Disney’s Mulan provides commentary upon the established gender roles of its time. Men and women are both encouraged to adopt their respective gender roles. Society loosely defines feminine as having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with women, especially delicacy and prettiness. Masculinity, however, is defined by physical strength and courage. Is it therefore feminist to defy this and adopt masculine traits as Mulan did? Firstly, an egalitarian viewpoint towards gender roles erases all notions of what is expected of how men and women should act. In Mulan, society defined manhood as bravery and femininity as obedience. Some may say that Mulan defies this by joining the military in her father’s place, thus showing an egalitarian, and thus feminist viewpoint. However, she accomplishes this by explicitly acting in societally imposed virtues of manhood. It thus begs the question, is Disney’s Mulan actually feminist, or does it reinforce the notion that women must act like men in order to be successful?
As seen in the video, Disney's Mulan only serves to reinforce traditional gender roles of the time. The primary argument rests with the notion that Mulan obtains her success only by acting as a man. Instead of rejecting societally imposed values, she rejects the feminine ones and embraces the masculine one, showing her not to reject an egalitarian viewpoint, but to take the other side of it. As feminism searches for equality between man and women, the standpoint of placing masculinity on a pedestal above femininity in Mulan is not conducive to this theme.
Time
60 minutes
Objectives
Keywords
Introduction (15 minutes)
Questions
Class Discussion (5-10 minutes)
Discuss the video as a class, making sure to address arguments and whether or not the students agree or not.
Activity (35 minutes)
Split into 4-5 different groups. Have small groups create an argument, taking note of what is said during the discussion. Have two students from each group leave for an adjacent group to leave and discuss with the new group members what was said in the starting group. Debate is encouraged. Give each group 5 minutes to talk. After the original groups return, engage in a class discussion about what differing opinions each group had on the video and topic at large.
Assignment
Write a one-page paper on the various arguments presented by your peers. Did your argument remain the same after the discussion? What opinions surprised you the most?