Cultural Differences in Disney's Mulan

The provided assignment is a comparative analysis of Disney's live-action remake of Mulan and traditional Chinese versions. It explores cultural differences in feminism, highlighting how Disney has reformed the original story to align with Western cultural norms. The assignment utilizes various sources, including academic articles and news reports, to examine the impact of globalization on cultural reformulations. A key focus is on the reinterpretation of the female warrior Mulan in different cultural contexts, showcasing both the advantages of modern globalization and the importance of preserving traditional cultural values.

Running Head1: EASTERN STORY UNDER WESTERN CULTURE: Cultural deformation
in Mulan 1
Eastern story under western aspect: cultural deformations in Mulan (2020)
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Eastern story under western aspect: cultural deformations in Mulan (2020)
Disney, a film production company based in California, USA, as one of the largest film
industries in this world, products lots of films based on significant folks from other cultures,
especially French (Beauty and the Beast, 1991), Arabian (Aladdin, 1992), Greek (Hercules,
1997), and Chinese culture (Mulan, 1998). As Disney gets the domestic position in the film
production area, the stories have been extended with details that are based on the idea from the
American aspect towards those cultures. Even though culture fusion is a great thing to be seen
under this globalization generation, more misunderstanding and deformation of culture also
appears under this situation at the same time. The power of U.S. popularity is so big that "people
of non-Western cultures were dismembered from their own memory and instilled in the memory
of the West (Yin, 2011)."
Mulan (2020) is a film directed by two female directors: Niki Caro and Mandy Walker
and produced by Disney, based on both the Disney Animation Mulan (1998) by Barry Cook and
Tony Bancroft, and the traditional Chinese folk The Mulan Ballad. The story basically talks
about a journey from a brave Chinese girl pretend she was a boy and join the army instead of her
father then take success back. Also, it is the very first folk in Chinese history mentioning
feminism. The film acted by Mulan represents a case on the ideology of male dominance. Mulan
is a female Chinese actor. Her father is sick. The Wei state calls him to the battle, which Mulan
knows that she could not survive. She could not go in place of her dad because she is a woman.
Therefore, she disguises herself and joins in the father's place (Chisholm, 2020). She has
martial arts skills that she learned from her father's friends that she uses in the war for victory.
The paper gives an analysis of how Disney and original film differs in different aspects.

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An eastern story under a western frame:
Individualism, the triumph of good over evil, young romance, and the use of animals as
sidekicks from widely-accepted cultural myths and morals form a Disney film equation (Xu&
Tian, 2013). From the success in Aladdin, 2019, Disney realized that catch on to modern social
problems is also another part of remake films (Holub, 2019).
For the most different part, in the Disney version of the Mulan story, individualism is the
clearest topic. There will always be a hero in western films—in this one, it is a female hero. For
example, Jasmine changes the law of the Kingdom and Mulan got forgiveness from Army. It
always gives the audience hint that if an individual considers herself as an elite, the world will
shape by them and change naturally (Xu& Tian, 2013). The china culture finds its base on
collectivism. It also advocates every person has to subordinate to society (Yin, 2017).
Therefore, it is out of order to focus on individual aspirations and leave society behind. The
major reason for this is the Chinese concept of the family. Each family member relates to the
whole family. In case a member of the family does anything wrong, the whole family bears the
burden. The film illustrates that Hua Mulan gives up her dreams to go to the concubine election
at the court to satisfy the family's desire (Ruwitch, 2020). On losing the elections, she is
ashamed yet still wishes to please the family. It illustrates the collective nature of Chinese
culture. In the tradition, The Mulan Ballad said, "Traveling together for twelve years/They didn't
know Mulan is a girl." Also, there is no description talks about how successful she was after the
war. Disney changed the story to make the film obey the equation and go from the traditional
Chinese collectivism. Even the character Mulan was created to lead the nationalism for the
Chinese during wartime (Li, 2019).

