I’ll be the first to admit, I give Disney a lot of flack. Disney has a reputation for their princess characters. Princesses make up the majority of their main characters in animated movies directed toward girls, but unfortunately, the princess characters and their movies are full of gender stereotypes, rather harmful messages about relationships, and what a girl’s goal in life should be. But out of all those meek heroines, there is one whom I find to be an inspiring heroine; Mulan. While Disney does consider Mulan a princess (based on their formula (human) Disney main character + female gender = princess), I refuse to pigeonhole her character like that and thus, she will not be in my series “Destroying the Princess Stereotype.” However, I do want to talk about Mulan and her movie. Awhile ago, I made it very clear why I hate Mulan II (or as I call it, the-movie-that-must-not-be-named), but recently, I realized I had yet to write a post on why I like Mulan. So, without further ado, let me tell you why I believe Mulan is the best Disney movie about a female character to date.- Mulan avoids major female character stereotypes
For starters, I feel Mulan breaks some stereotypes connected to Disney’s female leads. Take, for instance, the fact that Mulan is one of the few Disney movies about a girl who is not a princess. As regular readers know, I believe princess characters can be very interesting, but if all of Disney’s movies about young women are stories about princesses, it’s limiting. It seems to say that Disney doesn’t think girls would be interested in anything except tales of princesses. In contrast, Mulan is a young woman who becomes a soldier and then the hero of China. That’s fresh and new for Disney and breaks the trend. And luckily, Mulan doesn’t feel like a caricature of any other personality type. In addition, while many of Disney’s earliest princess characters are the “perfect female” (a.k.a. subservient and pretty), Mulan struggles with that. She isn’t the subservient, cookie-cutter beauty who exists only to please others. Sure, she initially thinks she needs to conform to society for her family, but I think many people can understand this. It’s hard to go against what everyone else is doing and I like that her struggle with that is depicted. 
Another thing I like about her character is her strength of will. While uncertain of herself, she ends up going to war disguised as a man for her father’s sake despite the risk of being killed in battle or if her true gender is discovered. Her strength grows, enabling her to take bold actions even after her identity has been revealed and she’s been abandoned by her comrades. I would also point out that Mulan’s intelligence is highlighted as a valuable trait throughout the movie; her clever ideas and quick thinking saves her and others on more than one occasion. It’s always great to see a girl’s intelligence showcased as an asset.
- Mulan’s story breaks stereotypes
Mulan’s story also breaks numerous stereotypes associated with Disney movies that revolve around young women. First, unlike almost all other Disney stories about a female character, Mulan completely avoids the old plot of the young, innocent girl versus the conniving, evil, older woman. Even outside of Disney, I see so many stories where women are pitted against women so, strange as this sounds, it’s nice to see a girl (Mulan) whose main foe is a guy (Shan Yu). And don’t even get me started on my problems with the evil older woman stereotype.
The next big stereotype avoided is that Mulan’s story does not revolve around a romance. Most of Disney’s stories about girls involve a huge romance which becomes the main plot. Mulan actually does the opposite, making romance such a small portion of Mulan’s journey that it’s only hinted at. Instead, Mulan’s story is about her finding herself, her love for her family, and trying to save China. Mulan fulfills herself by finding acceptance with who she is, not by finding a guy. Compared to the sea of Disney movies (and frankly, a lot of fiction) about young women whose stories seem to revolve almost entirely around romance, Mulan is like a breath of fresh air. I would also argue that by finding herself, Mulan is rewarded with the bonus of meeting a guy who ended up liking her for who she is, untraditional aspects and all. And because Mulan is able to take care of herself, her relationship with the guy she likes seems much more equal than traditional Disney stories where the man always has to rescue the woman.
Mulan is about a girl finding acceptance with who she is even when society tells her she should act another way. Granted, her story comes to a fairy tale-like ending in which she not only achieves the confidence to be herself without fear, but also receives acceptance and praise from all of China. However, this gives the message that good will come from being honest with who you are, even if the road is challenging. Does this story do everything right? Probably not, but in a world single-mindedly telling girls to be princesses, Mulan tells them to be whoever they are. There are lots of other things I liked about this movie such as how the girl saves the day instead of the guy and how she has non-romantic relationships with men, but I won’t get into those today. For breaking trends and setting a new goal for girls, I consider Mulan the best of Disney’s movies focused on a young woman to date.
Gagging on Sexism 