The animated film “Mulan” came out in 1998 and is based on a Chinese legend of the same name. It tells the story of Mulan, who disguises herself as a man and takes her father’s place in the army (IMDB.com). The main theme of the movie is that girls can do anything boys can do, demonstrated through Mulan holding her own while training with men and going head to head with the Villain, Shan Yu, multiple times. However, while the movie breaks down gender roles and stereotypes for women, it leans heavily on toxic masculinity.
Toxic masculinity is defined as “masculinity based on simplified norms and understandings of traditionally masculine characteristics such as violence, physical strength, suppression of emotion and devaluation of women” (Elliot 18). It is often pushed onto young boys and men so they conform to the male gender stereotype. For this paper, I will be focusing on several key scenes, including when Mulan enters the training camp, “The Dark Side of the Moon” sequence, and
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“A Girl Worth Fighting For” sequence to show how toxic masculinity plays a role in the movie. From the very beginning of this scene, masculinity is made the focus of Mushu’s instructions to walk like a man.
The behaviors shown in this scene fall under toxic masculinity, boiling men down to being gross and violent in a way that inevitably gets them into trouble. The scene itself ends with a brawl between all the soldiers, getting them in trouble with Captain Shang.
However, as demonstrated by Chein Po when he attempts to calm Yao, these stereotypes are socially and culturally constructed according to Simone de Beauvoir (Butler 12). Being that these are fictional characters created by Disney, their behaviors are literally socially constructed. Wittig suggests that this compulsory gendered behavior is used to reinforce the gender binary (Bulter 26). In everyday life, pushing masculinity onto men is a way to reinforce gender roles and the gender binary, in “Mulan” it is used to show how Mulan is different from the men. However, as the movie goes on, we learn that she really
isn’t. The song “The Dark Side of the Moon” tells the men what they must do and be to be a man. While not necessarily only toxic, the song and the video with it does still demand that men be strong, courageous and demeans women (specifically, with the line “did they send me daughters when I asked for sons). For the first part of the scene, Mulan and the other soldiers struggle with training, ultimately implying that they aren’t men. The scene reinforces the idea that being a man requires specific traits. According the lyrics of the song, these traits are simplified, traditionally masculine traits, such as courage, strength, and agility. While not necessarily bad things, they can become toxic under the assumption that all men must possess these traits. There is an assumption of unified experience within each gender which suggests all members of a gender have the same characteristics or experiences (Butler 4). The scene in question uses this assumption to strengthen gender roles among men, even when they are breaking down genders roles among women. The song “A Girl Worth Fighting For” does the opposite of “The Dark Side of the Moon” explaining what a woman should be in the eyes of these soldiers. The lyrics the men sing describe women who are pretty, praises them, and does housework. And, when Mulan suggests a smart and independent woman, they reject hat idea. Because they are demeaning women and supporting traditional female gender roles, this behavior can be considered toxic masculinity. It becomes even more toxic when one considers that they may not actually want that, which is proven in “Mulan 2” when Chien Po, Ling, and Yao all fall for smart and independent princesses. The song itself has many similarities with the second part of the poem “Book of Rules: A Girl’s Guide to Doing What You are Told” by Nomy Lamm. Both the poem and the song depict what attributes one needs to be considered a worthwhile woman. Once again, both the poem and the song point to the idea that each gender has a singular experience and have a set of attributes which defines it. The issue arises when we consider gender to socially constructed and all the attributes arbitrary at best and harmful at worst. “Mulan” is typically considered a “girl power” movie, adhering to traditional feminist ideals and giving the female protagonist agency and strength. However, it still uses male stereotypes to get that across. While women are often the subject of feminism, defining what a woman is has become increasingly more confusing (Butler 3). By recognizing gender as socially and culturally constructed, we can see how stereotypes, both male and female, can be damaging. The toxic masculinity displayed in the movie is demeaning to women and sends a negative message to boys who may it. While feminism typically focuses on women, it is still based in gender equality and should highlight how both genders are not required to be or act a certain way.
