the Great Stone Dragon, very much suggesting that in truth, Mulan was the Great Stone Dragon. Additionally, while dragons in Chinese culture represent many things, one of the most potent is wisdom, which is a trait that allows Mulan to succeed. The statue by that point was no longer a symbol of the Great Stone Dragon, bc its spirit was now within Mulan.
@@agwarddd no that's not it at all the Great dragon was not a symbol he was an individual creature remember mushu was a statute then The Great ancestor woke him up this means the Great dragon was one of his kind and he died in his sleep
@JoshuaNelson-kl5zb that's probably how it reincarnated as mulan, if that's what the writers were going for. Assuming I got the timing right, reincarnation was a belief back then
@@Fairygoblet in order for that to work Mulan would have to have been born after the Great dragon died he could not have been reincarnated as someone who was alive at the same time as him
I know the Poem of Mulan was never confirmed to be based on a true story, but in the Balkan war and WWI, a woman named Milunka Savić served Serbia in her brother's place just like this, when she was wounded and discovered she was offered a place in a nursing division, but she refused, and since her record as a soldier was too good, they didn't want to get rid of her, she got awarded so many medals.
There are several Spanish heroines that fought in sieges (Maria Pita, Agustina de Aragon) and at least one that served in the army in the Americas. She was discovered but due to her services got a pension and rank. The thing about women is that if don't fight like men they can still DIE like rats.
@@xhagast Yeah men like to boast about how they risk their lives in battle and how it's unfair women aren't sent to die in war, but the reality is that depending on the location of the war, civilians can be killed in large numbers. Just reading about what's happened to women in various wars (think about Chinese women in WWII if you want to not sleep at night) makes me so sad. :(
For anyone wondering Mulan's father was a veteran war hero who gained respect during a previous war by fending off enemy forces resulting in his debilitating injury, he "retired" as a result of it but was seen as a warrior of great honor for his service so the fact the family didnt have a son to preserve the family legacy left them in a complicated situation. The only way for the family to hold onto that respect during those times would have been if Mulan had married into another well off family, and thats why the pressure to impress the matchmaker the person in charge of making the introduction to all the highly respected families was so important in the beginning of the film
I saw this in the theatre and while it was a touching scene, it was, somewhat, ruined by my friend's interjection. After Mulan gave him the sword of Shan Yu, and the medallion of the Emperor, he imitated the Father's voice and said, "Oh God Mulan! Tell me you didn't kill the emperor!"
I studied China and Chinese in college, and that gave me soooooo much more historical context for this movie. Fun fact, there’s debate on whether or not Hua MuLan was a real person or not. There’s an ancient Chinese poem called The Ballad of Hua MuLan that’s the basis of the debate.
Would probably be less of a debate if it wasn’t for China’s cultural revolution. So much history wiped off the surface of the Earth, "cleaning the slate" for China. I’d like to think the stories have some basis in reality, but any old temples or libraries that might’ve held that sort of knowledge got pretty much wiped out.
how about snow white?😆 Do you think sleeping beauty was a real person? I think Mulan was real or not,this is not a point The point is this is a famous story in Chinese but if you want research about this,yeah that is a point we can think and discuss and the answer still not clear until now
What I came here to say. There are actually a few different Chinese movies/shows that use the poem as a basis as well. I got to see a Chinese adaptation of this once. It was pretty neat comparatively to see it through a "natural" lens, rather than a "westernized" one
Fun fact, there's actually countless women through history who fought in wars, fully uncredited because of their countries' laws against women. Obviously there's no way of knowing how many or how often it happened, because successful women warriors were never caught and they never recorded any achievements.
If you are talking about China, maybe you can check up Fuhao (妇好). She is the first Chinese female general recorded. Her story as well as her tomb discovered in 1976 are both quite interesting.
If you are familiar with Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, he wrote a book on that concept. Monstrous Regiment. About women masquerading as men to join the military.
There are several Spanish heroines that fought in sieges (Maria Pita, Agustina de Aragon) and at least one that served in the army in the Americas. She was discovered but due to her services got a pension and rank.
There were like the whole female regiment of female pilots fighting for the Soviet Union in the second World War and decorated as heroes of the Soviet Union. Common😮😮😮
The favourite Disney of my mom! I grew up with it and loved it so much! Funfact about the real ballad of Mulan: she never fought Huns but rebels. She became a war captain and her soldiers loved her so much that they all escorted her to her home while they didn't know she was a woman. Then, she thanked them in her regular feminine clothes before going back to her sewing work as if she never left home
@@strawberrysoulforever8336She was already a symbol of feminity and courage in China before the movie. Disney made her discover to western audience but destroy it all by making a terrible live movie. (Also your line about China seems a bit racist… I would have let you know that every countries has its history of misogyny and terrible things made to women and it didn’t change the fact every country has also those feminine figures as heroins)
@@sleepy_pommie I don't know much about other cultures. I meant Disney picking her up gave Western audiences a strong symbol that China already had. And I was just talking about foot binding. But then, England had crippling styles, too. Some Victorian women died of internal bleeding from corsets. China is not unusual, but it did have very rigid gender roles not so long ago.
@AnEnormousNerd Maybe I'm biased. I love Aladdin, The Lion King & A Goofy Movie too, but I remember seeing Mulan in theaters, and the song reminds me of Basic Military Training
After the cut from 'A girl worth fighting for' to the scorched village is brutal, and after that there's no more songs for the rest of the film which is a great creative choice!
yeah, like. The reality of war doesn't mesh with the pagentry of a musical. It's such a hard pivot, tonally, but it's pulled off so well that I didn't even notice for YEARS.
For a lot of us Asians, Jasmine and Mulan made us feel seen for the first time. We saw someone from our regions be celebrated and represented in a way that wasn't caricaturish or stereotypical. Mulan in particular is a perfect movie in my opinion. There's nothing too little or too much in it. It has everything from a female protagonist struggling with being a misfit in her society to the movie celebrating her innocence and intelligence to fascinating character arcs, a unique plot, fabulous humour and incredible songs. Mulan is so different from the movies before it. It didn't end with a wedding or a kiss. The villain doesn't have a song of his own. Mulan and Li Shang don't even have the typical Disney love song. Despite all of this, the villain managed to be iconic and Mulan and Li Shang's slowburn affection bloomed so beautifully into love. They also managed to show over the course of the film that strength and femininity aren't mutually exclusive concepts. It's my absolute favourite Disney movie followed by Hercules and the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
I think the first part of your comment is kind of sad, but not for the reasons you'd think. I'm white and growing up I seen myself most in Mulan over all the other princesses. Even to this day I many of the characters I connect with most aren't white or even women. The first one I think of is actually the giant, black man in Green Mile (iirc), I instantly recognized his tender nature and being misunderstood since I was much taller than most girls and boys my age. I am looking more at traits, desires, and goals when I'm looking at storytelling. So I just find it really sad that for you it was about color and background, not the spirit of the character. When I watch something, I'm trying to draw parallels in characters and can appreciate so many wildly different characters by focusing on a different thing within them.
@@h.s.6269 well that's because you got the luxury of seeing main characters that look like you all the time while growing up. It's not like people from other cultures don't look at the traits, desires and goals just because characters are white, but if after years you finally see something familiar to your culture in a dinsey film, that's important for children. It's not sad at all to be happy to see your own culture celebrated for a change. People all around the world grew up watching Disney movies and most of them didn't see any resemblance to their culture in the heroes they loved. For children looking for role models, in such an important developmental phase, it's a huge thing to have that one character that they get to dress up as in costume parties, who they get to imagine themselves being when they grow up. The only thing sad here is you not recognizing your privilege.
@@h.s.6269I grew up loving Tiana from the Princess and the Frog because she was the only princess I knew that had my skin color. Sometimes when you're different from the norm you start noticing these things.
@@h.s.6269 I believe other people have explained it much better but I'll just add a few things. 1) It's unfortunate that you saw my love for two Asian princesses as merely looking at the colour of their skin. I never said that white people cannot or shouldn't appreciate and love Mulan and Jasmine nor did I say that I don't love other princesses for different reasons. 2) It's important to understand that for people who either didn't get represented or highly misrepresented in Hollywood and Western mainstream media, it was a breath of fresh air to see our people being represented as strong, kind, resilient and empowered. People from my part of the world have almost only either been ignored or extremely misrepresented. You don't realise the impact it has on millions of people and how they're perceived in the rest of the world. I didn't just admire Mulan for her Asian identity, I admired her for a lot of reasons. I admired that Asian people were shown in the full spectrum of their humanity and not just as convenient props or dehumanized stereotypes. People who've grown up being the norm in mainstream representation often do not understand how alienating it is to never see your people be represented as anything other than the worst of humanity. For those who have experienced this erasure and stereotyping in some form because of their race, ethnicity etc, it's a massive source of cathartic joy to see our people be represented as fully human.
@@soraia_4383fyi, jasmine/pocahontas/mulan/esmeralda/kira were not white princesses … plenty of movies showed princesses and character from other country - mysterious gold city (sorry not sure about the english title) was set in south america, Tia isn’t white. I’m from middle east and i’m so tired of that argument, we had PLENTY of « princesses » to look up for, you guys just decided to mostly watch the european ones … That’s sad, yes, but not on the world, blame your parents for now it to you or yourself for not being interested enough lol Plus PLENTY of movies and cartoon were made in other continents/country (not only by disney) showing strong woman/girls that werent white. But i knoooow the logic is hard ro understand : in mostly white countries, you’ll mostly have white heroes. Damn girls.
"I will never pass for a perfect daughter," "If i were truly to be myself, i would break my family's heart," These lines really hit hard for me My dad hated me being a nerdy, rugby playing theatre girl, but that's who i am. As well as when she is looking in the helmet. For years, i couldn't see the worth in myself
🧧Here’s why I like “Mulan” : she actually tried to bring honour to her family the traditional way first she didn’t decide on extremes until it was her only choice, her path in life was simply meant to be interesting because she’s different. I relate quite a lot to her character . Probably the only princess i related to a child in all Disney princess movies .
