Mulan, as real as can be.

Why Mulan is so underrated? 

Disney princesses, beautiful, skillful in the art of sing, crafts, clean, and totally useless for their own survival. 

Ok, well maybe not all, but usually totally dependable in other people.  

Except for a few mostly from the latest movies where there has been more changes related to that. However I want to go back to one movie which for me has always been not very popular with kids, and very underrated with mostly everyone else, till recently, Mulan. 

I love it and I will always love it. Why? Because it actually shows you a real person, well as real as can be considering it is a Disney movie.  

Lets' start. 

Mulan is not a princess and *spoiler* she does not become a princess by marriage at the end of the movie, well she doesn’t even get the guy in the first one.  

She is the only daughter of a regular working family.  

She is trying to follow traditions by going to the matchmaker to hopefully get a guy, because in that place at that time that is what women did. Behave, get marry, have kids, ideally boys who can go into the army to protect their country and honor. this is not just me saying it, they do say it explicit in song form. Also, it is a reality many cultures had followed, still follow and most likely will follow for many more generations.  

The whole idea seems ridiculous for some, but it is so true even today. Since a young age, girls are usually told to behave and be all nice and princess-y, and men are supposed to be brave and strong like a knight in shiny armor. Times are changing but let’s be true to ourselves that is the way that has been for a long time and change, though good, takes time.  

Anyway, a lot of people even now use matchmaking, now there are apps and online sites instead of other women, but the idea remains.  

So, Mulan goes in all her real-world-clumsy glory, and messes it up. 

There, real life, real people. Not everyone can be a perfect princess, wife, or a perfect daughter 
(introduce Reflection song here) and Mulan is there to show the way, kind of.  

Let’s fast-forward and boom, she is in the army with Mushu, her pocket size dragon guardian. Why? To save her father from certain death. Though if you really think about it, what were the chances of the father to actually see battle? I think pretty slim. He had a reputation of being a warrior, he has fought before, and he was wounded. There could've been other positions for him instead of the battlefield, I think.  

So, Mulan is there on a harebrained idea that she, an only daughter whose sole experience is in household maintenance to try to impress a matchmaker, and failed, could somehow make it in the army. Maybe it was a passive attempt at suicide since she already lost the family honor by not getting a good match.  

Whatever it may be, let’s continue.  

So far we see that Mulan is making many mistakes and that is ok, because she is human.  

Training time. Unlike other movies and princess that get everything done in seconds with the help of their animal friends, Mulan suffered, and the animal help she got from Mushu, not very helpful. She had to do men training and failed at it, and tried again, and again, till she got it. She was told she was useless and was bullied and was given a ticket out, she could’ve just taken the ticket out and go back home alive, parent alive and none the wiser to say anything else about it, but no, now she was determined (very stubborn really) and wanted to prove herself. 

So, she practiced, she learned and eventually succeeded. She even made friends.  

Fast-forward to the “battle” with the Huns. Everyone is ready to die defending their country and she gets an idea, crafty. So, she gets injure but she saved the day, most of it. Later while injured, she is discovered and becomes an outcast, her friends now worried for her, but they can't say a word unless they too shared her punishment. However, she is left alive because of her previous achievements. She saved an army, basically defeated the Huns and when discover she was a woman her reward was "ok, imma let you live." See how unjust. All she did weighted nothing against the prejudice of being a woman, and in the eyes of others, an inferior, unworthy of any praise. Ok, she went against the societal norm, but no one else thought like her to save the day, they would all be death were it not because of her. if you really think a woman is not worthy, what about you and your sorry ass which she just saved?

Fast-forward to the castle invaded by the few surviving Huns. She tells them to follow and her friends do because they recognize that she is crafty, and her plan might work better than just brute strength to open doors.  

Here comes my favorite part, cross-dressing. How on earth did she find 4 dresses and make up for them? Who knows, who cares, it’s a movie, and they look gorgeous kicking butt in dresses.  

Then the rescue, when Mulan reveals herself to be the soldier of the mountain who defeated the Huns, Shan Yu, the leader of the Huns, did not laugh or cringe at the idea of a woman, he was just like “imma kill you for what you did”. No questioning her gender, or abilities, he saw her and that’s it. In their semi-defense, I believe I read something about the Huns being more gender equal than other cultures, and some women were also trained in army, so it was no surprise to him to see a woman destroying his army.  

Fast-forward again, emperor rescued, castle, semi-destroyed, Hun’s ass kicked. Mulan saved the day, again, the emperor and china, and one guy dares still complained that she is a woman. Dude, she just saved your butt. At least the emperor was logical enough to thank her and let her go live her life.  

So, she goes home to her daddy’s arm to live happ... normal?  

Well there. Mulan, ordinary girl, who learned a thing or two with trial and error, sweat and pain, like a real person not a girly princess.