Gender Roles In The Film Mulan

In the movie, Mulan, by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, they use the character, Mulan, to represent feminism and gender roles of women, such as bringing honor to their family through marriage, and how women are deemed to be “inferior” in the eyes of men, for example, when women are not able to participate in war, allowing Mulan to act and fight for what she believes is to be right. Although having a feeling of superiority over women, men tend to act more based on pride and honor than what they believe is to be just, thus making them seem unruly and disgusting. During the ancient Chinese Dynasty, many of the women were looked down upon, making the men have a feeling of superiority over them. Men are usually portrayed to uphold the family honor

Before she is able to meet with the Matchmaker, she must dress up and apply makeup on herself to make herself look beautiful and strong-willed. Critic, Nandini Maity, states in her article, Damsels in Distress: A Textual Analysis of Gender roles in Disney Princess Films, that Disney uses the princesses or heroines in each princess movie to demonstrate how women should act, dignified and beautiful. By doing so, it portrays how Disney has a set purpose to make society understand that women should always act this way in society, that they should be helped out by men. While Mulan is being washed and dressed, the women helping her “sing to Mulan a song called Honour us all, a song that imposes the traditional roles onto Mulan. They say that women should have tiny waists, be calm, and obedient. They even tell her that a man’s main use for a woman is for her to have babies.” The song is sung by only women and is creating a sense of responsibility that a women must have when being matched with her new husband. Mulan goes through makeup, baths, and clothing. This shows how women are supposed to act and what their role should be in society, a housewife. They should just dress up nicely and look pretty for the men. That means that women do not have a lot of social standing or political standing in the government. The song gives off a