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Secondly, young love is always a side topic for Disney films. Every male character got a
female character to date with, as the opposite, every female character got a male character to date
with. In both Mulan animation and film, Mulan got a romantic thought toward another soldier.
However, in the original story, there is no romantic description about her—based on Chinese
culture at that era, she is a character that must have her personality of getting womanly virtue
under the idealized Confucian ethic (Li, 2019). She will be a soldier at war, and a girl at home.
But Disney's version focuses more on she is a female soldier, which the original story never
talked about. It denotes that individuals have the right to pursue the protection of their private
ownership. The culture focuses on the individual will, achievements, and respect for an
individual decision. This brings a totally different aspect of the original narrative (Torossian,
2020).
The difference in Feminism:
The original story does contain feminism in it—but it is from the collectivist angle, it
focuses on individual dedication for family and country does not matter for different gender, but
not feminism from the individualism that female could achieve for their true self could be
successful. The Disney Mulan shows up her clear American characteristic of achieving for her
own success instead of honor for a family. (Wang, Han, Xu, 2020)
Mulan (2020) is a total feminism film. Both the main actors and production team are leading by
women. The story is written based on the purpose of pulling off the gender switch conceit
(Viner, 2020). The main war in the story change from between countries to between girls; Mulan

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is not a normal soldier anymore, she is the chosen one. Which totally lost the nationalism from
the original story.
But in the folk, Mulan never took a place of leading a gender shift. She was seen as a
leader of the female under nationalism—she is not the chosen one, she is pushed there. She joins
the army because the father is old and could not fight as a normal soldier The idea is to show that
all the genders can work together to realize societal goals. The equity of gender designed by the
original Mulan is based on responsibility for both what men can do and what females can do.
The Disney version changed this to an aspect of heroism in war.
Mulan did not become a soldier because she wants to prove girls' power. She joins
because it is necessary to save the family. She has to disguise herself to look like a man to be
able to join the army (LI, 2019). The major reason for these traces to Chinese culture that
undermines ladies to be gardeners and home-based. because she belongs to her country and
family before she is female. Even in the Chinese traditional opera talks about Mulan, her lyrics is
still "males go for war/females stay for farming/if you think they are not important/please look
over yourself/it's all because of them we could wear clothes and eat food/where did females are
not as good as males." Instead of being true to self, Chinese feminism is focusing on sharing
work in the same society from a different angle, and admire they are both important to show the
equality in genders. An idea that is completely lost in the Disney narrative that focuses on self
and ability for the girls to prove their self-worth
Transculturation:

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Transculturation involves both organizational routines and experimentation through which
the foreign culture is decontextualized, essentialized, recontextualized, domesticated, and
sometimes universalized. In this case, the background still kept with the Chinese view, but the
core of the story was decontextualized and displaced. The Disney version used the Chinese
narration from a western perspective. This causes a misunderstanding of Chinese history and
puts western moral thought into a Chinese story. An act that may bring disconnection in cultural
morals and thoughts.
Americans and Chinese do not share common values and cultural background. For this
reason, men and women view differently. In China, the concept of Confucianism is deeply
rooted. Men are superior to women, a concept based on their traditions. Mulan fights in the war
though she is inferior according to the culture. Mulan ends up being happy as she restores the
strong desire of women. The Disney version of the film Mulan fails in the blind date and love.
The fact that she is not a Chinese woman makes it possible to join the army for fulfilling filial
piety. She does not marry a wealthy woman for honor as established in the Chinese film
(Sulistia, 2016). The illustration shows that men are valued more in Chinese film than the
American culture. The females' depiction is to be the center of conflicts between two
protagonists in the movies. In these films, the female becomes the hero depicting a need for
change in the masculine monotony aspect (Wang, Wan, & Xi, 2020). The Disney version brings
this using a heroic narrative in which was not the original ideology.
Basically, the story and thought are still American themes, but from the point of giving a
global image and take off the risk of production, another cultural background is needed to make
sure the story is more trustable. In the Animation Mulan, those were kept as Great Wall, willow

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trees, and Tiananmen Square (Xu& Tian, 2013). They all appear in the same film even they did
not belong to the same generation, for example, there are at least 1500 years between the Great
Wall and Tiananmen square.
In both film and animation, the biggest issue for Disney Mulan is always being "true to self".
Which is really a not Chinese thought. Transculturation in the film contributes to establish,
maintain, and reinforce the U.S. American ideology is true to the inner self but not out practice
(like communicative behavior) and its challenges, contests, and emasculates the Chinese cultural
values (Yin, 2011).
Conclusion
The above analysis depicts how mixing American and Chinese have affected the original film. A
Chinese story based on the American aspect brings both American and Chinese cultural
alteration. The Disney version had to adapt to the American culture to bring interpretation that
fits the American society. It localized its character to recognize Western values. The plot became
a Chinese girl who is selfish. The plot distorts the interpretation by the Chinese. The Chinese
cannot depict the true meaning of the story as it uses Chinese actors but it has American culture
embedded in it. The flow becomes difficult to grasp for a person from china who had a view of
the original film. The confusion can be eminent even to the Americans because the plot uses
Chinese actors and linking the storylines might not be easy.
Therefore, the Disney version would have maintained the original plot of the story to enhance the
Chinese culture and maintain a steady interpretation of the film without these contradictions
criticized above. The act would help solve the cultural deformation Disney has.

