Comment on “Stories from the perspective of Eastern cultural complex - taking Mulan as an example”

As a female hero in ancient Chinese legends, Mulan has undergone multiple modifications both domestically and internationally, and has evolved into various literary forms, such as operas and martial arts novels. In the cross-cultural dissemination of Mulan’s story, the vast differences in cultural backgrounds have led to significant differences in the ideas conveyed by the works. Although Mulan’s story is analyzed as a representation of a Chinese female image and promotes feminism, Disney’s Mulan is undoubtedly a Westernized version cloaked in an Oriental guise.

From its inception, Mulan’s story was meant to celebrate the pure affection between Mulan and her father and Mulan’s spirit of sacrifice. The Tang Dynasty praised it as embodying loyalty and filial piety. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, Mulan had evolved into a folk moral idol of filial piety, and her female identity was emphasized, making her a model of a filial daughter surpassing men. Disney’s movie “Mulan” also intentionally showcases the elements of loyalty and filial piety in Chinese culture, but to fit Western values, loyalty and filial piety are vaguely replaced by “honor.” Although this vague substitution allows the creative team to seek consensus between heterogeneous cultures, the result produces a significant cultural discount. In the film, defending the homeland is for the honor of being a warrior. This vague substitution dissolves the meaning association in Chinese culture that “the rise and fall of the nation concerns everyone” and the significance of the individual, family and nation’s collective destiny behind the act of defending the country. Moreover, in the film, whether Mulan chooses to marry or disguises herself as a man to join the army is for the family’s honor. Even worrying about revealing her true identity is because it affects the family’s honor rather than fearing the crime of deceiving the emperor. This vague substitution dissolves the deep affection among family members in Chinese culture and the meaning association of loyalty and filial piety that “filial piety begins with serving parents, continues with serving the ruler, and ends with establishing oneself” (Sang, 2013, p. 49).

In Mulan’s traditional Chinese story, Mulan joins the army mainly out of concern that her aging father might die on the battlefield. However, in Disney’s adaptation, the news that the aged father is conscripted, which should have been a family disaster, becomes an opportunity for Mulan to pursue self-worth, and the fundamental reason for Mulan joining the army is no longer from the level of filial piety. The animated version has a segment explaining Mulan’s true motivation for joining the army: After entering the military camp, Mulan gains her comrades’ and officer Li Shang’s recognition and admiration through her perseverance and hard training. However, during an enemy surprise attack, Mulan causes an avalanche using the heavy snow, repelling the enemy, but is discovered to be a woman due to her injury. Officer Li Shang abandons Mulan alone in the icy wilderness. Heartbroken, Mulan ponders, “Maybe I should not have run away from home, maybe I did not do this for my father, maybe I just wanted to prove my capability.” Mulan begins to question whether her initial decision to join the army for her father was driven by selfishness. This detail shows that worrying about her aged father’s fate on the battlefield was only the trigger, and the fundamental reason for her joining the army gradually became seeking self-fulfillment and personal value. This dramatically contrasts with the spirit of filial piety depicted in Mulan’s traditional story, but aligns closely with the American cultural values of pursuing individual freedom, opposing external constraints and realizing self-worth.

In the live-action film, Mulan goes to war carrying her father’s sword, engraved with the words “Loyal, Brave, True”. The camera repeatedly focuses on these three words to emphasize the intended spirit of the movie, yet the leading spirit conveyed by the Mulan’s story for centuries, “filial piety,” is absent. At the end of the movie, to reward Mulan for her filial act of joining the army, the emperor bestows an additional character, “filial,” on the back of the sword, which Disney translates as “love family.” The connotation of these two is unequal. Although Western culture includes ethical concepts of nurturing, loving and respecting parents, it does not place filial piety as centrally as traditional Chinese culture. “Filial piety” is a hallmark and core of Chinese culture. The essence of traditional filial piety includes love, respect, loyalty and obedience, forming the basis of Chinese feudal family ethics. “Filial piety” reflects the fundamental spirit of Chinese traditional ethics-benevolence, righteousness and propriety-and embodies the values of collectivism, altruism and the pursuit of harmony in Chinese traditional culture. In this cultural context, Mulan’s sacrifice of going to war, knowing the cruelty of battlefield, aligns with Chinese cultural values and is praised by the masses.

A crucial distinction between Chinese and Western cultures is that China is family-oriented, while the West is individual-oriented. The West emphasizes individual rights, with parents and children being equals, and neither side is obliged to make sacrifices for the other. Perhaps for this reason, Westerners find it hard to understand Mulan’s choice to go to war to save her father’s life or her decision to resign from office out of concern for her parents, which conflicts with the Western value of individualism. Thus, Disney replaces the traditional filial culture with “love family” to reconcile the conflicting cultural values, aiming to balance respect for Chinese traditional culture with gaining Western audience understanding.

Disney’s story of Mulan is inherently a Western story. Although it focuses on reflecting Chinese traditional culture, the “filial piety” depicted is not traditional Chinese filial piety. The entire Chinese story is westernized, with “Oriental appearance + Western story” being a common strategy in Hollywood’s adaptation of Eastern stories. From another perspective, Disney tells Mulan’s story to shape a new female image in the modern era. Disney previously created many “princess” characters with beautiful appearances, slender figures, gentle and kind personalities, like Snow White and Cinderella. With the strengthening of female consciousness in recent years, princesses are increasingly breaking away from previous stereotypes, becoming more independent and rebellious (Deng, 2021, p. 111). The movie “Mulan” helps Disney achieve a transformation from “princess” to “warrior,” or we can say Disney uses Mulan’s image to break through itself.

The movie “Mulan” is essentially a Disney story. As a Hollywood commercial film, its core pursuit is to earn more box office revenue worldwide, using Oriental elements as a shell to attract audiences to theaters. However, the film overlooks the essence of Chinese cultural expression, replacing interrelated and mutually inclusive cultural values of the Chinese culture with singular, independent and universally understandable Western values. Such a cultural discount naturally cannot be accepted by Chinese audiences, so the film struggles to gain recognition in China.

References

• DENG, C. X. “Counter-reading” in Films: On the Cultural Conflicts in Disney’s Live-action Movie “Mulan”. Movie Literature, v. 5, p. 109-113, 2021.
• DING, F. F. Stories from the perspective of Eastern cultural complex: taking Mulan as an example. Trans/Form/Ação: Unesp journal of philosophy, Marília, v. 47, n. 2, “Feminine perspectives in philosophical thought”, e02400181, 2024. Available at: https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/15404
  » https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/15404
• SANG, D. H. Research on “Loyalty, Filial Piety, Integrity, and Righteousness”. Morality and Civilization, v. 4, p. 48-51, 2013.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  28 Oct 2024
• Date of issue
  2024

History

• Received
  10 Sept 2024
• Accepted
  14 Sept 2024
• Published
  04 Oct 2024