"Honoring Mulan" By: Benjamin Storm
Disney's 1998 release of "Mulan" is
considered a momentous achievement for the Asian American community.
Based on real events, the story has lived in the heart
of Chinese
civilization for over fifteen centuries (Pei). Still today, Mothers
teach their daughters the original ballad, sharing with them the glory
and lessons of the heroic Chinese woman. Disney's rendition of Mulan, however,
written by Chinese American Rita Hsiao, has twisted the original text to support
damaging views of Chinese culture. While I do not claim that these
alterations were made consciously, they nonetheless exist,
and serve to perpetuate
the systemic misrepresentation of eastern culture. To demonstrate,
let me compare the two
texts. Both Disney and the original poem
begin with the Huns invading China, and a conscription law requiring a
man from each family to join the imperial army.
Mulan's feelings at this time are very different in the two
versions. Disney portrays her as a girl out of place, forced to live in a
world where she can not be her true self. Evidence for this
can be heard in the
song "Reflection." "Can it be I'm not meant to play this part? Now I
see that if I were
truly to be myself, I would break my family's heart. Who is that girl
I see, starring straight, back at me? Why is my reflection someone
I don't know? ... When will my reflection show, who I am inside?" In the
original poem, the text explicitly announces that she does not have these
feelings, "Ask her: does she pine. Ask her: does she
yearn. No,
this girl does not pine. No, this girl does not yearn." There is
nothing in the traditional poem that regards Mulan as feeling alienated from
herself or her culture. This important difference in the film changes the
conditions behind Mulan's decision to take her father's place in battle. The
traditional story indicates that Mulan acts out of honor
and duty to her
family. The American version creates a character that is trapped in
an oppressive Chinese
culture that will not allow her to be who she is meant to be.
This internal struggle separates Mulan from her Chinese culture,
representing her as a woman with western values instead. By going to battle, she
will be demonstrating the flaws of what is perceived as Chinese culture, and it will be
her western values that bring honor to her family. The American manifestations in
Mulan's character can be seen throughout the film. It is no coincidence that
during her interview with the match maker, she is unable
to remember the only
sentence of the final admonition, a saying that describes how a wife
is supposed to act.
Also, during the song, "A Girl Worth Fighting For," while the men
sing about
the type of women they desire, Mulan replies, "How bout a girl whose
got a brain, who
always speaks her mind?" The men look back at her confused, grunt,
and continue their
song. These clues separate her from Chinese culture, and give her a
modern American identity. It is important to note that when I refer
to western and eastern values and culture, I am not speaking of true
characteristics. I am referring to America's perception of what these
characteristics are, regardless of their intrinsically flawed
and stereotyped
nature. The consequences of Mulan's
disobedience have also been altered in Disney's version. To take her father's
place, Mulan must disguise herself as a man. According
to the movie, however,
Chinese law requires that a girl caught serving in the military
be executed. There is
no evidence that such a law existed, either in the poem, or in
China's historical records (Pei). In fact, the wording of the
original poem leads me to believe that the Emperor was aware of
Mulan's sex, but instead of having her killed, rewards her. If
a woman received
enough respect to rule as Emperor of China for fifteen years, as
Wu Zetian did in the
seventh century, I suspect that Mulan would have been able to serve
in the military
(Willis 127). The movie continues with a scene
involving Mulan's ancestors discussing her situation. They decide that
it would be best to stop Mulan and take her home before
she brings any more
dishonor to the family. A tiny comical dragon, named Mu Shu,
tries instead to help Mulan become a war hero. Mu Shu had recently
been demoted within the ancestral hierarchy, and wanted to prove himself to
the other guardians. Similar to Mulan, this dragon is very different
from his peers, as the very non-Chinese voice of
Eddie Murphy
illustrates. It is Mu Shu's disobedience that allows Mulan to become
the hero she is
meant to be. Overall, the movie makes clear that every aspect of
Chinese culture opposes Mulan's actions. Law, religion, and culture all
forbid what she is attempting to do, even though the poem gives no basis for this
opposition. When Disney Mulan's gender secret is
discovered, she is called a treacherous snake committing the ultimate
dishonor. This comes immediately after single
handedly defeating the Hun army. She would have been executed, but
the Captain decided to let her live since she had just saved his life. Mulan is
only given her deserved recognition after personally saving the Emperor. The original
ballad differs in that her true identity is not discovered until she
returns from battle, and it does not require the saving of
the Emperor to be
appreciated. Quoting the Emperor's words, "Your valor fills
twelve books. Your reward amounts to a hundred thousand cash. Now
what does the girl want for herself?" Notice that she is referred to as the
girl, but rather than being killed, Mulan is rewarded. There is no
indication that what she did was considered
dishonorable. The original poem ends with Mulan
coming home to a banquet, where she is warmly met by her family. In
response to the Emperor's praise, Mulan responds,
"Mulan has no
use for any high court post. Loan me the famous Thousand Li Camel to
carry me home."
She simply wanted to return to the traditional life style of her
past. Once home and in
her bedroom, Mulan continues this transition. "Off with the
battledress of recent times. On with the gowns of old times." This ending
is consistent with the rest of the poem. She had only taken her fathers place out of
love and duty, and it was now time to return to her old way of
life. A similar ending in Disney's version, bearing in mind
the song "Reflection,"
is based on change rather than reconciliation. Our American Mulan
has won honor and
respect by proving herself to her family and Chinese
culture. Disney was not the first to change
"The Ballad of Mulan" in such a way. According to Frank Chin's
analysis of Mary Hong Kingston, she "rewrites the heroine,
Fa Mulan, to the specs
of the stereotype of the Chinese woman as a pathological
white supremacist victimized and trapped in a hideous Chinese
civilization." In this novel, Kingston decides to write that Mulan's back was
brutally tattooed. "FOB", a play by David Henry Wong, goes further in having Mulan's
family impoverished and slaughtered to further dramatize the cruelty of the Chinese (Chin
3). The movie Mulan is not as extreme,
but does repeat the basic theme of a woman with western values overcoming
the oppression of a backwards Chinese civilization.