@@thunder_wolf23 Of course you'd go anime/ strength. Mulan wasn't the strongest! She was smart, resourceful, and brave. If you boil all those qualities down to simply strength, you're missing so much.
@Undomaranel you're the one boiling it down to physical strength. The quote is from Bob Marley and he meant for it to cover every kind of 'strong'. Mental, spiritual, emotional, etc. It fits here perfectly
Honestly, as much as I love how sassy Mulan's grandma is, my favorite part of the movie is Yao roasting Chi-Fu in the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For". Chi-Fu: 🎶I've a girl back home who's unlike any other🎶 Yao: 🎶 Yeah, the only girl who'd love him is his mother🎶 Just the look on his face ALONE is priceless. 😅😂🤣
It was the first time I heard that line, given that I'm French and used to watch the movie in french. In the French song, the song goes like "a young woman's been waiting for me for 40 years" "after all this time she surely has no teeth anymore". I can't say which line I prefer x)
This movie was so important to me when I was a little girl. I remember struggling with stereotypical role models when I was in primary school. All the other girls wanted to be a princess, and I would much rather be a police officer or a fireman or president. So I started wearing boys clothes and I was asked several times if I identified as a boy. But I just didn't have the vocabulary to express that I clearly feel like a girl, but I just couldn´t imagine women doing all the cool and important jobs. And then I saw "Mulan" for the first time in 2005, and that same year Angela Merkel became German Chancellor (I am German). I realized that I can have any job I want and that physical benefits don't matter if you're determined and smart. I'm sure this movie has changed my life in a positive way.
and one of my favorite theories from this movie is that the reason why mushu couldn't wake up the stone dragon was because the dragon's spirit had already left as mulan (she was sitting on the statue when she made the decision to leave). and if you notice, the movie is a musical up until the army comes across the destroyed village. from that point on, the only song is the "be a man" reprise that lasts all of 30 seconds. the horrors of war were powerful enough to straight up change the genre!
The scene of the destroyed village is still one of the most eerily brutal moments in a disney movie. The writers and animators absolutely knew how to maximize the tragic impact by contrasting the joy of the song number with the destruction of the following scene.
one of my favorite observations: a girl worth fighting for ends with them seeing the village all burnt up, with mulan picking up a little girl's doll. that little girl is the girl worth fighting for.
The training montage set to “Be A Man” is my favorite training montage in a movie, period. I always get chills when Mulan, through intelligence and determination, overcomes the arrow challenge when no one else could. It was a great lesson and something I needed to see when I was a young girl.
It is SO much better than the usual Mary Sue thing. YOU cannot be Wonder Rey from Star Wars. But YOU can be Mulan. If you struggle hard enough. We can't be born perfect. But. We CAN work hard enough to become able to succeed, nevertheless.
One of my favourite Disney movies, just so special. Also love (and hate lmao) the scene right after "A girl worth fighting for". During the song, they sang about their own selfish needs from the girls they thought they were fighting for. But when they came upon the destroyed village, they all found their girl worth fighting for: the little girl who lost her doll and her life.
'Mulan' is truly one of the greatest Disney movies ever. There are so many raw, heart-wrenching, and moving segments throughout. The musical numbers stopping once the army reaches the destroyed village in order to remind audiences that this is really a movie about the tragedies of war, Shang placing his father's helmet on his sword in dedication, and the entire congregation bowing to Mulan at the end of the film are some of the most powerful moments in all of animation.
This is my all time favourite Disney film. As a kid I was the only girl playing with dinosaurs and trucks instead of dolls and was more interested in swords and castles than "playing house". I always felt soul-bonded to Mulan as I also was a people pleaser who never seemed to be enough no matter how hard I tried or how well I did. I was always a step out of time with everyone else. When I watched Mulan for the first time (a very long time ago) I felt like "yeah, this should have been me..." On a small note when Li Shang is supposed to execute her she says "I did it to save my father's life" and he's only just lost his father so that really resonates with him and touches his vulnerability and empathy. The transitions in this film are so impactful and the music is incredible. I'm so glad you loved this film too.
Same here as a kid, I’d much rather use my imagination in playing out an adventure than playing house; and also struggled with people pleasing. I’ve since then accepted myself and learned to not please people nearly as much.
At so many times growing up training for sports or doing outdoor activities, someone would start singing "let's get down to business" and within 5 minutes everyone would be chanting "BE A MAAAAN"
My mother loved this movie so much that not only did we see it in theaters twice, but we brought her mother the second time. It was the only animated movie my grandmother liked. .
Something cool this movie has that most Disney animated movies don't is that the hero and the sidekicks have storylines that parallel each other. Mulan, Mushu and the cricket all disgraced themselves and lie about themselves for a chance at redemption. (Mulan and the cricket even disgraced themselves in the exact same scene.) It looks like they're going to succeed, only for their deceptions to be revealed, disgracing them again. And then they really do succeed at redeeming themselves. I also like that even though he isn't as important as those other characters, the love interest has insecurities and an arc of his own. (Like Mulan, he's trying to bring honor to his family, specifically his father.)
Fun fact: the First Fa Ancestor who awakens Mu Shu is voiced by George Takei, who voices the warden of the earth kingdom prisoners in ATLA. And the council man is voiced by James Hong, who also does the mayor of Chin Village.
What really gets me about that cutaway from “a girl worth fighting for” is that that’s exactly the girl worth fighting for. That child, that little girl who died that they couldn’t protect in time. That’s the real one worth fighting for, and it’s not a glamorous fantasy. It’s their reality.
I LOVED this movie when I was a kid. Alas, my mom was a fundie and did't like how "masculine" and "independent" Mulan was. I thought she was a badass. LOL Great music in this one too.
I love the part where the leader of the leader of the Hun army says "The soldier from the mountains..." Because it doesn't display any surprise that Mulan is a woman. He doesn't care about her gender, only that she was the one that destroyed his army.
Got so excited seeing you react to this one, been wanting to watch this movie again for a while, so it was a highlight of my day seeing this. I was quoting along as I watched haha, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Fun Fact: in case no one else mentioned it or noticed, but the songs/singing had stopped after they arrived at the attacked village for the remainder of the movie, just to show the reality and heartache of the situation happening. And I love Mulan as a Disney Princess, she's incredibly brave, creatively intelligent and yet still maintains a kind, understanding heart.
Mulan actually has a surprisingly well known voice cast. Some voices you might have recognized include: * James Hong as the annoying advisor guy, who also voiced Po's adoptive father in Kung Fu Panda. * Harvey Fierstein as the short, angry soldier guy, who also appeared as the main character's brother in Mrs. Doubtfire * June Foray as the grandmother, who also voices basically every grandmotherly character in 80s-90s cartoons (Looney Tunes, Rocky & Bullwinkel), along with Magica De Spell in the original DuckTales * BD Wong as Shang, who was also the main scientist in Jurassic Park and more recently Whiterose in Mr. Robot * Pat Morita as the emperor, who also played Mr. Miyagi in the original Karate Kid movies * George Takei as the First Ancestor, who was (of course) Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek I'm sure there are more that I missed.
One of my favourite things about this movie is the way they framed Mulans transformation into her alter ego. The way they shot it, it's very heavily implied that Mulan is now the great stone dragon protecting her family
If you're doing Renaissance movies, you're still missing Little mermaid, Aladdin and Pocahontas. Some of the early 2000 are worth a watch also (Lilo&Stitch, Treasure planet, Kuzco, Brother Bear). And last recommandation, not a Disney but a perfect animated from the 90s: Prince of Egypt. The music is just magnificient
I really liked this movie it is still one of my favourites. It holds a place in my heart, the way that the story was about HER not about a love story not about being saved, but about her fighting for what she wanted. One of the first Disney movies about a princess and that was not too focused on a love story, it was there but it was not the main aspect! She was her own woman
this movie was my favourite disney movie for years and years. as a trans guy, the way mulan felt and the demonstration of her supposed inability to fulfill her place as the ideal daughter and struggle in demonstrating masculinity was always so relatable to me and even to this day 'reflection' makes me cry. even if thats not at all how it is for her, i still find it an incredible and touching movie
I love that the dad takes these priceless gifts of victory, Shan Yu's sword and the emperor's crest, and just drops them on the ground, doesnt even look at them or set them down, just dumps them on the ground and goes in to hug his daughter. It tells you everything about what he values and his "Mulan, you dishonor me" earlier was just him standing on ceremony in front of others, not his actual feelings
Fun fact: Mulan has two actresses, Ming-Na Wen and Lea Salonga. Lea proivdes the singing voices for both Mulan and Jasmine from Aladdin. She is also a seasoned Broadway actress having played the roles of Eponine and Fantine in Les Miserables
In the legend this movie was based on, Mulan was actually a very traditional woman of her time. She can sew, she had makeup, and she was in every way a traditional woman, but because her family have no older brother who was old enough to fight in the war, her little brother didn't meet the age requirement to have a recruit notice sent to him, and her older sister also couldn't do it, that's why she decided to take on the responsibility for her father was too old to fight. It actually took her a while to get everything she needed for the war, she had to go to four different markets just for the equipment, after 12 years of fighting, she finally came back, she rejected the emperor's offer to work as assistant for the emperor after they won the war, and asked the emperor to send her home, her family welcomed her back, she went into her room, put on her makeup, changed her clothes before she came out of her room to meet the soldiers that fought with her in the war, they were surprised because for the 12 years that they spent fighting in the war with her, they never knew she was a woman all along. Huns society was actually different from traditional Chinese society, female Huns could take on more leadership roles, they can own land, their society was completely different from traditional Chinese society, because they lived in the north, the resource was pretty limited, that's the reason why they often went down south to China for resources and they had been a constant problem for the Chinese for generations until they were finally forced to move to what is known as the modern day Hungarian area. In China's history, there were two times when China was actually ruled by what Chinese would call "barbarians" from the north, once was Mongolia, and then Manchus, but never by the Huns, there were historical records of the Huns being more of a problem to China in the 127 BC, and it persisted to be in the history books until they became Hungary. In different periods of time in China's history, China was at war with different groups of what they call "barbarians" 300 BC-127BC Huns 1279 AD-1368 AD Mongolian 1644AD-1911 AD Manchus What is now commonly known as "Chinese" as people call it was actually spoken by the "barbarians" living north of China who called themselves "Manchus", China itself have different dialects spoken across the country, some provinces even have two different dialects within the province(North and South), as such, in some provinces, people living in the northern area would have no idea what the people living in the south are saying in spoken language, if you write it out it may have more of a chance to be understood since all Chinese dialects use the same sets of Chinese characters, it's just being pronounced differently with different dialects, but they''ll also have a chance to sound similar because people use the same characters when creating the dialects. The original legend was less about Mulan defying social norms and how she's not feminine, in the original legend, what I think was interesting was the fact that Mulan could take the responsibility to fight in the war "as a man", but after the war ended, she's just Mulan, a woman who sews, have her makeup on and fits perfectly with her society, the legend was less about her not fitting into her society, as in the legend she fit into her society perfectly, the original legend was more about how she loved her dad so much, how she was so concerned about her dad not being able to fulfill the responsibility that she decided that she would do it for her dad, and this is not the only thing about the original legend that is admirable, in the original legend, she was able to return to her everyday life before the war happened, she was able to take off her armor for the war, put on her usual clothes, put on her makeup and be a lady, a woman, and almost no one can do that after 12 years of fighting in the war, but Mulan did, that's the point of the legend, the original legend also focused more on Mulan's love for her family and she had no identity crisis in the original legend.
