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Mulan, released on June 19, 1998, is a Disney film based on a Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. From the legend and also the film, Mulan is a heroine who joins an all-male army to fight for her country. Instead of seeing her father being taken away to war, in which he is most likely to die in because of his age, Mulan disguises as a man to enter the army on behalf of her family. The story is about the troubles and hardships that Mulan overcomes during her stay in the army and her critical role in defeating the enemy. Mulan is often viewed as a feminist movie that encourages development and inner strength of women.

     The movie Mulan features mainly only people of Asian descent, compared to other Disney movies that show a mixture of different ethnic groups. Mulan, however, is still portraying the racial stereotypes that we indulge in. The physical portrayals of the characters in Mulan show how the American society thinks of a typical Asian person. Further, there is an underlying tone of disrespect for the Asian traditions shown in the movie. Their old ways of keeping to a strict patriarchal society is dismissed as being trivial and unnecessary, even hindering to Mulan's character development. These portrayals of Asian American physical appearance as well as opinion on the traditions of Asian culture are mainly based on White society's view.

Facts

Mulan's opening weekend box office figures were $22.8 million, placing it as the second highest grossing movie that week to The X-Files. It went on to make $120 million domestically and $304 million worldwide, placing it the second highest family film of the year, behind A Bug's Life, and the 7th highest of the year overall.

(Wikepedia)

Main Characters

• Mulan: the female protagonist, based on Hua Mulan. She disguises herself as a man and joins the Chinese Imperial Army in her father's place. Instead of being punished for doing so, she ends up a war hero.
• Mushu:  a dragon and one of the Fa family's guardian spirits, previously demoted after misguiding one of the Fa family ancestors. He is reinstated as a guardian after successfully aiding Mulan in her efforts in the army.
• Captain Li Shang: the son of General Li and the officer in charge of training the Imperial Army's new recruits.
• Shan Yu: the main villain and the head of the Hun army who attempts to conquer the Chinese Empire.

Character Analysis

* All the characters in the movie display very similar facial and bodily features. The characters' faces all have small "chinky" eyes that are somewhat unattractive. Their eyes are often times used to glare at people in suspicion, instead of being portrayed as a normal part of their face. They also show big cheek and jaw bones that are portruding out. In terms of Mulan, the female protagonist, she is portrayed differently from any other female characters in Disney movies. While other female characters are very much feminine, Mulan is very masculinized. Some may argue that this is because of Mulan's character role, but there is still an undertone of Asian female masculinity. She is not viewed as a beautiful Asian women, but rather gives a vibe of masculine roughness.

In terms of bodily portrayal, the characters are drawn so that they have short legs and limbs. This may be said to show an "accurate" picture of the Asian body, but it rather takes the standpoint of a white person's standard.