Whether this be through morals, choices, beliefs, or personality. Holloway argues that it is through toxic/abrupt masculinity that boys are constantly caught in the crossfires between fight or flight. Masculinity becomes toxic when it becomes obsessive and disruptive. When society gets to the point where they cannot even focus or be themselves because of the fact that the only thing they care about is being the perfect man. The idea of striving to become this perfect man is an example of flight in society. Men are being forced to attempt to fit into these ideals and “prove, and re prove that they are men” in order to avoid the feeling of not fitting in with the rest of the group (Holloway). Holloway continues to discuss how throughout their lives men are constantly seen as emotionally tougher which causes them to grow up believing that if they show emotions they are weaker and are not allowed to be a part of the pack. Therefore instead of fighting this ideal and deciding to stand up for who they are, it is easier to conform and attempt to fit in because if they show discontent then they are shown as weak and unable to handle the “social constructions of masculinity” forcing them to become a social pariah and damage their spiritual
War has been a mainstay of human civilization since its inception thousands of years ago, and throughout this long and colorful history, warriors have almost exclusively been male. By repeatedly taking on the fundamentally aggressive and violent role of soldier, Man has slowly come to define Himself through these violent experiences. Although modern American society regulates the experiences associated with engaging in warfare to a select group of individuals, leaving the majority of the American public emotionally and personally distant from war, mainstream American masculinity still draws heavily upon the characteristically male experience of going to war. In modern American society, masculinity is still defined and expressed through analogy with the behavior and experiences of men at war; however, such a simplistic masculinity cannot account for the depth of human experience embraced by a modern man.
In the classical Western and Noir films, narrative is driven by the action of a male protagonist towards a clearly defined, relatable goal. Any lack of motivation or action on the part of the protagonist problematizes the classical association between masculinity and action. Due to inherent genre expectations, this crisis of action is equivalent to a crisis of masculinity. Because these genres are structured around male action, the crises of action and masculinity impose a crisis of genre. In the absence of traditional narrative elements and character tropes, these films can only identify as members of their genres through saturation with otherwise empty genre symbols. The equivalency between the crises of genre and masculinity frames this symbol saturation as a sort of compensatory masculine posturing.
The Disney movie, Mulan, is a fantastic movie that depicts gender-stereotyped roles, socialization of gender roles, and consequences of over stepping one’s gender role. Both males and females have a specific role in the Chinese society that one must follow. Mulan made a brave choice pretending to be a man and going to war against the Huns in place of her father, risking serious consequences if she were to get caught. She broke the socialization of gender roles and could have been faced with very serious consequences of her actions. The Chinese society in Mulan exemplifies the typical gender roles of males and females, the consequences of displaying the opposite gender role, and showed what the society expected in males and females in characteristics and attitudes.
...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.
Set in the Northern Wei dynasty of China, the gender roles of China were simple as depicted through song in Mulan. “We all must serve our Emperor… a man by bearing arms, a girl by bearing sons.” Mulan’s one and only role in life is to marry a man, who she is deemed fit for and to bear many sons and tend to the home. She is to live a life of homely domesticity. This is perhaps one of the most obvious motifs that don’t shine a nice pretty light on Mulan. Mulan has to go to a beauty salon in order to meet the matchmaker and “bring honor” to her family. At the salon, Mulan is mercilessly soaked in a freezing bath, has her hair tied up neatly, her waist laced up, and is overloaded with excessive make-up and jewels. The potential brides, Mulan included, are thus made to look like “cultured pearls, each a perfect porcelain doll.” According to the beauty specialists, “A girl can bring her family great honor in one way, by striking a good match.” They preach that “Men want girls with good taste, calm, obedient, who work fast-paced, with good breeding and a tiny waist.” This demonstrates heg...
Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future. According to Disney films, it is important for women to achieve the stereotypical characteristics of a woman, such as maintaining their beauty to capture a man, and being weak and less educated than male characters. The women in Disney movies are always beautiful, which helps them to find a man.
"How Fight Club Relates to Men's Struggles with Masculinity and Violence in Contemporary Culture." HubPages. Web. 22 Feb. 2011. .
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Disney’s 1998 film, Mulan, attempts to tell the heroic tale of a Chinese woman fighting for her family and country while defying gender roles, but looking into details such as song lyrics enforcing both male and female gender stereotypes, and bland visualization of characters, one can see that this film in fact enforces gender role inequality.
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";