Strong Chinese Women in Film

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1. Introduction

In Confucian thought, women had their purpose beside their men or within their households as mothers. However, the legend of Hua Mulan precedes Confucius. Mulan’s story had inspired early Chinese Feminists such as Qiu Ji to go against the society built to keep her space as a woman separate from the rest of the world. In modern times, Fa Mulan (from Disney) added more diversity to the usual Disney Princesses and gave westerners an image of Chinese culture.

The Disney film about Fa Mulan and the live action film about Hua Mulan by Jingle Ma ultimately chronicle the journey of Mulan and her service in the military but the films will have significant differences because of the different perspectives telling the stories. The changes of the female roles in China in the 21st century have their starting point with the story of Mulan because of her positive role in female identity later on. How Mulan changed the stigma about women over time may not have helped. Although Mulan is a legend, legends tend to shape some fields of thought in society. Changes in female structures in China took many centuries but I believe Mulan’s presence had an irreplaceable impact on the women in Chinese society.

I define Confucianism in the female role as follows: A woman’s duties pertain to her husband, the parents of her husband and the children birthed between she and her husband. A woman’s duties to her husband include but are not limited to, keeping him happy and full with good meals. Her duties to her husband’s family includes, but are not limited to, keeping his parents happy and adjusting to the rules of her governing mother-in-law and providing grandparents with grandchildren. A woman’s duties to birth children include, but are not...

... middle of paper ...

... to the Imperial City to warm her old friends of the imminent attack on the emperor, everyone ignored her. Hua Mulan did not face this same problem in the live action movie. When her comrades discovered her, they decided to keep their discovery to themselves instead of sending Mulan to her death. The only reason Fa Mulan remained alive in the movie was her heroic actions before her superior discovered her.

Works Cited

5. Confucianism

Since the core of Confucianism is the belief

6. Conclusion

References:

1. http://ww.chinapage.com/mulan.html

2. “Ode To Mulan” http://www.yellowbridge.com/onlinelit/mulan.php

3. “Mulan in Legends” http://www.ourorient.com/mulan-in-legends.htm

4. DVD Disney’s Mulan

5. DVD Jingle Ma’s Mulan

6. Lan, Fen. "The Female Individual and the Empire." Duke University. http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4125407.pdf.

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