No. It’s important for the movie’s main theme that Mulan gets recognized for her heroics as a woman. If the movie had gone as you suggested, it would have been nothing more than a standard macho-boys-action-movie with a slight “Crying Game” twist.
They wanted to finish the mission, to conquer China. As for motivation, “being totally badass” seemed sufficient.
I thought it was a nice thematic twist to the entire premise of the movie, especialy the obvious compare-and-contrast to the military training sequence in the first half.
It’s not really a “french book”. It’s a classical tale in France, published during the 18th century, but like most others, it’s originally a popular, and not specifically french, tale.
By the way, thee are various versions on the same theme (the youngest daughter agrees to sacrifice herself in behalf of her father) but not in all the monster turns up to be a charming prince or somesuch. Sometimes, the daughter has to get rid of what is actually a monster.
I would note also that there are stories with the youngest son agreeing to marry a frog or mouse that turns up to be a beautiful princess with magical gifts, but I can’t think of an example where a boy would marry a frightening monster.
Anyway, I don’t think fairy tales should be judged on the basis of them being PC or not. They’re very unlikely to be so.
I liked Mulan. I’ll skip through the feminist stuffsish and answer a question of the OP’s that appears to have been ignored: “Fa” is the Cantonese pronounciation of the Mandarin “Hua”.
I’ll also take what clairobscur said a step further: I dont think anything should be judged on the basis of them being PC or not. What a boring world we’d live in if that were the case.
So that way they finish the mission, conquer China, and then die pointlessly in a surrounded castle. :dubious:
Yes, totally badass. And stupid. And soon dead.
Like I said, for a kid’s movie it doesn’t bother me too much but I still couldn’t see real people acting that way.
What about those Japanese soldiers who they found holed up on those Pacific islands, 30+ years after WWII was over? It’s not like that kind of fanatical devotion to the Cause doesn’t happen in real life.
We first saw it in the movie theater, and when she figured out how to get to the arrow wrapping the weights together to use as a counterbalance for her own body I got chills and about melted in awe of her ingenuity.
An interesting theory I’ve heard discussed over meals is that Mulan is actually from one of the northern “barbarian” tribes, since Hua is a very uncommon last name. (Note the use of “Khan” and the mention of “chariots”. The poem also contains a lot of geographical locations that I unfortunately know zilch about.)
Well that’s a good real life example of a similar fanaticism. One difference I see though is that the whereas the Japanese soldiers were devoted to a cause (their Empire) the character in the movie (the leader of the bad guys…forget his name) WAS the cause. His ego was the only reason any of the Huns were fighting.
It would be as if the Emperor of Japan, instead of agreeing to surrender after Hiroshima and Nagasaki went himself and hid out on one of those Pacific Islands, still fighting the war.
The followers may fight to the death but the leaders should be able to recognize a lost cause when they see one.
Thank you dotchan, I had been planning to post from memory. You did it better.
In the original, Mulan is never discovered. She becomes a great leader of the troops. When the emperor asks “what do you want?” she really does say “Just to go home.”
I detested Little Mermaid because Ariel (hey, it’s a GUY name, 'kay?) is willing to mutilate herself to Land a Man. A TERRIBLE example for my three daughters, thank you very much!
Yeah, but Ariel had been wanting to have legs and be on land for a looooooong time before she met Eric. Look at all that stuff she has stored away in her cave! She sings “Part of Your World” before she even sees the guy – it’s clear she’s been jonesing to ditch the tail for quite some time.
