Defying Tradition: Gender Dynamics, Conflict, And Resolution in Mulan Through a Feminist Lens

Defying Tradition: Gender Dynamics, Conflict, And Resolution in Mulan Through a

Feminist Lens

WST 501 - Foundations of Feminist Thought

Week 4 Assignment

ASU-Tempe Campus

SUMMER 2024

Abstract

Conflict and negotiation of gender roles thus make Mulan a promising example for the

analysis of the traditional and new movie features intertwining. They re-make the culture and

portray how one woman against the odds of male dominated system can fight the system as seen

from the feminism perspective. In her narrative liberal Feminism can be seen as advocating for

the inclusion of women in such spheres as those hitherto reserved for men only, while radical

Feminism may be viewed as discrediting militarized forms of masculinity and calling for

leadership that is creative and compassionate. Intersectionality becomes a driving force that

theoretically brings out cultural, social and gendered frameworks that persecuted Mulan and

force, which defines her. The movie named Mulan has a lot of cultural and worldwide values in

its plot. As a Disney production it introduces Chinese culture to the world and at the same time

raises debates on Whether it is completely cultural or commercial in depiction. It articulates the

possibilities and the risks of narrative in the project of equity by showing how it can disrupt

stereotype and yet also expose how ‘feminism’ is packaged and sold. According to Silva (2021),

it provides a unique approach to other African women’s stories and their experiences of power:

New empowering factors are identified as collective responsibility and culture. These issues of

gender roles depicted in it, make it an important tool for the feminist movements to know about

yet the critiques that have been made suggest that there is need to consider other forms of gender

inequalities other than media portrayed ones. Muir (2023) says being a global success, Mulan

affects the audience’s perception of gender, leadership, and power, thus reflecting the potential

of the media in the promotion of progressive changes in representation and raising people’s

awareness of stereotyping in society.

3 
 
Table of Contents 
Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 2 
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 4 
Contextual Framework-Gender Dynamics in Cinema .................................................... 4 
The cultural aspects of the movie Mulan ........................................................................ 5 
Research Aims and Questions ........................................................................................ 5 
Exploring Gendered Roles in Mulan .............................................................................. 6 
Culture and History ..................................................................................................... 6 
Warriors of the Clans- The Search for the Female Warriors ...................................... 8 
Machismo and authoritarianism in conflict- A positive valence .............................. 10 
Gender in Conflict and Resolution ............................................................................... 12 
Women in Militarized Spaces ................................................................................... 12 
Gender, Performance and Subversive Tactics .......................................................... 14 
Feminist theory in practice- applied aspects of the theory ....................................... 16 
Broader Implications of Mulan’s Gender Narrative ..................................................... 19 
Gender in Media ....................................................................................................... 19 
Consequences for Feminist Movements ................................................................... 22 
Environmental and Global Impacts .......................................................................... 24 
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 33 
Synthesis of Findings ................................................................................................ 33 

Consequences on academic and other sphere of culture ........................................... 33

References ......................................................................................................................... 35

Introduction

Contextual Framework-Gender Dynamics in Cinema

In demonstrating this claim, it has been discussed that it is possible to depict gender

problems in motion picture in a bid to unveil the culture and power relations in a society. On the

aspect of gender roles, films can perform two functions of depicting the gender roles that society

has set and in the process shape the gender roles in the society. The conflict narratives depict that

cinema being a cultural artefact reveals the manner in which power and agency is distributed and

how the social culture influences the process by which one defines him or herself as well as the

group to which one belongs. Tendenan (2024) has described how culture situates women’s body

and agency as the arena and potentiality in films. Kusen et al. (2024) assert that Mulan will be a

useful focus, as it embodies some of these issues and dissonances of representation and

transformation of gender roles in broader processes of social change. For instance, Mohammed

(2024) has also pointed out that when people are watching films such as Mulan they are able to

see how the female agency has been altered to fit into the post-feminist culture in society. Since

cinema can be used for entertainment and at the same time used to comment and critique society

then it is possible to use cinema as a source of studying gender dynamics in conflict and

resolution.