There are several scenes that are cinematic Gold in this movie . 1- The song reflection and how the simplistic movements really convey the songs meaning 2- The workout montage and her realizing her brain is needed. 3- The Girl worth fighting for abrupt ending Jars you everytime and adding the deaths reminds you what a girl worth fighting for can cost a man. 4- Finally the scene where she reveals shes the soldier by a simple change of her hair. All of these plus many more were put just right making this an Amazing movie. Movie 2 on the other hand is typical Disney princess drama
38:52 Yep. Got me also. As someone from an Asian family (Filipino) making your parents proud of you is one of greatest accomplishment you'll ever have.
The gravely voiced Yao was voiced by Harvey Fierstein. He is best known as the author of the “Torch Song Trilogy,” for which he won two Tonys (for Best Play and Best Actor). He also originated the role of Edna in the Broadway production of “Hairspray.”
This movie is so good! Her relationship with her dad is so beautiful! The actress voicing Mulan is Ming Na Wen, who also plays Agent May in Agents of Shield. She is so bad ass! And could have totally been the live action Mulan, if she was the right age. She does appear in the live action though. She is also in The Mandalorian and Boba Fett. Playing Fennec
One of my top five Favorite Disney Renaissance films from the music, the score by the late Jerry Goldsmith, and the voice performances of Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong, James Hong and Mr. Miyagi himself: Pat Morita. Plus Mulan is one of my Top Three favorite Disney Princesses and in my top five. Lastly, it’s worth mentioning is that compared to the other Disney Renaissance films which were animated at the Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California with a few assistance from the Paris Disney Animation Studio that helped out with some of the animation for _Hunchback of Notre Dame_ and _Tarzan,_ Mulan along with _Lilo & Stitch_ and _Brother Bear_ were animated at the Disney Animation Studios in Orlando, Florida up until its closure in February 2004. Also, Jackie Chan does the voice of Li Shang in the Chinese dub (both Mandarin and Cantonese) of the film along with doing the singing voice of him. Thanks for the reaction and hope you react to _Aladdin._
I love the theory of when Mulan was sitting on the dragon statue, and the thunder and rain was pouring down, the spirit of the dragon transfered into Mulan giving her courage in her wisdom
You're on a roll with awesome movies. I could barely see this one cause my aunts always borrowed the VHS and rarely returned it to me. Now I want to listen to the songs again. Mulan was always the best "princess" to me. She did all the work and saving, without waiting for a man to do all the rescuing. True, she needed to dress as a man, but that wasn't really her fault. And it was all for her father. Family subjects are so welcoming 😄
in "A girl worth fighting for" the part about his mom the only one loving him, is also funny in german, in which he sings: my wife at home is a beauty and gets countert with: she has lot of hair on her tooth xD
In Russian it's also that "there's a dame waiting for me at home - the only woman who's in love with him is mum". But the being in love makes it extra punchy compared to just love
This is probably one of my favorite reviews of this film! I love Mulan 🌸 The scene where she decides to go in place of her father always gives me chills. You can tell they spent a lot of money and time on that scene and it was incredibly effective! Shan Yu wasn’t surprised at Mulan being a woman, rather it was the fact that this was the individual who took out his military. It didn’t matter if it was Ping or Mulan, they are the same person. This makes sense because contrary to China, the Huns actually had female warriors and held roles in the military. His reaction was opposite of how Li Shang and basically everyone else reacted to Mulan vs Ping. I suppose you could say that Shan Yu was the only one who recognized Mulan as a strong warrior regardless of her gender.
This is such a good movie. I love how you picked up the arrupt end to a girl worth fighting for changed the genre of the movie. As someone already said that moment changed the girl from a future wife to the innocent they protect but also the end of that song changes the movie from a musical to no longer a musical. There are no more full songs after that point. The only song after that is a very small reprise of be a man. And there is full sure enough time left for a couple or more full songs. I do love the be a man reprise though cause a lot of times the men dressed as women would be played as a joke but here its this is a strength and good.
One of my favourite things about the ending fight is that Shan Yu said the solider from the mountain when recognising Mulan as Ping instead of saying something along the lines of “you’re a women!?” Because to the Huns it was normal to see the women fight too as they had female worriers
I'm sure someone else has already said this, but the reason why the dragon statue crumbles so easily is that Mulan is actually the great dragon spirit herself, and the protector of her family. It's also why once she decides to run away, you keep seeing dragon iconography over and over and over again. It's brilliant symbolism. And it's more that Donkey is Mushu than the other way around. Mushu came first. 😉
This is just so much better than the Mary Sue live action version where she’s just supernaturally gifted. The training montage is just so awesome in this movie showing that she may have started out bad but through hard work and determination she became a stronger warrior.
Someone else probably said this but I find it honorable the main Hunn villain didn't call Mulan a "woman" in disgust when she says she destroyed his army but he called her a "soldier". He put her on equal ground back in that situation. It's okay to let anyone be allowed to help defend their home and people, but I also get some of the issues when putting armies together and why it's done certain ways too. Great movie!
This is one of my favorite movies ever and I'm so glad you liked it too! As an Asian woman raised in a predominantly white country Mulan was one of the first movies where I saw someone like me on the screen and that meant so much to me. I'll always hold this movie dearly to my heart
And I think Shang is barely older. Given he got his position partly for nepotism (even if he clearly was at least semi competent) he may have gotten that jump start for the purposes of his personal honor. He too would likely be expected to marry straight out of the war, and then he'd be of his own household and not get all the benefit of his father's.
Fun detail. The opening number "You'll bring honour to us all." contains the lines "A girl can bring her family honour in one way, by striking a good match..." Not only does she defeat the Hun army in the pass by striking a match on that rocket to trigger the avalanche, but also again in the capital (though one lucky cricket does the actual match striking on her behalf here). It's a clever bit of foreshadowing.
This is probably one of my favorite Disney movies of all time. The interactions with her dad, especially at the end, make me tear up every time (even more so since my dad has passed). It's also one of the most quotable movies from Disney. 😊
Agreed although the funny thing is I didn’t know he voiced Mushu when I watched Mulan the first time as I only knew him as the voice of Donkey from _Shrek._ So it wasn’t until I rewatched Mulan the second time until I realized Mushu and Donkey were voiced by Eddie Murphy.
I love how she literally brought home the weapon of their greatest enemy and a medal from the goddamn emperor and she hoped it was enough like bro what else can you bring
Something i absolutely love that is so under talked about, is when they are singing "A Girl Worth Fighting For" Ping, Yao, and Chien-Po are singing about their superficial interests in women, then it cuts out as they get to the village, a lone doll is left among the ruins. They've found a girl worth fighting for, a defenseless child, cut down by the Huns.
Mulan is still my favourite Disney princess. Watching this as a little girl was soooo inspiring! I still get teary eye over the fact that she only set out to save her Dad and ended up saving her country.
34:32 "Nothing more masculine than embracing ur feminity." I agree. My boyfriend used to have a shirt that said real men wear pink. He can't find it anymore, but he loved wearing it 😊 Love ur videos. I've found myself saying "shivers" a few times. Btw hi from Hollywood, Florida 😊
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Fun fact, the writers intentionally cut the "girl worth fighting for" song short with the implied death of a little girl to show that they aren't fighting for glory or a bride but for the future generations. The " girl worth fighting for" is a little girl who gets to grow up in a world of peace.
Reading that gave me chills
I love that, especially when Mulan lays the doll against the General's sword, basically emphasizing what the soldiers are really fighting for.
Damn, reading this brought tears to my eyes.
Plus Shan Yu has that line about a little girl missing her doll, which also factors in.
@@ashleypanzica2696 I like to also see that part as Mulan, being the only woman in the army, represents the women who are killed in war when all the men have always been representing (and concerned about) the men who die due to war.
"Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your cow!" is too iconic of a line 😂
Yep 😂
I use the meme regularly on facebook when people say dishonorable things 😂
I use this regularly 😂😂😂😂😂😂
I always use to shame someone 😅
Mushu always hilarous is
"The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter" I think that's one of the most precious things a parent can say to his children
Too true! Makes my mom cry every time 🥰
It’s the one thing I wish my own father said to me, but he said the exact opposite to me, repeatedly. But it’s made me who I am so can’t complain too much
Well, unless you're a boy.
I bawl every time I hear him say it 😢❤
@@taylorhall1988 The _exact_ opposite? So your father said, "The worst punishment and disgrace is having you as a son"? That's awful. :(
"Would you like to stay for dinner?"
"Would you like to stay forever?"
Kills me every time lmfao
granny is an icon
Sign me up for the next war👀 lmao I love the granny🤣
“Who are they?”
“Concubines… ugly concubines”
Hilarious
Lol, the JUDGEMENT on the guy's face when he says that!! He's like 'Guess there's no accounting for the Emperor's tastes...' 😂
I feel sorry for the parents who got asked what a concubine was when their kids first saw this movie hehe
@@imogenonscreen8054lol I learned that word from the Bible when I was little, along with some really fucked up stories.
@@abbiejo6822 oh I feel you on that one lol
@@abbiejo6822 when daddy brings his hoe home and she sets up shop in the other room😂
The score when Mulan chooses to take her father's place will never not be one of the most badass and impactful tracks ever composed for a Disney movie. And the ending of "Girl Worth Fighting For" is one of the most instantaneous gut-punches and still bone chilling all these years later.
Shout out to Mathew Wilder of break my stride fame for working on the soundtrack and being the singing voice of the male love interest
@@nevetstrevel4711Donny Osmond did Li Shang's singing voice.
And that is the last musical song of the film! The tone completely changes and it works so well
I was actually surprised Oscar didn’t comment on that part! I always get goosebumps when I see the scene where she decides to take her father’s place- the music shift matches her expression, it’s so perfect
That moment reminds you that, though it's on the tail end of it, it's very much still part of when Disney was solidly good and pumping out great films.
And, of course, that Disney is not afraid to go dark still.
Everytime I watch this movie, I can't help but think "That's how you write a strong female character!!" ❤
Fully agree. A problem with many of the female leads in recent movies (especially Marvel, but also the live action Mulan) is that they follow the same idea that "you are already perfect, all you need to succeed is to get rid of your self doubt". This can be a powerful message if done right, but it is hardly ever done so.
What makes Mulan here a strong female character is not that she is prefect and completely capable at the start, but is a human, as flawed as anyone else, and that used her flaws to find her own way, to become unique and turn them into strengths. She has a complete character arc where she isn't suddenly all powerful just because the plot demands it, but even in her final fight, she is all on the defensive and only succeeds through cunning and finding the opening (and the help of a little dragon).
I have the feeling, too often, movies take a shortcut in writing female leads, by reducing the complexity and the difficulties of their character arcs (in contrast to male lead movies) from a flawed person that can grow and learn, that becomes a better version of themselves.
Seriously, she can have both feminine and masculine traits. She can make mistakes but learn from them. She can be heroic but also vulnerable. Just write a great character, that's all. I think the issue we see today is superficial appeal to the female audience, it's corporate contrived "feminism" it's pandering and hollow. As a woman it sucks to be shown something so fake and expected to care like I should be happy about it, I just want a great character that's all.
Exactly! Not just that she learns how to fight well, but she's smart and can be comedic as well. She's such a well-rounded character. Female leads so often now can't be comedic or physically weak. And either have multiple romantic interests or is positively against having any. I always go back to this movie when having the discussion about the problem with a lot of "strong" female characters in movies now
Yeah, exactly, I liked she can have both traits: She doesn't quite fit in with the femenine group or completely with the masculine group, she can go her own way that's what I felt. By making human her character, we can feel her complete
That's how female leads in CDramas basically are. Yes they do have the "badass" fighter type (usually an assassin) but she's not presented as invincible and she works best with her love interest who helped her do a face-heel turn thus a character growth.
I feel that having Mulan not be a rebel at the beginning of the movie makes her more interesting. And it's a more interesting way to deliver the message that society is unfair than having the leading lady flat out say at the beginning that society is unfair like other Disney princesses from the 90s.
Yup. It’s exactly what I’ve never liked about Jasmine.
I like that it *does* place that emphasis on duty and social/familial responsibility too. It isn't just some story about "you're an individual and you need to express that individuality even at other peopels' expense."
So often these movies preach the message that you should never abandon whatever specific thing you want to do because everyone else is telling you to do so. They're in the wrong and you're in the right, follow your truth, etc etc. It's one thing I loved about Coco too. By the mid point in the movie, the main character sees the value of family and decides that if he has to sacrifice his dream so save someone else, that's a worthwhile thing to do. And through that growth, he's rewarded by that same family.
I dunno, I'm just sick of this hyper-individualism that suffuses all of American culture. Heaven forbid someone put the community or family first instead of themselves.
but iirc unlike all the other disney princesses from the time mulan was actively trying to fit the expectation of society and family had placed on her where the others were actual princesses and such and were rebelling against those expectations. mulan wasn't really rebelling so much as trying to keep her father alive by tricking everyone like she did
@@lionheartt15 That's kind of what I'm saying. I think it's more interesting to criticize society without having the main character criticize society (at first anyway.) Sort of a show-don't-tell thing
@@NovusIgnis Because that's a cultural thing. Extremes of both isn't good tho
"Nothing more masculine than embracing your feminine side"
Never thought I'd hear a guy say this, but I completely agree! 😊
It's been years since I've seen Mulan, I forgot how amazing the "be a man" sequence is!
Yeah, I'm agree too, I wish more people thought that way
@SilvanaPuris2310 I wish so too. And not in the sense that people ARE trying to do, by claiming they are women when they are men.
But more like, being confident to confide in a someone about something sensitive, or embracing be a dad of a lil girl and trying to understand their brain and sensitivities, being more comfortable with sharing emotions, defying stereotypes like loving to be a cook and homemaker, etc. There are ways to enjoy the feminine side as a man without crossing lines.
And women could also learn to do likewise, embrace some of their more traditionally masculine traits without fear of judgement.
@@h.s.6269 could have done without you being a transphobic PoS.
@@h.s.6269 Transphobia isn't very noble Chinese warrior of you. Men can and do embrace their feminine side and they are still men. Trans women are women, there is a difference, not that I'm expecting you to understand that right away, but I hope you do better in future.
Without that comment, I agree.
@@fearoffancy5743 They always gotta bring transphobia into it completely unprompted, huh? So tiring.
36:00 fun fact. The reason Atilla the Hun called Mulan "the soldier from the mountains" and wasnt shocked by her gender, was because the Huns did have female warriors.
Except he's not Atilla the Hun. He's Shan Yu, a completely fictional character. 🤦🏼
@@MontgomeryWenis fine, I got his name messed up. He is still the leader of the Huns and the Huns had female warriors
@@MontgomeryWenisthat’s not even the point of their comment 🤦🏼♀️
@@Brandy_2228 So? It's incorrect information whose correct info is literally spoken multiple times in the film. How do you get that wrong? They mention Shan Yu by name several times. 🤦🏼
@@MontgomeryWenis Not to mention the Huns never attacked China and this is a completely different group (though some scholars think the Huns were descended from them, but it's debated), so I'm not sure why anybody would call him Attila in the first place. He would be way out of time and place.
I literally cannot hear or say "Let's get down to business" without following it up with "to defeat the Huns." It's simply not possible.
Same thing with “you missed” 😂. You HAVE to follow with “how could you miss, he was 3 feet from you.”
I still use the “Great Stone Dragon, have you awakened?” line on family members when they wake up from sleeping in.
@abbiejo6822 bruh that's hilarious i love it
It's funny cause I'm sure if I sung it in my discord groups, I guarantee you someone would finish it. Wouldn't matter if they were in the thick of another discussion, lmao
I've been in meetings where the manager says "let's get down to business" and have to suppress the urge to blurt out the rest of the line... Doesn't help that everyone else my age at the table are thinking the same thing.
This movie changed my life as a kid. I was always more of tomboy but grew up with Cinderella and Snow White princesses. Here we had a woman using both (traditionally seen as) female and male attributes to face challenges and make her own way. There is not one right way to be a woman and be worthy and seen and appreciated. 9yo me felt inspired. It meant so much
Yes absolutely!! I also realized later in life that I can disappoint my parents and still make them proud
A true Disney Renaissance appreciator, unlike the new generation of Disney producers.
Absolutely I was always a tomboy and sometimes resonated in me watching Mulan fight!
I never understood this line of logic. I'm a Mexican, and I never once felt like I wasn't represented by Disney movies or anything because the characters were white or Chinese or what have you.
I look at Mulan and I see myself reflected in her because she exhibits some qualities that I admire and strive for. We don't need someone to look like us or anything silly like that. We can just find the things worth admiring in each individual and identify with that.
@@NovusIgnisI don’t really understand how your comment relates to the previous comments. But I’m going to try to explain why I agree with that logic.
Show White was a very passive character who was "classically" beautiful, fragile, innocent, naive, waiting for someone else to rescue her… attributes that are often seen as feminine and are often told to girls as something to strive to look/make yourself like, too. When you’ve already realized that you are strong, curious, adventurous (or nobody has told you that girls "shouldn’t" be like that), characters like Snow White can make you feel like you’re failing as a girl or you are not normal. And girls who were already told to be passive or not be inquisitive or only focus on looking good for a man to rescue them feel validated because characters like Snow White are admired and serve as "perfect" role models.