Why would Asian
Americans represent their Asian heritage in such a harmful way? Given
the past problems of
representation and stereotyping in the media, one might think that
they would
write for the betterment of China's cultural image. After all, what
America comes to
believe of Asians, will undoubtfully be projected onto Asian
Americans. Asian Americans are an ignored
minority, often unrecognized victims of racial injustice. They have dealt
with overt and institutionary racism since immigration began
in the 19th century.
They have been used as scapegoats during economic
downturns, subjected to discriminatory laws, and restricted by the glass
ceiling effect that women and other minorities struggle against. In fact, it was
not until 1945 that the Chinese exclusion laws were reluctantly repealed
to strengthen military alliances. Even this event was
no cause for
celebration, for the next two decades, only 105 Chinese would be
allowed to come
per year (Nee 409). Accompanying
these and many more examples of racial discrimination, are
harmful stereotypes of eastern culture. Asians have been represented
as anti-individualistic, mystic, hyper-sexualized, passive, and morally
corrupt. We grow up seeing movies like Lloyd Corrigan's "Daughter of
the Dragon" where an Asian woman must fulfill her father's irrational plea for
vengeance on an innocent white family. The only way she
can achieve any "honor"
is by obliging to the sickening practices of her culture.
Fortunately, her
fetished methodology prevents her from succeeding. I admit that
"Mulan" can not be compared to this movie, I simply wish to demonstrate
the pervasiveness of anti-Asian sentiment in our society. Disney did not have to change "The
Ballad of Mulan" to make an entertaining movie. After all, the
original poem lived in the hearts of Chinese for over a
millennium. The
changes we see are the result of the poem's Americanization. With
this process, comes
the absorption of the systemic prejudice in western culture. Kingston
responds to the
criticism for altering the Chinese myths by stating, "I'm not even
saying that those are Chinese myths anymore. I'm saying I've written down
American myths. Fa Mulan and the writing on her back is an American myth. And I
made it that way (Chin 29)" Some Asian
Americans misrepresent their heritage because they do not
associate themselves with it. As Chin says, "These works are held up
before us as icons of our pride, symbols of our freedom from the ichy-gooey
evil of a Chinese culture where the written word for woman and slave are the same word
(Kingston) and Chinese brutally tattoo messages on the back of women (4)." Kingston
writes pieces of literature that support the empowerment of women, and for this I
applaud her. I do not agree, however, with how she degrades Asian
culture to do so. While it is true that ancient China was
a very patriarchal
society (as was Europe at that time), Kingston and Disney steal
an important symbol of
female power and pride from Chinese culture by transforming Mulan.
Western influence can also be seen in
Daniel Okimoto's autobiography, "American in Disguise." During World
War 2, American citizens of Japanese descent were
subjected to an
irrational and humiliating internment. Interestingly, there was no
organized resistance against this blatant constitutional wrong.
Okimoto, a third generation Japanese American, wanted to know why. Simply put, his answer
was that there was too much passive Japanese culture. A more reasonable
explanation is that any act of resistance would have been seen as a sign
of disloyalty, a label undeserved that any good
citizen would
try to avoid. As we have seen, blaming Asian culture is common
practice. Though the heroics of Mulan are the product of China and its
culture, stereotypes reshape its story in a way that makes Chinese
culture the more familiar, opposing force against her. It
is difficult for a
subjective western society to accept that Mulan's actions are actually
the result of Chinese
values and thinking. People have a
tendency to believe that the way they look at the world is the
only proper
way to do so. There is no question that western and eastern values
differ, but for Western society to claim moral high ground is a dangerous
assumption. Similar to Asian history, European history is filled with the
repression of women. There are many aspects of modern American life that
Asians look down on too. A Filipino pastor in LA,
for example, complains
of American's lack of respect, materialism, sexual behavior,
divorce rate,
and its own mistreatment of women. In truth, neither of us can claim
moral superiority. Our view of each other is based more on the
subjective perception of our own beliefs, than on any real differences. It is this
flawed perception that leads to the unfair representation of other
cultures in novels, movies, and in history. "Mulan" may pale in comparison to the
racism we find elsewhere, but does demonstrate its banality in our society. Even a
Disney film, written by a Chinese American, can be tainted by cultural prejudice.
Mulan is needlessly transformed into an American protagonist,
struggling against a cultural opposition that Disney took the
liberty of
creating. We must remember that it was originally a Chinese culture
that produced "The
Ballad of Mulan," and the image of gender equality that comes with
it. "The
he rabbit tucks he feet under to sit. The she rabbit dims her shiny
eyes. Two
rabbits running side by side. Who can see which is the he and which the
she?" References Chin, Frank. "Come All Ye Asian American Writers of
the Real and Fake." The Big Aiiieeeee!
1991 Huang,
David H. FOB. 1983 Kingston, Maxine Hong. "White Tigers." The American
Warrior. 1975. Nee,
Victor G. Longtime Californ'. 1986. Okimoto, Daniel J. American
in Disguise. 1971 Pei, Ming L. Chinapage. 1995-1999 (Original article published at http://www.benstorm.homestead.com/mulan.html ) Note: the author of "The Woman Warrior" should be Maxine Hong Kingston, not Mary Hong Kingston. |