Thoughts on the new Mulan movie?
thank you!!
it uh . . . it sure was a movie!! like, visually gorgeous obviously, but. well. there were three very baffling things about the plot, to me.
mulan was good at fighting from the beginning and actively hid it until at the camp. this feels weird to me mostly because imo it makes more sense from a narrative perspective that she goes into disguise not because she thinks she’ll be good at it, but because it’s the only way to save her dad’s life? this leads nicely into
mulan’s decision to steal the armour and go to war had no emotional weight whatsoever. like, literally she just -- does it and leaves. whereas in the animated version, we have the emotional build-up of mulan watching her father fall, running outside to cry, coming to the decision herself, and then a truly epic marriage of animation and music (seriously, go listen to that music again. it’s so eighties but so good.)
she revealed that she was a woman in the stupidest way possible, with no real reason for doing so. i mean yes there was textual support -- she was clearly struggling with the ‘true’ aspect of ‘loyal, brave, and true’, but i feel like you’re allowed to lie about your gender if being truthful about it will get you killed/assaulted. and she didn’t even put the fucking helmet or armour back on!!!
