I’m sure plenty of us have enjoyed Disney’s 1998 film Mulan, the story of a fearless heroine who put her own life on the line to save her father’s. We were all mesmerized by the Disney “Princess” who saved all of China from the invading Mongols and nomadic tribes. The film is based on the Chinese story The Ballad of Mulan. However, did you know that the animated film has some pretty huge differences from its source?
Firstly, Mulan was actually a highly skilled warrior previous to the war. At a young age, her father taught her how to fight. By the time she enlisted into the war, she already knew high level martial arts. Yet, a large portion of the movie showed Captain Shang Li teaching the men how to fight. At least the training montage is set to “I’ll Make A Man Out of You!”
Also, there was no huge gender reveal. In the legend, Mulan did crossdress as a male for the twelve year war. However, when the military came back from the battle, Mulan put on her ordinary women’s clothes. Her comrades were actually indifferent; In comparison to the film, where Mulan was nearly beheaded for pretending to be a man, then kicked out of the army.
Speaking of the twelve year war, Mulan was in the army for TWELVE YEARS! Much longer than it seems in the Disney movie! In those twelve years, Mulan’s family had found her a husband. Sorry to Disney fans, she did not marry Captain Shang in the legend. It was when Mulan realized that she would marry a total stranger, that she began to question herself.
And lastly, Mulan did not have lovable sidekicks! That’s right, Mushu, the dragon that protected Mulan throughout the film, was not in the legend! Poor Mushu… who’s going to bring dishonor now?
Wow! Thank you for this very informative and interesting article on one of Disney’s bravest heroines. I really enjoyed reading your creative piece. 😀
I loved watching Mulan as a kid! Thank you for telling us what really happened!!
This was such a fun article. I loved Mulan when I was younger and I found this extremely interesting. I loved learning the little fun facts like the fact that Mushu was not in the original story.