As far as Disney Princess movies go,
Mulan was arguably one of the best.
It had fighting, romance, quirky characters
and a story of redemption and finding your place in the world
Despite how good it was,
the original fairy-tale was arguably much more interesting
and empowering for women.
But how can an ancient story top a Disney classic?
Let’s Get down to Business
and explore the original Hua Mulan…
The first recorded version of Mulan
emerged during the 4th Century,
and from an educated guess
is supposed to be set during the Northern Wei Period
The original poem
from which all Mulan legends are said to have come from
was called “The Ballad of Mulan”,
a 62 line poem that is surprisingly bare bones.
When watching the movie,
it seems like the whole story takes place
over a few months, a year tops
but in the original the entire thing
is said to have taken place over more than 10 years!
62 lines for a whole decade’s worth of story
it’s like if someone tried to explained lord of the rings
in 5 seconds, that’s how quickly the original story moves.
In fact in the original poem,
Mulan doesn’t even have a family name.
It wasn’t until the 1500’s that she was given the name
Hua Mulan, by famous Tang dynasty playwright Xue Wei.
Xue’s play titled
“The Female Mulan Joins the army in place of her father”
just a great title by the way,
I bet he spent a whole minute on that one…
anyway his play, quickly became popularly accepted
as a true interpretation of the original poem.
Disney on the other hand, decided that Hua wasn’t good enough,
and changed her name to Fa.
Mulan in Chinese means Magnolia,
and Hua means Flower,
the Flower Magnolia is a beautiful name in Chinese,
and infinitely better sounding than Fa Magnolia.
As Xue Wei’s play is widely recognised
as the true story of Mulan,
we will use parts of it to help fill out the story
when comparing to the Disney version.
The Disney movie kicks off with Mulan
getting ready to meet the matchmaker,
and demonstrates how Mulan was a free thinking
and highly spirited girl,
and thus unable to conform to Ancient Chinese Society
#feminism
The original however
has Mulan quietly weaving and contemplating
the fact that her father has been conscripted
into fighting a war.
In both versions Mulan is worried that her father
is too old will probably die if he joins the army.
Fa Mulan, cries about it until finally decides
to take his place,
in the original however doesn’t waste any time
she buys a horse a saddle and goes off to join the army.
#feminism
Disney’s Fa Mulan shows her being accompanied
by a small cast of hilarious sidekicks
including a lucky cricket, sassy horse
and the unforgettable Eddie Murphy as Donkey…
I mean MuShu
MuShu the dragon encourages Mulan to join the army
so that he retake his place as an ancestral guardian.
In the original, none of these characters exist.
Mulan takes centre spotlight
and is the only character that matters to the story.
Another interesting move on Disney’s part
was to change Mulan’s younger brother,
who was too young to fight in the war into a dog,
and the name they chose for him?…
“little brother”
#feminism
Upon Joining up with the army Disney’s Mulan is shown
to be clumsy, and unable to fit in with the men.
The original however,
shows Mulan to be an experienced martial artist
and adept with a variety of weapons.
I honestly prefer the original version.
Having her start out as a badass
makes her a much more of a empowering character,
rather than the butterfingers with a heart of gold
Disney first presents us with.
Every great story needs a great villain and unfortunately,
both versions’ evil characters are super 2 dimensional.
they only exist to give the main characters
their triumphant moments.
For Disney, her villain was…
hang on let me google it…
Shan Yu…
Thank you Disney Villains Wiki….
Shan Yu and his army of invading Mongolians,
are an obvious nod to Genghis Kahn
and really just an excuse to use the Great Wall of China
as a set piece.
In the Original the villain was called leopard skin
a rebel leader from the south
who sought to overthrow the emperor.
Both baddies, have no back story
and are swiftly dealt with by our Mulans.
The movie actually takes longer to do this
as the play sees Mulan simply walk into his cave
and arrest him
Of course no epic tale would be complete without Love.
In the movie, the sexually confused captain Li Shang
serves as Mulan’s love interest,
whereas in the original
her captain was called ping
Ping is the name Mulan chose to use in the movie
and ping hua can be translated to Flower Pot
a derogative term for a woman who looks good
but who are ultimately useless
#fenimism
In the poem Captain Ping was only there to help further the plot.
there were no big crossdressing reveals or close shaves like in the movie.
Instead after the war, Mulan escorted by her fellow soldiers
returned home and simply changed back into her women’s clothing.
The men didn’t feel betrayed by the sudden twist
rather they were impressed and continued on with their lives.
For the original Mulan,
her happily ever after moment
came at the end of the story
when she was quickly married off by her parents
to some random neighbour
#feminism?
And there you have it,
the original story of Mulan.
So which one was better?
Well, while the movie had a bunch of extra characters
and additions that really helped make a fleshed out story,
The original Hua Mulan was a straight up badass,
there was no moping, no drama,
just a female kungfu warrior dressed in drag
serving her kingdom and family.
For me the no frills version works best,
it tells a good story without conforming to the troupes of modern storytelling.
Both are stories of empowerment for women
and encourage us all to follow the beat of our own drum.
But in a fight, my money is on Hua Mulan any day.
Thank you so much for watching another one of my videos.
Don’t forget to like comment and subscribe,
and if you would like to see more of my videos on Chinese History
why not check out this one on Qu Yuan,
the suicidal poet who got a national holiday in his honour.
And as always, thank you so much for watching,
I’m Wookong
and goodbye….