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Impact of Disney movies on society
Gender stereotypes in mass media
Gender stereotypes in mass media
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Recommended: Impact of Disney movies on society
Mulan: Reinventing the Gender Stereotype
A stereotype is a, “widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.” The Disney film “Mulan” is an eminent example of gender stereotype and feminism reform. The movie is based on the main character, Mulan, a Chinese woman from China, during the invasion of the Hans, who willingly impersonates her fathers “son” (who does not exist) to fight in the war, so he won’t have to. Mulan was not the ideal image of a Chinese woman, she was afraid to not bring honor to her family by marrying a man and act like a “proper” woman. Mulan, actually redefines what it means to be a woman and man throughout the movie by playing both roles. In the army, she shows a woman is
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She has no idea how to act like a man because she’s used to a girl tendencies. She changes her voice to sound masculine like a man and does small actions like spitting and poking out her chest to make herself seem more masculine, since that’s how men are supposed to act, so she believes. When the Captain begins training, he looks at his new recruits, and says “Did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons?” He wants to make a man out of all his recruits by turning them into young men with strength, intelligence, and bravery. However, Mulan shows them a man doesn’t have to be any of those things, you can be who you are and still get things done, it doesn’t matter what gender you are. She showed this by being the first “man” to climb the pole with the use of the coins of discipline and accomplish her training. As her training continues, and their on their way to a new camp to meet with the other soldiers, her other recruits are imagining what a perfect example of a woman is to them. A woman that can cook, that is easily charmed by their strength and dominance and their witty jokes. However, Mulan suggested what about a woman who is intelligent and always speaks her mind. Instantaneously, her recruits were not interested in that kind of woman because a knowledgeable woman who can hold a conversation and makes a man feel less masculine is not attractive. This …show more content…
The leaders of the Hans army is insulted that a small woman would dare try challenge him and think she is equal enough to fight him, it was almost amusing to him actually. However, Mulan used her feminine tendencies to teach her former recruits how to fight some of the Hans. As she defeats the Hans Dynasty and saves the Emperor, the Emperor’s assistant insults her by saying, “She is a woman. She’ll never be worth anything!” However the Emperor did not believe that, she was rewarded the highest honor in China for saving her nation and the Emperor and was given a medal. When she comes home to reveal her accomplishment to her family so that she will be honored, her father was proud she was okay, not because of what others think of her. Mulan is a fitting example of gender stereotype because she goes against gender stereo type and was able to empower young females that you can be whatever you want and still be equal. A woman can be a “tomboy” and is perfectly capable of performing any tasks a man can do and the definition of a man is not to be strong and brave. Gender stereotype is used to belittle genders by how you should behave and appear because of the gender you were born with. However, Mulan made it known that as long as you be yourself, you can accomplish anything and you shouldn’t be judged for
Movies are a new edition in today’s culture. They are a new form of art medium that has arrived in the late 1900s and were a new way to express ideas and viewpoints of the time. A good example of this is the movie The Manchurian Candidate. The movie had a simple plot a man is kidnapped after the Korean war and is hypnotized to work for the communists and take down the U.S. This movie showed the American public’s fear of communism at the time. If a movie like this can easily portray the fears of the American people at the time then it can easily portray stereotypes of gender. There have been thousands of movies where the male protagonist is a rough tough dude but there is one movie that has that stereotype is broken. That movie is none other than Napoleon Dynamite.
The pregnant woman said she wished that the baby was a boy so her husband could “rejoice” implying that in her culture’s society, boys/men are seen as more valuable and/or respected (Muxes 00:00:25). Not only that but many times the muxes were beat and rejected by their fathers as their mother was more understanding. (Muxes 00:19:31) Although it is also very common to have muxes in the family, many weren’t as expressive and didn’t attempt to look like a woman as much as fa’afafines did. One of the muxes stated how he felt embarrassed when people would address him as muxes (Muxes 00:21:49) It is quite obvious that some muxes know and understand they’re not women and would rather not look like one (Muxes 00:25:50). The rejection and, sometimes, embarrassment does not give them the positive atmosphere that the fa’afafines have in their
In the movie Mulan, based on the “Ballad of Mulan,” Disney inaccurately portrays her life causing many incongruities. In the movie, Mulan is portrayed as being weak and unskilled with weapons and horsemanship. The “real” Mulan, however, was said to have practiced with many weapons and warfare methods. As an article in The Epoch Times stated,” Mulan’s father…raised Mulan like a boy. She....practiced martial arts, archery, and fencing with her father….liked to read her father’s manuals on military strategy.” This would show that contrary to the Disney version, which depicts a young Mulan as being hopeless and weak, she was actually a fierce warrior who could carry herself into battle. In addition, the real Mulan also rode horses and shot arrows, differing from the incompetent Mulan that is depicted in the “We Are Men” scene of the movie. While Disney portrays Mulan as being unskilled and inadequate upon her entrance to camp, the actual Mulan was extremely adept to the art of war and extremely capable of holding her ground.
Overall, the Disney movie, Mulan, demonstrates gender roles, socialization of gender roles, and consequences of breaking the gender roles. By Mulan going to war for her father, in China, many things were at risk, life, honor, and the country of China, itself. Displaying the characteristics a man had was the only way for Mulan to survive, granted, she was not great at displaying woman characteristics in the first place. Being caught in war, as a woman, meant death, but Mulan was lucky for her bravery when saving Captain Li Shang, for he spared her life, which allowed Mulan to help save China and the emperor in the end. Even though China had very strict gender roles, Mulan broke them to save her father’s life and became the person she was meant to be.
...nist ideas. They suggest that women are good for only household chores and that they are not very intelligent. In fact, Mulan herself refutes these stereotypes through her quick thinking and advanced battle techniques, yet they still insist on carrying though.