It can also just be a movie or just a character for some kids. It depends on your environment and what other characters or real life people you’re confronted with. If you only ever see passive female characters and rescuing male character, you very likely will think that that’s the way it should be. Because children think that what they see, what adults show them, is the way the world works.
A character like Mulan can - potentially - show or remind you that, for example: there are different types of people no matter the gender, that it’s okay to be strong and curious, that it’s okay to want to be strong but also have empathy/"female" attributes, that you can find friends in unlikely people, that you don’t have to look or behave a certain way to be a girl,…
You can transfer that concept to race/racism just as well because it mostly depends on what your parents/society showed and told you. If your parents managed to make you relate to lots of different people (disregarding gender, skin color, age, body type,, …), it won’t matter to you what attributes a fictional character might have. In most societies or cultures, that’s something your parent actively have to work for, though. Because while children are born without (e.g.) racist tendencies, lots of people/media around them will show racism, making the children think that that’s the correct behavior. And some children are also more receptive or observant than others, too.
Fun fact! That move she does with the fan when fighting the villain, actual martial arts move! The crew drew from life!
That move is so bad ass and is one of my favorite parts of the movie
That looks a lot like Aikido, though, which is a Japanese fighting style. Was it a similar move from a Chinese fighting style?
The amount of detail that Old School Disney drew from real life is the hallmark of their golden age. It shows the amount of love and passion they had for their craft. For The Lion King, they sat down with actual Lions to learn their mannerisms, they went into the wild to capture the true spirit of the African Savanna. For Aladdin they delved into deep Arabic lore and traditional stories, and spent weeks to get individual seconds of animation *just right*. Old School Disney were Artists first, movie-makers second. And their downfall into propaganda-pushing, short-cut narratives, and vitriolic fan-shaming is one of the great tragedies of the new millennium.
I always wanted to learn that... still do.. 😂
@@Choalith_Ikanthe Basically do a research on the subject. It's practically mandatory for anyone writing a setting.
Heck Tom Clancy did his research into military aspects of his novels so well that you'd think he was an ex-military.
Fun fact, during the song Honour to Us All, the women are singing Mulan can bring honor to her family by striking up a match. (Meaning finding a good husband) Although she would literally strike a match to cause the avalanche that wiped out the Hun army.
no theres no hidden meaning there. if you want something thats at least plausible the line "boys will gladly go to war for you" is at least a little believable as instead of fighting to marry her they're inspired to fight with her
OMG I love foreshadowing. Never thought about that before now!
Except she didn't strike the match to light the cannon, she used a dragon.
@@teamninjabug8287 Eh close enough
@@teamninjabug8287 again, she didn't do the same as everyone to fit in, instead she made her own way.
I think the most impactful moment is when you realize that the "girl worth fighting for" has changed from a romantic partner to the little girl with the doll who was killed by the Huns.
I didn`t notice this, because I am german and in this version the soldiers sing a woman fighting for. So sadly, it doesn`t work so well
I didn’t notice when I was younger but I do now
It was only implied that she was killed
@@TheBigJayAgendait’s also backed by the score being cut shorter than it was looking to be
"why doesn't China have a bigger fighting force?" They did. Our crew just walked through the field of their corpses. On a less sad note, the charge of the Huns is one of those 'we have to completely reinvent the field of animation in order to create this scene' moments of Disney animation. The behind the scenes for it are really cool.
Pretty sure China had other armies but sicne it is a big empire they were stationed in other places for defencive purposes plus word didn't fly as fast as nowadays that the empire was attacked and it would probably take weeks for the word to go to the other armies so they can mobilise and move to defence, but that would lead to the other territories to be wide open to attack. This is one of the issues some of the great empires had back in the day. Their army at full force could not be beaten, but it needed to be spread in different places of the empire as the bigger the empire the more enemies it had.
A few things that make this movie so special
1. When Mulan challenges her father on how he is prepared to die for honour
He replies
"I will die, doing what's right"
This hints to us that the father is less about honour as a duty but principle
He does think it's the right thing to give your life to defend your country and family from invaders
2. The film tackles the idea of masculintiy and gender norms
Long before that was a heated issue
Mulans first attenpts to "be a man" fail cause she follows both her preconceived ideas and mushu's ideas of what a man is
And over time the line gets blurred as what saves the day is not manly strength but ingenuity and that is genderless and sexless, it is available to everyone.
The trio even surrender their manliness to disguise themsevles to overcome the huns
3. When Shan-Yu sees Mulan and recongizes her, he doesn't look at her as a woman, but as the soldier, becasue huns had less oppressive gender roles for females
4. When shi fu goes at mulan at the end, the trio put themselves in front of her and protect her
Defying the high councilor, and showing their trust and friendship is solid.
Well said, and I also love that they all ultimately succeed through both ingenuity and working together as a team, leveraging each others’ strengths. Yes she’s the hero, but she’s not so ridiculously OP that she does everything on her own.
@@abbiejo6822Yes, the three guy are comic reliefs but never shown as incapable soldiers once they completed training. And they can do things Mulan can't. Like lifting a horse to save her for instance 😅
@@orelliaorellia142 This is something I love about these movies from this time in animation and storytelling. The comic relief isn't just there to be funny, they are characters in the story too, and they impact its outcome.
What do you mean "before that was a heated issue"? That was a HUGE issue in the 90s and gender equality was a major topic. Really, it had been since the 60s, but it was on everybody's lips in the 90s. Having a movie where a girl was a badass and the main character was directly because this was a major topic at the time.
I sincerely do not know what people thought the 90s and early 2000s were like, but it was certainly much more engaged with equality and trying to be politically correct, and better at it, than people are today.
@reuvenknight1575 it really feels like we're taking one step forward and two steps back since forever😢
i love how the stone dragon couldnt be awoken by mushu because the dragon had already awoken in mulan to protect her family i find that truly beautiful
You do realize that mushu basically murdered another dragon
@@JoshuaNelson-kl5zb not really. By then, it’s strongly implied that the statue was just a statue. There are dragon motifs all over Mulan’s decision, which comes as she sits under the Great Stone Dragon, very much suggesting that in truth, Mulan was the Great Stone Dragon. Additionally, while dragons in Chinese culture represent many things, one of the most potent is wisdom, which is a trait that allows Mulan to succeed. The statue by that point was no longer a symbol of the Great Stone Dragon, bc its spirit was now within Mulan.
@@agwarddd no that's not it at all the Great dragon was not a symbol he was an individual creature remember mushu was a statute then The Great ancestor woke him up this means the Great dragon was one of his kind and he died in his sleep
@JoshuaNelson-kl5zb that's probably how it reincarnated as mulan, if that's what the writers were going for. Assuming I got the timing right, reincarnation was a belief back then
@@Fairygoblet in order for that to work Mulan would have to have been born after the Great dragon died he could not have been reincarnated as someone who was alive at the same time as him
I know the Poem of Mulan was never confirmed to be based on a true story, but in the Balkan war and WWI, a woman named Milunka Savić served Serbia in her brother's place just like this, when she was wounded and discovered she was offered a place in a nursing division, but she refused, and since her record as a soldier was too good, they didn't want to get rid of her, she got awarded so many medals.
There are several Spanish heroines that fought in sieges (Maria Pita, Agustina de Aragon) and at least one that served in the army in the Americas. She was discovered but due to her services got a pension and rank.
The thing about women is that if don't fight like men they can still DIE like rats.
@@xhagast Yeah men like to boast about how they risk their lives in battle and how it's unfair women aren't sent to die in war, but the reality is that depending on the location of the war, civilians can be killed in large numbers. Just reading about what's happened to women in various wars (think about Chinese women in WWII if you want to not sleep at night) makes me so sad. :(
I love the friendship/broship Mulan develops with Ling, Yao and Chen Po.
For anyone wondering Mulan's father was a veteran war hero who gained respect during a previous war by fending off enemy forces resulting in his debilitating injury, he "retired" as a result of it but was seen as a warrior of great honor for his service so the fact the family didnt have a son to preserve the family legacy left them in a complicated situation. The only way for the family to hold onto that respect during those times would have been if Mulan had married into another well off family, and thats why the pressure to impress the matchmaker the person in charge of making the introduction to all the highly respected families was so important in the beginning of the film
38:40 the way her father threw the sword and crest away like it doesn't matter just to hug his daughter still makes me teary eyed to this day :')
I saw this in the theatre and while it was a touching scene, it was, somewhat, ruined by my friend's interjection.
After Mulan gave him the sword of Shan Yu, and the medallion of the Emperor, he imitated the Father's voice and said, "Oh God Mulan! Tell me you didn't kill the emperor!"
I studied China and Chinese in college, and that gave me soooooo much more historical context for this movie. Fun fact, there’s debate on whether or not Hua MuLan was a real person or not. There’s an ancient Chinese poem called The Ballad of Hua MuLan that’s the basis of the debate.
Would probably be less of a debate if it wasn’t for China’s cultural revolution. So much history wiped off the surface of the Earth, "cleaning the slate" for China. I’d like to think the stories have some basis in reality, but any old temples or libraries that might’ve held that sort of knowledge got pretty much wiped out.
how about snow white?😆
Do you think sleeping beauty was a real person?
I think Mulan was real or not,this is not a point
The point is this is a famous story in Chinese
but if you want research about this,yeah that is a point we can think and discuss
and the answer still not clear until now
What I came here to say. There are actually a few different Chinese movies/shows that use the poem as a basis as well. I got to see a Chinese adaptation of this once. It was pretty neat comparatively to see it through a "natural" lens, rather than a "westernized" one
Don’t know if you’ve seen it yet but definitely add The Prince of Egypt to your animation watch list!
Yes yes yes
Yessssss
YESSSS
Yes please!
YES HE NEEDS TO WATCH PRINCE OF EGYPT
Fun fact, there's actually countless women through history who fought in wars, fully uncredited because of their countries' laws against women. Obviously there's no way of knowing how many or how often it happened, because successful women warriors were never caught and they never recorded any achievements.
