Mulan/YMMV: Difference between revisions
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(Huns being monstrous in a movie from the Chinese perspective? Must be a plot of the patriarchy!) |
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* [[Acceptable Targets]]: And how! The Huns have sickly gray skin, and black eyes with yellow irises.
** Especially interesting considering that, according to several historical sites, the Huns actually seemed pretty accepting of women going to battle. Which kind of was a big point of this movie.
*** It can be argued that this is a darkly and twisted [[Fridge Brilliance]], Shan-Yu is one of the few characters who ironically doesn’t seemingly say anything sexist and meets Mulan in battle like she were a man. Chi-Fu could actually learn a lesson from him.
* [[Adaptation Displacement]]: A lot of people have no idea that the legend of Mulan has been around in various forms since the 6th century AD. They think she's an original Disney character.
* [[Angst? What Angst?]]: {{spoiler|There are no psychological repercussions to Mulan killing thousands of men with the avalanche. Then again, it's a Disney film. [[Nightmare Fuel|Being made to think about that isn't very kid-friendly...]]}}
** In one of the next few scenes, {{spoiler|they popped up from under the snow. Mushu even likens them to daisies.}}
* [[Anvilicious]]: The whole feminism thing, arguably. There are four songs in the movie, one about [[Arranged Marriage]] and the subservient role of women, the second is Mulan's [["I Want" Song]] about being herself (which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award), the third is "I'll Make a Man Out of You" (sung by Donny Osmond), the fourth is about the soldiers' desires. Also, about every
** It's also important that Mulan herself doesn't see her dilemma as a feminist one: she doesn't like being a traditional woman not because she's morally outraged, but because it's simply not in her nature. Note that Mulan sees her dilemma as a skill she keeps trying (and failing) to perform, like a musician being unable to play a particular piece. At the start of the movie, she ''wants'' to comply -- and even resorts to ''cheating'' to do so -- and is frustrated by her continued inability.
** Also note that when she joins the army in her father's place, she's not trying to prove that a woman can do something better than a man; it's simply to save his life.
**
** It seems like a matter of semantic distinction
** It's worth noting that, in the original version, Mulan is a hero for her filial piety, not feminism.
* [[Awesome Music (Sugar Wiki)|Awesome Music]]: "I'll Make a Man Out of You" for a start.
* [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|China Loves Mulan]]: While it's well-loved in most parts of the world, the Chinese '''loved''' this film.
* [[Complete Monster]]: Shan-Yu, who is a bloodthirsty warlord played straight in a Disney film and the worst out of all the Huns, which is saying a lot. He decides to declare war on China simply because he likes a challenge. He also murdered Shang's father along with his entire army, and he had also slaughtered an entire village during that particular massacre, rather than go around the village like one of his soldiers had suggested. And when the Emperor refuses to kneel before him, he decides he'll simply kneel in pieces.
* [[Draco in Leather Pants]]: Shan-Yu has a sizeable fanbase, mostly due to his rugged, husky voice provided by Miguel Ferrer.
* [[Ear Worm]]: "I'll Make a Man Out of You" and "A Girl Worth Fighting For" are ''merciless'' in this regard.
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* [[Misaimed Marketing]]: Mulan's placement in the [[Disney Princess]] franchise might already count as this, but it reached a new low when the DVD joined the "Royal Wedding Collection".
* [[Moral Event Horizon]]: Shan Yu and the Huns slaughtering of an entire village, including an innocent child, is horrific enough on its own, but it becomes more than just business for them when you remember than Shan Yu had mentioned "returning the little girl's doll" with a gleeful smile of anticipation of what was to come. The little girl wasn't a causality - she was killed by a ''planned attack on her life.'' Shan Yu murdered her in cold blood and then laid her doll down by her body as a mocking gesture. Just ''for fun.''
* [[Nightmare Fuel]]: The Huns can be downright creepy. Not only did they climb over the Great Wall without much effort (despite what Chi Fu thought), but it was quickly established that they were planning to head towards the Imperial City and invade his palace.
** Shan-Yu has enough [[Nightmare Fuel]] on his own, even without his soldiers backing him up.
** "Besides, the little girl will be missing her doll. We should return it to her."
{{quote|"How many men does it take to deliver a message?"
"...''One.''" }}
** Mulan is clearly horrified after hearing the family name being called meaning that her elderly father will have to go to war and will probably die.
** Mulan and her comrades coming across the charred remains of a village with dead bodies sprawled all over the ground. Especially jarring since they discover it right when they're finishing a rather cheerful musical number. It's pretty impressive how Shan Yu can alter the scene so dramatically.
** When Mulan is revealed as a girl, Chi Fu reveals that he had always been suspicious of her. And he actually wants to go through with the execution.
* [[Tear Jerker]]: When Mulan returns home after being humiliated in her meeting with the matchmaker and can't even look her father in the eye, then singing "Reflection".▼
* Shan Yu not only decides to kill the Emperor, but he decides to do so in front of his own people. Thankfully, Shang prevents the execution.
▲* [[Tear Jerker]]: When Mulan returns home after being humiliated in her meeting with the matchmaker and can't even look her father in the eye, then singing "Reflection". The life of an ''[[Extreme Doormat]]'' just isn't something that she can handle.
** Shang's army finding the burned down village with everyone in it dead, including the little girl with the doll.
** When Mulan is abandoned by the army after her gender has been revealed. Especially her expressing of disappointment in herself afterwards. "I see ''nothing''." It doesn't last long (and Shang decides to spare her life, likely due to the fact that she saved his and he had previously let her out of her conscripton notice), but it certainly makes Mushu and the lucky cricket feel depressed along with her.
* [[Sequelitis]]: The second movie wasn't well-received by critics, though it has a better reception by audience members.
* [[Unfortunate Implications]]: The entire bad-guy army, whom the script always refers to by their ethnicity, is drawn as hulking, gray-skinned, yellow-eyed goons. Probably explains why 'Huns', who no longer exist as a self-identified ethnic group, were used instead of Mongols, who actually still exist as a country. If no one is still around to protest, a [[Historical Villain Upgrade]] becomes much smoother.
** Nevertheless, some nationalist groups in Turkey objected, due to the historically-somewhat-shaky belief that Huns are the ancestors of Turks.
** If we go along with the idea that the movie's Huns are actually based on the Xiongnu, the character designs may have something of a historical context, since the Chinese depiction of the Xiongnu wasn't exactly...well, we'll say it wasn't flattering, at the least. The story is essentially told from the Chinese perspective, and the Huns ''were'' monsters in the eyes of the Chinese. You don't build a Great Wall to keep out fluffy bunnies.
** European descriptions of the Huns weren't very flattering either. The Huns themselves didn't help matters by deliberately binding the heads of their infants to deform the skull, and scaring their cheeks.
{{quote|"They made their foes flee in horror because their swarthy aspect was fearful, and they had, if I may call it so, a sort of shapeless lump, not a head, with pin-holes rather than eyes. Their hardihood is evident in their wild appearance, and they are beings who are cruel to their children on the very day they are born. For they cut the cheeks of the males with a sword, so that before they receive the nourishment of milk they must learn to endure wounds. Hence they grow old beardless and their young men are without comeliness, because a face furrowed by the sword spoils by its scars the natural beauty of a beard. They are short in stature, quick in bodily movement, alert horsemen, broad shouldered, ready in the use of bow and arrow, and have firm-set necks which are ever erect in pride. Though they live in the form of men, they have the cruelty of wild beasts." }}
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