...sh and adore. However, next time, do not let yourself be so easily grabbed by the catchy musical numbers and seemingly revolutionary story that is told. Yes, Mulan is an unorthodox heroine who changes all the rules, but she does so by conforming to a flawed system and affecting change from the inside, under the guise of a man. In lieu of doing it as a woman, it is not as girl power filled as many of us would like to believe. She, for the most part, affects all of this change as a man. Once she’s discovered, all her hard work in the training and the relationships she’s forged are all tossed to the wind and she’s quickly relegated back to her place as a lowly woman. However, despite its flawed execution in being a girl power story, it embodies a quintessential feel-good, be true to your heart film that will leave you wanting to affect change in the world around you.
Disney’s gender roles and female body ideals are the elephant in the room that most people ignore. For decades, Disney movies have been very popular amongst young girls who are looking for role models to guide them, and to look up to. However, these movies help girls reinforce the female ideal that society has created, teaching them how a “real” girl dresses and acts. What are the psychological effects Disney movies have on young girls’ ideal of body image and female gender roles? The Princesses in Disney movies are portrayed as young, voluptuous, and beautiful while the female villains are usually older, heavyset or emaciated , and considered “ugly” or undesirable. These perceptions can give young girls an inaccurate view of what beauty should look like and what they should strive to be. This causes negative effects on how young girls view themselves and can lead to eating disorders later in life. Not only do the Disney movies portray body image inaccurately but they also reinforce gender stereotyping. Throughout each movie the princesses are “damsels in distress,” naïve, and cook and clean while wearing very
In multiple instances throughout the film, female characters violate gender norms by acting as both warriors and leaders because they are adapting typically masculine traits. In the film, women are the majority of the labor force in Iron Town. Men are merely there to do the labor that needs the most physical power. “Americans oversimplify Japanese women as demure, submissive, and oppressed” (Kyu Hyun, 2002, 38). This quote shows that the stereotype of women in Japanese culture was just like the western perspective where they were below men.
In the Disney film Mulan, the character for Mulan plays an important part to support the example of a woman not satisfied with her state of being and subordinated position in society and therefore, takes action to show others her true capabilities and qualities. This prototype is scarcely depicted in today’s cartoons and films so that children rarely identify with this image. “Mulan” helps to promote this role model of an intelligent woman and could be the first step in breaking gender constraints. In addition, it might teach children that they have to find their own state of happiness rather than trying desperately to fulfill society’s expectations.
The symbolic interactionism is a theory concerned with the ability of humans to see themselves through the eyes of others and to enact social roles based on others’ expectations. In the film, Mulan’s abilities as a woman were not be accepted and recognized before she joined the army. For example, at that time, she was defined as a weak woman and helpless daughter. Although she worried about her old father, no one thought that she could help her father, and no one respected her thoughts. Her label made her only needs to obey and wait the results of war. However, when she came home after the war ends, her label also changed. This is because she met other’ expectations and played men’s role successfully. She mastered more capability like fighting a battle. Her label also became a hero and her family guardian. From the beginning to the end of the film, Mulan’s identity and label changed a lot because of her changing
They are born and grow, they die and change to fit at times” (Guerilla Girls, pg. 8). Therefore, this explains how stereo types are defined by cultural beliefs and religion based on expectations for gender. This affects gender because we are not looking at the person for who they are in reality. This resource has challenged my thinking by helping me understand the different types of stereotypes that effects woman inner self and dignity. Therefore, this shows that they are only based on assumptions and not accurate data. For example, .a woman who doesn’t meet the standards of ideal woman should not be suggested to be ugly because they must be beautiful in the
Mulan pushes gender inequality by reinforcing masculine and feminine stereotypes through the songs that it presents throughout the movie. The roles of what it means to be a man is simply laid out within the influential song, “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” This song occurred when the fresh new soldiers appeared to be very weak and unfit, so Captain Shang sang of how they must become strong like real men should be. Captain Shang asks the question, “did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons?” (Mulan), implying that women are unfit for the conditions of
Mulan reinforces the traditional ideas of masculinity in the song, “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” (Mulan 1998). The lyrics, “Let’s get down to business, to defeat the Huns. Did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons?”(Mulan, 1998) portrays the traditional gender roles of men; it claims that male is the only sex that is able to fight. The goal of this scene is to “make a man” out of the new recruits. The movie Mulan asserts that being feminine is detrimental to the war effort. Instead, the docile, feminine recruits have to be transformed into men. This song in Mulan argues that one should strive towards being a "man";
Like many oral legends, there are many different interpretations and versions of Mulan. The earliest recorded version was a short poem written between 386 and 533 A.D. titled Poem of Mulan. This poem is essentially simplified into, ‘Mulan is a typical Chinese girl who goes to war for her father and wins but then comes home and goes back to being typical’ (Mulan vs. The Legend of Hua Mulan 2). Disney's version includes many details not included in the original poem. For example, in the poem, Mulan returns to doing her womanly duty after willingly revealing herself to her comrades. The reason these details are changed and others are added is to make the story more Disney-esk. Without adding and changing details, Mulan would barely even pass as a short film. In Disney's version, the head of the Huns, Shan Yu, rallies a massive army with intentions to invade China and overthrow the emperor. Upon receiving this news, the emperor sends out a notice to each village ordering one man from every family to join the war effort. The legend of Mulan depicts the roots of the story differently.
Mulan does not fit any definition of a princess, as she is not noble, passive, or bratty. Because her father, Fa Zhou, was just a distinguished military figure, not royal or an emperor, Mulan has no royal heritage, nor does she marry a prince that would allow her to be considered a real princess. Mulan’s life does not even follow the typical princess