If you are talking about China, maybe you can check up Fuhao (妇好). She is the first Chinese female general recorded. Her story as well as her tomb discovered in 1976 are both quite interesting.
If you are familiar with Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, he wrote a book on that concept. Monstrous Regiment. About women masquerading as men to join the military.
There were even cases of this during the American Civil War, with some women disguising themselves to fight for their respective sides.
There are several Spanish heroines that fought in sieges (Maria Pita, Agustina de Aragon) and at least one that served in the army in the Americas. She was discovered but due to her services got a pension and rank.
There were like the whole female regiment of female pilots fighting for the Soviet Union in the second World War and decorated as heroes of the Soviet Union. Common😮😮😮
The favourite Disney of my mom! I grew up with it and loved it so much!
Funfact about the real ballad of Mulan: she never fought Huns but rebels. She became a war captain and her soldiers loved her so much that they all escorted her to her home while they didn't know she was a woman. Then, she thanked them in her regular feminine clothes before going back to her sewing work as if she never left home
@@strawberrysoulforever8336She was already a symbol of feminity and courage in China before the movie. Disney made her discover to western audience but destroy it all by making a terrible live movie. (Also your line about China seems a bit racist… I would have let you know that every countries has its history of misogyny and terrible things made to women and it didn’t change the fact every country has also those feminine figures as heroins)
@@sleepy_pommie I don't know much about other cultures. I meant Disney picking her up gave Western audiences a strong symbol that China already had. And I was just talking about foot binding. But then, England had crippling styles, too. Some Victorian women died of internal bleeding from corsets. China is not unusual, but it did have very rigid gender roles not so long ago.
Mulan is the best Disney movie IMO. The story, the action, the music. It's perfect!!!
My favourite is Encanto, but Mulan is easily top 3, and definitely the best of the Disney Renaissance movies.
@AnEnormousNerd Maybe I'm biased. I love Aladdin, The Lion King & A Goofy Movie too, but I remember seeing Mulan in theaters, and the song reminds me of Basic Military Training
@@johngreen6521 🎶Let's get own to bussiness🎶
After the cut from 'A girl worth fighting for' to the scorched village is brutal, and after that there's no more songs for the rest of the film which is a great creative choice!
yeah, like. The reality of war doesn't mesh with the pagentry of a musical. It's such a hard pivot, tonally, but it's pulled off so well that I didn't even notice for YEARS.
"I know this voice from Avatar"
To celebrate the day, the Avatar was NOT Boiled in hot oil !
doesn't that va have like 300 role credits?😂 hes so iconic
Yes, James Hong. Also Po"s (kung fu panda) adoptive dad
For a lot of us Asians, Jasmine and Mulan made us feel seen for the first time. We saw someone from our regions be celebrated and represented in a way that wasn't caricaturish or stereotypical. Mulan in particular is a perfect movie in my opinion. There's nothing too little or too much in it. It has everything from a female protagonist struggling with being a misfit in her society to the movie celebrating her innocence and intelligence to fascinating character arcs, a unique plot, fabulous humour and incredible songs.
Mulan is so different from the movies before it. It didn't end with a wedding or a kiss. The villain doesn't have a song of his own. Mulan and Li Shang don't even have the typical Disney love song. Despite all of this, the villain managed to be iconic and Mulan and Li Shang's slowburn affection bloomed so beautifully into love. They also managed to show over the course of the film that strength and femininity aren't mutually exclusive concepts. It's my absolute favourite Disney movie followed by Hercules and the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
I think the first part of your comment is kind of sad, but not for the reasons you'd think. I'm white and growing up I seen myself most in Mulan over all the other princesses. Even to this day I many of the characters I connect with most aren't white or even women. The first one I think of is actually the giant, black man in Green Mile (iirc), I instantly recognized his tender nature and being misunderstood since I was much taller than most girls and boys my age.
I am looking more at traits, desires, and goals when I'm looking at storytelling. So I just find it really sad that for you it was about color and background, not the spirit of the character. When I watch something, I'm trying to draw parallels in characters and can appreciate so many wildly different characters by focusing on a different thing within them.
@@h.s.6269 well that's because you got the luxury of seeing main characters that look like you all the time while growing up. It's not like people from other cultures don't look at the traits, desires and goals just because characters are white, but if after years you finally see something familiar to your culture in a dinsey film, that's important for children. It's not sad at all to be happy to see your own culture celebrated for a change. People all around the world grew up watching Disney movies and most of them didn't see any resemblance to their culture in the heroes they loved. For children looking for role models, in such an important developmental phase, it's a huge thing to have that one character that they get to dress up as in costume parties, who they get to imagine themselves being when they grow up. The only thing sad here is you not recognizing your privilege.
@@h.s.6269I grew up loving Tiana from the Princess and the Frog because she was the only princess I knew that had my skin color. Sometimes when you're different from the norm you start noticing these things.
@@h.s.6269 I believe other people have explained it much better but I'll just add a few things.
1) It's unfortunate that you saw my love for two Asian princesses as merely looking at the colour of their skin. I never said that white people cannot or shouldn't appreciate and love Mulan and Jasmine nor did I say that I don't love other princesses for different reasons.
2) It's important to understand that for people who either didn't get represented or highly misrepresented in Hollywood and Western mainstream media, it was a breath of fresh air to see our people being represented as strong, kind, resilient and empowered. People from my part of the world have almost only either been ignored or extremely misrepresented. You don't realise the impact it has on millions of people and how they're perceived in the rest of the world. I didn't just admire Mulan for her Asian identity, I admired her for a lot of reasons. I admired that Asian people were shown in the full spectrum of their humanity and not just as convenient props or dehumanized stereotypes. People who've grown up being the norm in mainstream representation often do not understand how alienating it is to never see your people be represented as anything other than the worst of humanity. For those who have experienced this erasure and stereotyping in some form because of their race, ethnicity etc, it's a massive source of cathartic joy to see our people be represented as fully human.
@@soraia_4383fyi, jasmine/pocahontas/mulan/esmeralda/kira were not white princesses … plenty of movies showed princesses and character from other country - mysterious gold city (sorry not sure about the english title) was set in south america, Tia isn’t white. I’m from middle east and i’m so tired of that argument, we had PLENTY of « princesses » to look up for, you guys just decided to mostly watch the european ones …
That’s sad, yes, but not on the world, blame your parents for now it to you or yourself for not being interested enough lol
Plus PLENTY of movies and cartoon were made in other continents/country (not only by disney) showing strong woman/girls that werent white.
But i knoooow the logic is hard ro understand : in mostly white countries, you’ll mostly have white heroes.
Damn girls.
"I will never pass for a perfect daughter,"
"If i were truly to be myself, i would break my family's heart,"
These lines really hit hard for me
My dad hated me being a nerdy, rugby playing theatre girl, but that's who i am.
As well as when she is looking in the helmet. For years, i couldn't see the worth in myself
It is a totally gay song, but it touches so many so much for so many other reasons that Disney didn't realize.
🧧Here’s why I like “Mulan” : she actually tried to bring honour to her family the traditional way first she didn’t decide on extremes until it was her only choice, her path in life was simply meant to be interesting because she’s different. I relate quite a lot to her character . Probably the only princess i related to a child in all Disney princess movies .
I’m an only child too like Mulan🖤
"You never realize how strong you are until being strong is your only option"
-Grey Fullbuster; Fairy Tail
@@thunder_wolf23 Of course you'd go anime/ strength. Mulan wasn't the strongest! She was smart, resourceful, and brave. If you boil all those qualities down to simply strength, you're missing so much.
@@Undomaranel Bro it's just a quote . . .
@Undomaranel you're the one boiling it down to physical strength. The quote is from Bob Marley and he meant for it to cover every kind of 'strong'. Mental, spiritual, emotional, etc. It fits here perfectly
Honestly, as much as I love how sassy Mulan's grandma is, my favorite part of the movie is Yao roasting Chi-Fu in the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For".
Chi-Fu: 🎶I've a girl back home who's unlike any other🎶
Yao: 🎶 Yeah, the only girl who'd love him is his mother🎶
Just the look on his face ALONE is priceless. 😅😂🤣
“Would you like to stay forever??”
It was the first time I heard that line, given that I'm French and used to watch the movie in french. In the French song, the song goes like "a young woman's been waiting for me for 40 years" "after all this time she surely has no teeth anymore". I can't say which line I prefer x)
That was a good one.
This movie was so important to me when I was a little girl. I remember struggling with stereotypical role models when I was in primary school. All the other girls wanted to be a princess, and I would much rather be a police officer or a fireman or president. So I started wearing boys clothes and I was asked several times if I identified as a boy. But I just didn't have the vocabulary to express that I clearly feel like a girl, but I just couldn´t imagine women doing all the cool and important jobs. And then I saw "Mulan" for the first time in 2005, and that same year Angela Merkel became German Chancellor (I am German). I realized that I can have any job I want and that physical benefits don't matter if you're determined and smart. I'm sure this movie has changed my life in a positive way.
and one of my favorite theories from this movie is that the reason why mushu couldn't wake up the stone dragon was because the dragon's spirit had already left as mulan (she was sitting on the statue when she made the decision to leave).
and if you notice, the movie is a musical up until the army comes across the destroyed village. from that point on, the only song is the "be a man" reprise that lasts all of 30 seconds. the horrors of war were powerful enough to straight up change the genre!
Yes! And you can see dragons in the whole sequence when Mulan decides to leave implying that the dragon was already in her the whole time.
fun fact, the artwork at the beginning of the movie is made to mimic the look of ink on rice paper, which is a traditional chinese art medium!
