Week 10: Mulan

I believe that Disney's story of Mulan and the Chinese folktale are very different. Although Mulan is a revolutionary woman in both versions of the tale, I believe that Disney's version tends to Westernize Mulan more than the original version. In Disney's version, once Mulan has revealed herself, there is hope that she will remain a powerful woman who continues to break the sexist traditional barriers of her society and culture. On the other hand, the original version depicts Mulan fighting to save her father and prove a point and then returning back to the woman who would be accepted by her Chinese culture. Although I am a fan of keeping stories true to their origin, I believe that in order for the story to become as popular world wide, Disney had to make the movie more Westernized. By making Mulan more Westernized, the story fits better into western culture, one that is dominated by more and more revolutionary women breaking out in what used to be known as strictly a "man's world". I think that viewers would have been fine to relate to a version involving a character like Ailin, due to their ability to see the struggles and relate to what she is going through to an extent. In a world in which Disney's main audience is the Western world, I think that making Mulan more Westernized helped to raise awareness and interest in the original Chinese story.