Disney's Approach to Cultural Difference

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Disney’s approach to cultural difference is deeply rooted in its need to appeal to an American audience. The film Mulan (1998), while celebrated for its vast improvement of stereotypical depictions of other cultures, is not different in its paternalistic approach to Chinese culture. Mulan contains orientalism which is depicted through the stereotypical depictions of both the Chinese and the Huns, the view of Chinese traditions and cultural norms as restrictive to Mulan, and the constant bombardment of American culture within the film all of which is to better appeal to an American audience.
Disney has a history of containing racist and stereotypical depictions of other cultures, and Mulan is no different (Breaux 2010). While there are many stereotypes within the film, the three characters that are the most stereotypical are Chi Fu, Shan Yu, and the Emperor. Chi Fu is animated much like the orientalist depictions of Chinese men with exaggerated features such as the flattened nose, the thin mustache and goatee, and the small slender proportions of his character (Huang 2010). In addition Chi Fu’s character has a thick accent, and his character is pompous and unlikeable. Chi Fu is much like a racist caricature of American fabrication (Eid 2011). Shan Yu is also exaggerated but in a different way. Shan Yu’s character is hulk-like with arms that are as wide as his head, grey skin, yellow eyes, pointed teeth, and thick downturned eyebrows. For a representation of a Mongolian, Shan Yu is grotesque. The last most overdone stereotypical character is the Emperor. The Emperor has long white eyebrows, long white mustache, and long white beard. His nose is also flattened, and his speech is peppered with fortune cookie adages such as “the flow...

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Eid, M. (2011). Who Defines Me: Orientalism Revisited and Occidentalism Redefined in the Post-9/11 Era. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, vol. 5, p. 73-84.

Huang, Y. (2010). Invention of Barbarian and Emergence of Orientalism. Journal of Chinese Philosophy, vol. 37, p. 556-566.

Xu, M. & Tian, C. (2013). Cultural deformations and reformulations: a case study of Disney's Mulan in English and Chinese. Critical Arts: A South-North Journal of Cultural & Media Studies, vol. 27, p. 182-210.

Motion Picture Association of America. (2012). Theatrical Market Statistics. Theatrical Statistics Summary. Retrieved from: http://www.mpaa.org/resources/3037b7a4-58a2-4109-8012-58fca3abdf1b.pdf

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