The scene of the destroyed village is still one of the most eerily brutal moments in a disney movie. The writers and animators absolutely knew how to maximize the tragic impact by contrasting the joy of the song number with the destruction of the following scene.
one of my favorite observations:
a girl worth fighting for ends with them seeing the village all burnt up, with mulan picking up a little girl's doll. that little girl is the girl worth fighting for.
The training montage set to “Be A Man” is my favorite training montage in a movie, period. I always get chills when Mulan, through intelligence and determination, overcomes the arrow challenge when no one else could. It was a great lesson and something I needed to see when I was a young girl.
It is SO much better than the usual Mary Sue thing. YOU cannot be Wonder Rey from Star Wars. But YOU can be Mulan. If you struggle hard enough. We can't be born perfect. But. We CAN work hard enough to become able to succeed, nevertheless.
I get chills and tear up everytime “A Girl Worth Fighting For” gets cut short. It’s such a gut punch
One of my favourite Disney movies, just so special.
Also love (and hate lmao) the scene right after "A girl worth fighting for". During the song, they sang about their own selfish needs from the girls they thought they were fighting for. But when they came upon the destroyed village, they all found their girl worth fighting for: the little girl who lost her doll and her life.
Army: A girl worth fighting--
Steven He: EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!
Mulan: the only Disney princess *with a body count in the thousands.*
Thanks for the reaction.
'Mulan' is truly one of the greatest Disney movies ever. There are so many raw, heart-wrenching, and moving segments throughout. The musical numbers stopping once the army reaches the destroyed village in order to remind audiences that this is really a movie about the tragedies of war, Shang placing his father's helmet on his sword in dedication, and the entire congregation bowing to Mulan at the end of the film are some of the most powerful moments in all of animation.
This is my all time favourite Disney film. As a kid I was the only girl playing with dinosaurs and trucks instead of dolls and was more interested in swords and castles than "playing house". I always felt soul-bonded to Mulan as I also was a people pleaser who never seemed to be enough no matter how hard I tried or how well I did. I was always a step out of time with everyone else. When I watched Mulan for the first time (a very long time ago) I felt like "yeah, this should have been me..."
On a small note when Li Shang is supposed to execute her she says "I did it to save my father's life" and he's only just lost his father so that really resonates with him and touches his vulnerability and empathy. The transitions in this film are so impactful and the music is incredible. I'm so glad you loved this film too.
Same here as a kid, I’d much rather use my imagination in playing out an adventure than playing house; and also struggled with people pleasing. I’ve since then accepted myself and learned to not please people nearly as much.
At so many times growing up training for sports or doing outdoor activities, someone would start singing "let's get down to business" and within 5 minutes everyone would be chanting "BE A MAAAAN"
This is unmistakably an expertly directed movie. There's few even among the Disney catalog that can even try to hold up to Mulan.
Let's get down to business...
To defeat the Huns
did they send me daughters
When I asked for sons
Your the saddest bunch I’ve ever met
But you can bet
The grandma is my absolute favorite character. She is no nonsense and funny at the same time.
My mother loved this movie so much that not only did we see it in theaters twice, but we brought her mother the second time.
It was the only animated movie my grandmother liked. .
this might be my favorite Disney Renaissance movie of all time
I remember my dad taking to see this in theaters when it came out. It was amazing! One of my favorites.
Me too!
Something cool this movie has that most Disney animated movies don't is that the hero and the sidekicks have storylines that parallel each other. Mulan, Mushu and the cricket all disgraced themselves and lie about themselves for a chance at redemption. (Mulan and the cricket even disgraced themselves in the exact same scene.) It looks like they're going to succeed, only for their deceptions to be revealed, disgracing them again. And then they really do succeed at redeeming themselves.
I also like that even though he isn't as important as those other characters, the love interest has insecurities and an arc of his own. (Like Mulan, he's trying to bring honor to his family, specifically his father.)
Fun fact: the First Fa Ancestor who awakens Mu Shu is voiced by George Takei, who voices the warden of the earth kingdom prisoners in ATLA.
And the council man is voiced by James Hong, who also does the mayor of Chin Village.
James Hong also voiced Ping in Kung Fu Panda, as well as numerous other roles.
The part where the hand pops out of the snow, still makes full grown adults who have watched this since this movie came out, jump.
What really gets me about that cutaway from “a girl worth fighting for” is that that’s exactly the girl worth fighting for. That child, that little girl who died that they couldn’t protect in time. That’s the real one worth fighting for, and it’s not a glamorous fantasy. It’s their reality.
I LOVED this movie when I was a kid. Alas, my mom was a fundie and did't like how "masculine" and "independent" Mulan was. I thought she was a badass. LOL Great music in this one too.
I love the part where the leader of the leader of the Hun army says "The soldier from the mountains..." Because it doesn't display any surprise that Mulan is a woman. He doesn't care about her gender, only that she was the one that destroyed his army.
Got so excited seeing you react to this one, been wanting to watch this movie again for a while, so it was a highlight of my day seeing this. I was quoting along as I watched haha, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Fun Fact: in case no one else mentioned it or noticed, but the songs/singing had stopped after they arrived at the attacked village for the remainder of the movie, just to show the reality and heartache of the situation happening. And I love Mulan as a Disney Princess, she's incredibly brave, creatively intelligent and yet still maintains a kind, understanding heart.
This movie has one of the greatest depictions of war and violence of any movie ever. And it does it in one scene.
Mulan actually has a surprisingly well known voice cast. Some voices you might have recognized include:
* James Hong as the annoying advisor guy, who also voiced Po's adoptive father in Kung Fu Panda.
* Harvey Fierstein as the short, angry soldier guy, who also appeared as the main character's brother in Mrs. Doubtfire
* June Foray as the grandmother, who also voices basically every grandmotherly character in 80s-90s cartoons (Looney Tunes, Rocky & Bullwinkel), along with Magica De Spell in the original DuckTales
* BD Wong as Shang, who was also the main scientist in Jurassic Park and more recently Whiterose in Mr. Robot
* Pat Morita as the emperor, who also played Mr. Miyagi in the original Karate Kid movies
* George Takei as the First Ancestor, who was (of course) Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek
I'm sure there are more that I missed.
Yeah. Also Eddie Murphy as Mushu, who voiced Donkey in Shrek
One of my favourite things about this movie is the way they framed Mulans transformation into her alter ego. The way they shot it, it's very heavily implied that Mulan is now the great stone dragon protecting her family
If you're doing Renaissance movies, you're still missing Little mermaid, Aladdin and Pocahontas. Some of the early 2000 are worth a watch also (Lilo&Stitch, Treasure planet, Kuzco, Brother Bear). And last recommandation, not a Disney but a perfect animated from the 90s: Prince of Egypt. The music is just magnificient
Just a note that Kuzco's movie is called The Emperor's New Groove. It's a very fun watch!
All of these!!!
I really liked this movie it is still one of my favourites. It holds a place in my heart, the way that the story was about HER not about a love story not about being saved, but about her fighting for what she wanted. One of the first Disney movies about a princess and that was not too focused on a love story, it was there but it was not the main aspect! She was her own woman
this movie was my favourite disney movie for years and years. as a trans guy, the way mulan felt and the demonstration of her supposed inability to fulfill her place as the ideal daughter and struggle in demonstrating masculinity was always so relatable to me and even to this day 'reflection' makes me cry. even if thats not at all how it is for her, i still find it an incredible and touching movie
I love that the dad takes these priceless gifts of victory, Shan Yu's sword and the emperor's crest, and just drops them on the ground, doesnt even look at them or set them down, just dumps them on the ground and goes in to hug his daughter. It tells you everything about what he values and his "Mulan, you dishonor me" earlier was just him standing on ceremony in front of others, not his actual feelings
Fun fact: Mulan has two actresses, Ming-Na Wen and Lea Salonga. Lea proivdes the singing voices for both Mulan and Jasmine from Aladdin. She is also a seasoned Broadway actress having played the roles of Eponine and Fantine in Les Miserables
I just cant believe u are watching literally everything i love and not a lot of people are reacting to
In the legend this movie was based on, Mulan was actually a very traditional woman of her time.
She can sew, she had makeup, and she was in every way a traditional woman, but because her family have no older brother who was old enough to fight in the war, her little brother didn't meet the age requirement to have a recruit notice sent to him, and her older sister also couldn't do it, that's why she decided to take on the responsibility for her father was too old to fight.
It actually took her a while to get everything she needed for the war, she had to go to four different markets just for the equipment, after 12 years of fighting, she finally came back, she rejected the emperor's offer to work as assistant for the emperor after they won the war, and asked the emperor to send her home, her family welcomed her back, she went into her room, put on her makeup, changed her clothes before she came out of her room to meet the soldiers that fought with her in the war, they were surprised because for the 12 years that they spent fighting in the war with her, they never knew she was a woman all along.
Huns society was actually different from traditional Chinese society, female Huns could take on more leadership roles, they can own land, their society was completely different from traditional Chinese society, because they lived in the north, the resource was pretty limited, that's the reason why they often went down south to China for resources and they had been a constant problem for the Chinese for generations until they were finally forced to move to what is known as the modern day Hungarian area.
In China's history, there were two times when China was actually ruled by what Chinese would call "barbarians" from the north, once was Mongolia, and then Manchus, but never by the Huns, there were historical records of the Huns being more of a problem to China in the 127 BC, and it persisted to be in the history books until they became Hungary.
In different periods of time in China's history, China was at war with different groups of what they call "barbarians"
300 BC-127BC Huns
1279 AD-1368 AD Mongolian
1644AD-1911 AD Manchus
What is now commonly known as "Chinese" as people call it was actually spoken by the "barbarians" living north of China who called themselves "Manchus", China itself have different dialects spoken across the country, some provinces even have two different dialects within the province(North and South), as such, in some provinces, people living in the northern area would have no idea what the people living in the south are saying in spoken language, if you write it out it may have more of a chance to be understood since all Chinese dialects use the same sets of Chinese characters, it's just being pronounced differently with different dialects, but they''ll also have a chance to sound similar because people use the same characters when creating the dialects.
