It’s been a point of debate for twenty-seven years and counting, ever since Mulan was released to American theaters all over the country on June 19, 1998. You still see debates about it on the internet, you still see people aggressively insisting that Shang is 100% heterosexual and only fell for Mulan after she was outed as a girl, you still see people making bisexual edits of Shang and holding him up as a “bisexual icon” and accusing Mulan (2020) of practicing LGBTQ+ censorship by removing Shang’s character.
My personal belief is simple: Shang was in love with Ping, but the cisgender and heterosexual filmmakers were not thinking about bisexuality when they wrote his and Mulan’s love story.
Sound confusing? Yes. But I’ll try to break it down for you in simple terms, so you’ll hopefully understand where I’m coming from. Hopefully, it might even make you want to rewatch the movie and look for what I’m talking about, because I think it’s very obvious if you’re just paying attention to the film itself, not internet discussion based on nostalgia.
The thesis is this: Shang was unconsciously drawn to Ping, Mulan’s male disguise, but only believed his attraction was “brotherly love”. He felt brotherly affection and respect for Ping at first, as indicated by him smiling at Ping for “his” impressive progress in the second half of “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” and looking back at Ping for the “You’re a great captain” comment. These feelings slowly started to change off-screen, somewhere between the training montage over three weeks (“I’ll Make a Man Out of You”) and the time passing montage of the platoon traveling (“A Girl Worth Fighting For”), as he felt more and more drawn to Ping during their off-screen friendship and comradery in the army.
This friendship culminated in Mulan/Ping reaching out to Shang and telling him, “I’m sorry”, as condolences during his grieving for his father at the ruined village. Shang touched Ping’s shoulder to acknowledge that “his” condolences meant a lot to him, and he valued “his” friendship.
After Ping saved Shang’s life in the avalanche, Shang realized he had fallen in love with Ping. He showed this by touching Ping’s shoulder again and, this time, smiling at “him” and telling Ping “he” has his trust. This is tantamount to a love confession from someone as reserved, stoic, and Chinese-coded as Shang. He does not smile at any of his men unless it’s sarcastic (“Yao, thank you for volunteering.”), and is not friendly with any of them except Ping. Ping is the sole exception to his very nature, the one person he thought he could trust and even love after his father’s death.
But of course, that was when Mulan fainted from the sword wound Shan Yu gave her, was treated for her injuries, and had her secret exposed as a result. And Shang is catatonic, devastated, and so angry and hurt by the fact that not only did his true love lie to him the entire time they knew each other, but also the fact that he has to kill her for being a woman who joined the army despite knowing the law against it.
Shang spares Mulan’s life because she, as Ping, saved him during the avalanche. He leaves her behind with her provisions because he cannot bear to look at her anymore.
And it is when Mulan bravely leads a rescue mission to save the Emperor, and proves she loves Shang by saving him from Shan Yu, that Shang realizes he truly loves Mulan, and wants to be with her, because he does not care about her gender. He cares about what he saw in her heart: her kindness, strength, courage, and intelligence. He never cared about what was between her legs; all he wanted was her love, and in the end, he got it.
That’s what makes Mulan and Shang a perfect match, in my opinion. They deserved each other so much, and they got to be together in the end. A kiss would have been nice, but in the end, it wasn’t necessary. They already proved their love without one.
I truly think what luffy and zoro saw so immediately in nami in orange town, before she even really saw it in herself, that made them clock her as crew was just that reality defying tenacity and conviction that all of them share. luffy looks at her across the bars of that cage and understands that there’s something in this world she wants with the same ferocity he does, ideals that she obeys with the same intensity as him, and it’s that moment of understanding that makes him set on her being part of his crew. nami likes to pretend that she’s the normal one but the truth is that she’s just as much of a freak as luffy or zoro, and she’s a freak in exactly the same way! she’d rather bend the laws of reality and physics to her will than lie down and accept a loss, and zoro and luffy spend the rest of their relationship calling her bluff every time she tries to pretend it isn’t true. all three of them have eyes bigger than their stomachs and an understanding from day 1 that the only thing scarier than trying and failing is to never have tried at all. I just love them a lot is what I’m getting at here ok
For the chronically anxious and/or otherwise mentally ill:
This is not a screamer, jumpscare, or any other kind of horror link I don’t know the name of. It will not cause you to question reality and as far as I’m aware, there is no reason it should cause any kind of hallucinations or psychosis. I don’t want to spoil the surprise because it’s DELIGHTFUL but I am happy to tell you it’s very sweet and gentle and also great lowkey stress relief. This is a cinnamon roll link appropriate for all ages (yes, all the way down to babies) and you will enjoy it if you click it. ❤️