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References
Brian Viner. (2020, September 4). Is #Me Too Mulan worth the moolah? Daily Mail, 26.
Chisholm, K. (2020, March 2). Mulan (1998). Retrieved from IMDb:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120762/plotsummary
Hough, S. (2016, December 28). How Disney's "Mulan" Brazenly Challenges Gender and
Sexuality. Retrieved from Rogenebest: https://www.rogerebert.com/features/how-
disneys-mulan-brazenly-challenges-gender-and-sexuality
LI, J. (2019, November 2). Retelling the Story of a Woman Warrior. Project Muse, pp. 362-387.
Mulan, P. (Director). (1998). Mulan [Motion Picture].
Ruwitch, J. (2020, SEPTEMBER 20). Disney Faces Backlash Over Live-Action Remake Of
'Mulan'. Retrieved from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/14/912791422/disney-faces-
backlash-over-live-action-remake-of-mulan
Sulistia, R. (2016, December 19). FEMALE MASCULINITY OF FA MULAN AND ITS
IMPACT TOWARDS HER RELATIONSHIP. Litera-Kultura. Volume 04, pp. 12-19.
Tian, M. X. (2013, February 27). Cultural deformations and reformulations: a case study of
Disney's Mulan in English and Chinese. Cultural deformations and reformulations, pp.
182-210.
Torossian, R. (2020, September 23). O'Dwyer's. Retrieved from Disney Responds to Mulan
Criticism: https://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/14874/2020-09-14/disney-responds-
mulan-criticism.html

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Voa. (2020, September 9). Disney Criticized for Filming New 'Mulan' in China's Xinjiang.
Retrieved from Voa: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/disney-criticized-for-filming-
new-mulan-in-china-s-xinjiang/5577007.html#:~:text=The%20Walt%20Disney
%20Company%20is,Muslim%20minorities%20in%20the%20area.
Wang, L., Wan, B., & Xi, G. (2020, June 22). Cultural Differences in Mulan between Chinese
Version and Disney Version. THEORY AND PRACTICE IN LANGUAGE STUDIES, pp.
1332-1336.
Yin, J. (2017, September 10). POPULAR CULTURE AND IMAGINARY. Janos the public, pp.
55-78.
Annotation:
Lei Wang, Bing Han, and Guofei Xu. (2020, October). Cultural Differences in Mulan between
Chinese Version and Disney Version. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Issue 10.
This article talks about the difference between traditional Mulan and Disney Mulan from the
angle of cultural differences from the more western angle and listed the advantage of modern
globalization of a traditional myth. This article will be used for listing the difference between the
movie and the original article.
JING YIN. (2011). Popular Culture and Public Imaginary: Disney Vs. Chinese Stories of Mulan.
Javnost-The Public, 18(1), 53–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2011.11009051
This article takes Mulan as an example to talk about how American popular culture makes
affection on other cultures from Disney movies and sending out ideas. This article will be

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used for the main thoughts of showing the conflict between public culture and national
thoughts.
Li, J. (2019). Retelling the Story of a Woman Warrior in Hua Mulan (花木兰, 2009): Constructed
Chinese and the Female Voice. Marvels & Tales, 32(2), 362–387.
This article compares the Disney Mulan with the Chinese film Hua Mulan. Listing the
difference and focus on how feminism is expressed differently in two films with the same
story. This article will be used in the part talking about differences in feminism under
different culture.
Xu, M., & Tian, C. (2013). Cultural deformations and reformulations: a case study of Disney's
Mulan in English and Chinese. Critical Arts: A South-North Journal of Cultural & Media
Studies, 27(2), 182–210. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2013.783956
This article takes about Disney equations and how Disney rewrite the story of Mulan based
on that equation. It will be used as the main idea that this essay talks about, and also in the
conclusion part, to talk about the pros and cons of globalization and culture reformations.