The original legend was less about Mulan defying social norms and how she's not feminine, in the original legend, what I think was interesting was the fact that Mulan could take the responsibility to fight in the war "as a man", but after the war ended, she's just Mulan, a woman who sews, have her makeup on and fits perfectly with her society, the legend was less about her not fitting into her society, as in the legend she fit into her society perfectly, the original legend was more about how she loved her dad so much, how she was so concerned about her dad not being able to fulfill the responsibility that she decided that she would do it for her dad, and this is not the only thing about the original legend that is admirable, in the original legend, she was able to return to her everyday life before the war happened, she was able to take off her armor for the war, put on her usual clothes, put on her makeup and be a lady, a woman, and almost no one can do that after 12 years of fighting in the war, but Mulan did, that's the point of the legend, the original legend also focused more on Mulan's love for her family and she had no identity crisis in the original legend.
This is hands down one of my favorite Disney films. I can't believe that you've never seen this before. Mushu and the cricket are just hilarious.
There are several scenes that are cinematic Gold in this movie .
1- The song reflection and how the simplistic movements really convey the songs meaning
2- The workout montage and her realizing her brain is needed.
3- The Girl worth fighting for abrupt ending Jars you everytime and adding the deaths reminds you what a girl worth fighting for can cost a man.
4- Finally the scene where she reveals shes the soldier by a simple change of her hair.
All of these plus many more were put just right making this an Amazing movie. Movie 2 on the other hand is typical Disney princess drama
38:52 Yep. Got me also. As someone from an Asian family (Filipino) making your parents proud of you is one of greatest accomplishment you'll ever have.
The gravely voiced Yao was voiced by Harvey Fierstein. He is best known as the author of the “Torch Song Trilogy,” for which he won two Tonys (for Best Play and Best Actor). He also originated the role of Edna in the Broadway production of “Hairspray.”
This movie is so good!
Her relationship with her dad is so beautiful!
The actress voicing Mulan is Ming Na Wen, who also plays Agent May in Agents of Shield. She is so bad ass! And could have totally been the live action Mulan, if she was the right age. She does appear in the live action though.
She is also in The Mandalorian and Boba Fett. Playing Fennec
One of my top five Favorite Disney Renaissance films from the music, the score by the late Jerry Goldsmith, and the voice performances of Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong, James Hong and Mr. Miyagi himself: Pat Morita. Plus Mulan is one of my Top Three favorite Disney Princesses and in my top five.
Lastly, it’s worth mentioning is that compared to the other Disney Renaissance films which were animated at the Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California with a few assistance from the Paris Disney Animation Studio that helped out with some of the animation for _Hunchback of Notre Dame_ and _Tarzan,_ Mulan along with _Lilo & Stitch_ and _Brother Bear_ were animated at the Disney Animation Studios in Orlando, Florida up until its closure in February 2004. Also, Jackie Chan does the voice of Li Shang in the Chinese dub (both Mandarin and Cantonese) of the film along with doing the singing voice of him.
Thanks for the reaction and hope you react to _Aladdin._
Don't forget for singing voices you have Lea Salonga and Donny Osmond. I also just learned that George Takei is the First Ancestor.
I love the theory of when Mulan was sitting on the dragon statue, and the thunder and rain was pouring down, the spirit of the dragon transfered into Mulan giving her courage in her wisdom
You're on a roll with awesome movies. I could barely see this one cause my aunts always borrowed the VHS and rarely returned it to me. Now I want to listen to the songs again.
Mulan was always the best "princess" to me. She did all the work and saving, without waiting for a man to do all the rescuing. True, she needed to dress as a man, but that wasn't really her fault. And it was all for her father. Family subjects are so welcoming 😄
When she used the sword to pin him to the roof so he couldn't escape the firework...
I just hear Edna Mode: "NO CAPES!"
in "A girl worth fighting for" the part about his mom the only one loving him, is also funny in german, in which he sings: my wife at home is a beauty and gets countert with: she has lot of hair on her tooth xD
Haha in French it goes:
-A beautiful woman has been waiting for me for almost forty years.
-By now she has no teeth left!
In Polish I believe it was, "The one awaiting me is the best of them all! - Listen how nice he speaks of his mom" 😸
In Russian it's also that "there's a dame waiting for me at home - the only woman who's in love with him is mum". But the being in love makes it extra punchy compared to just love
In swedish it's:
-At home there's a lady, she is my own flame
-The only girl that wants him, it's his mom/mommy
Seems like i started something, we need more translations and create a ranking xD
This is probably one of my favorite reviews of this film!
I love Mulan 🌸
The scene where she decides to go in place of her father always gives me chills. You can tell they spent a lot of money and time on that scene and it was incredibly effective!
Shan Yu wasn’t surprised at Mulan being a woman, rather it was the fact that this was the individual who took out his military. It didn’t matter if it was Ping or Mulan, they are the same person. This makes sense because contrary to China, the Huns actually had female warriors and held roles in the military. His reaction was opposite of how Li Shang and basically everyone else reacted to Mulan vs Ping. I suppose you could say that Shan Yu was the only one who recognized Mulan as a strong warrior regardless of her gender.
This is such a good movie. I love how you picked up the arrupt end to a girl worth fighting for changed the genre of the movie. As someone already said that moment changed the girl from a future wife to the innocent they protect but also the end of that song changes the movie from a musical to no longer a musical. There are no more full songs after that point. The only song after that is a very small reprise of be a man. And there is full sure enough time left for a couple or more full songs.
I do love the be a man reprise though cause a lot of times the men dressed as women would be played as a joke but here its this is a strength and good.
One of my favourite things about the ending fight is that Shan Yu said the solider from the mountain when recognising Mulan as Ping instead of saying something along the lines of “you’re a women!?” Because to the Huns it was normal to see the women fight too as they had female worriers
I'm sure someone else has already said this, but the reason why the dragon statue crumbles so easily is that Mulan is actually the great dragon spirit herself, and the protector of her family. It's also why once she decides to run away, you keep seeing dragon iconography over and over and over again. It's brilliant symbolism.
And it's more that Donkey is Mushu than the other way around. Mushu came first. 😉
Oh! Mulan was such a role model in this movie! I loved the songs… my two favorites are Reflection and I’ll Make A Man Out Of You.
This is just so much better than the Mary Sue live action version where she’s just supernaturally gifted. The training montage is just so awesome in this movie showing that she may have started out bad but through hard work and determination she became a stronger warrior.
Mulan's got the highest body count of any Disney protagonist from that avalanche maneuver 😂😂
Someone else probably said this but I find it honorable the main Hunn villain didn't call Mulan a "woman" in disgust when she says she destroyed his army but he called her a "soldier". He put her on equal ground back in that situation. It's okay to let anyone be allowed to help defend their home and people, but I also get some of the issues when putting armies together and why it's done certain ways too. Great movie!
This is one of my favorite movies ever and I'm so glad you liked it too! As an Asian woman raised in a predominantly white country Mulan was one of the first movies where I saw someone like me on the screen and that meant so much to me. I'll always hold this movie dearly to my heart
Haven’t been able to donate lately but here you go! Cheers bud!
She's only 16, I believe, literally my favorite Disney princess movies of all time. Also, love you and your channel! ❤
And I think Shang is barely older. Given he got his position partly for nepotism (even if he clearly was at least semi competent) he may have gotten that jump start for the purposes of his personal honor. He too would likely be expected to marry straight out of the war, and then he'd be of his own household and not get all the benefit of his father's.
Fun detail. The opening number "You'll bring honour to us all." contains the lines "A girl can bring her family honour in one way, by striking a good match..."
Not only does she defeat the Hun army in the pass by striking a match on that rocket to trigger the avalanche, but also again in the capital (though one lucky cricket does the actual match striking on her behalf here).
It's a clever bit of foreshadowing.
This is probably one of my favorite Disney movies of all time. The interactions with her dad, especially at the end, make me tear up every time (even more so since my dad has passed). It's also one of the most quotable movies from Disney. 😊
25:00 One thing i love about mulan is that the movie isn't afraid to go from happy and fun to serious and sad
Eddie Murphy is iconic 🔥💯
Agreed although the funny thing is I didn’t know he voiced Mushu when I watched Mulan the first time as I only knew him as the voice of Donkey from _Shrek._ So it wasn’t until I rewatched Mulan the second time until I realized Mushu and Donkey were voiced by Eddie Murphy.
I always liked the line “the soldier from the mountains” and the villain being actually so terrified by her
Its so powerful that reaction
Pretty sure he was just shocked and judging by the fact he aggressively tries to kill her without hesitation immediately afterwards 😆😆
@@thecocoacouch exactly! ❤️
@@thecocoacouch thank you for reacting ❤️🙌🏾
I love how she literally brought home the weapon of their greatest enemy and a medal from the goddamn emperor and she hoped it was enough like bro what else can you bring
Something i absolutely love that is so under talked about, is when they are singing "A Girl Worth Fighting For" Ping, Yao, and Chien-Po are singing about their superficial interests in women, then it cuts out as they get to the village, a lone doll is left among the ruins. They've found a girl worth fighting for, a defenseless child, cut down by the Huns.
Mulan is still my favourite Disney princess. Watching this as a little girl was soooo inspiring! I still get teary eye over the fact that she only set out to save her Dad and ended up saving her country.
The singer during "I'll make a man out of you" is Donny Osmond
34:32 "Nothing more masculine than embracing ur feminity." I agree. My boyfriend used to have a shirt that said real men wear pink. He can't find it anymore, but he loved wearing it 😊
Love ur videos. I've found myself saying "shivers" a few times.
Btw hi from Hollywood, Florida 😊