The cultural aspects of the movie Mulan

First, Mulan is one of the key images in culturally meaningful texts and performs a

function of a bridge between the pre-modern and post-modern concepts of womanhood. It has an

Oriental pre-Columbian context which could be its historical, and its transposition into a global

screen narrative provides it with modernist themes of gender and power. The main character of

the novel helps to depict the theme of person vs culture and also provides the reader with a clear

understanding of chauvinisms in the cultures of masculinity. As cited by Kusen and his

colleagues (2024), the movie of Mulan is thought to contain powerful prejudice of cross

sectional forces about gender norms and performance in a combat setting. This is well depicted

in a way in which Mulan is fighting between rebellion and at the same time adhering to the

culture of society. This balance is what Mohammed (2024) sees as being at the heart of the plot

of the movie; in it, women are given strong roles not by rejecting the old ways but by

renegotiating them. In this paper, the author is going to explain why Mulan can be widely

appreciated in any culture and has the symbolic meaning of the change of women role during

war and conflicts based on the aspects from the classical and modern worlds.

Research Aims and Questions

The focus of the proposed analysis is the portrayal of the conflict between traditional

gender roles within the context of the film, Mulan Additionally, it will use selected aspects of the

feminist theories as the key theoretical framework. Wang (2021) says at the center of this

endeavor lies queries that disrupt the coupling of power and masculinity and investigate how the

Mulan movie and the tale put together, disassemble, and reintegrate patriarchy. In order to build

on this understanding of how these discourses regulate society we turn to Tendenan (2024)

where they discuss the representation of females as symbols of power and oppression. Another

source that this paper also discuss is Kusen et al. (2024), they also point out that Mulan also

challenges gender roles through performing gender on themes such as war and honor. Thus it

aims at contributing to the gender representations and relations debate within the film studies by

positioning Mulan as an example of how a culture can shape an individual’s potential to

transverse the gender boundaries. Mohammed (2024) also identifies these pedagogical

computations’ tripartite value with focus on contemporary Femonationalist politics and

international discourses on, for and against gender equality. It seeks to provide insights into the

broader cultural and social environment of gender representation in conflict motion picture

narratives.

Exploring Gendered Roles in Mulan

Culture and History

Much about the gender relations in the social context that the Mulan story is set can be

understood from the story. The actual story of Hua Mulan is one of the earliest Chinese legend

which is told in traditional Chinese Ballads and during the Northern Wei Dynasty men were

dominant and women had no place and their roles were similar to men’s tribally. Revisiting the

gender and culture aspect of the movie, it is easy to see that the elements described below reveal

those aspects of the culture that shaped the portrayal of Mulan and how she went from being a

woman, a wife and a house keeper to a warrior willing to die for her country, a role that in the

traditional Chinese culture was a man’s duty. As mentioned by Yang and Yang (2024)

collectivism values that were imbibed from pre-modern China such as filiality as well as loyalty

are imprinted in Mulan. For this reason, Disney does not eliminate the historical aspect from this

story but brings the issue of modern feminism into it and thus creates a discourse between the old

and the new (Wang, 2021). Such cultural bipolarity makes Mulan to be popular today and

realistic in presentation and at the same time progressive. In addition, honor and self-sacrifice as

the main motifs of the character motivation make Mulan the movie that seems to be oriental, but

in fact is not. According to Martínez Esteban (2024) such accessibility has ensured that Mulan’s

story resonates within various societies as it attempts to tackles gender roles. The movie helps

the audience become acutely aware of the fact that changes in gender expectations are still

ongoing in both the ancient and the modern world.

Confucian gender norms are very significant in determining the demeanor of the ladies in

Disney’s Mulan. Confucianism and the ideal of the harmonious family as well as women’s

commitment to family responsibilities make women subordinated and dependent in the family

and in the society. In her 2021 article, Sotomayor shows how this film challenges Confucian

conventions and expectations of women and gender roles as seen from Mulan cross dressing and

joining the army. According to Scott (2023), this act of rebellion creates a conflict between the

individualism and the societal norms making Mulan a great example of a woman who has to

balance between the two worlds. Zhou (2024) builds upon this by more specifically discussing

how the film is subversive of patriarchy. She is not a new woman, but a new kind of woman,

who has the potential to rewrite the gender norms and roles and, interestingly, for some, cultural

roles as well. This tension describes the current debate on gender equality in the conventional

societies today. Wang (2021) analyzes how process gives way to change through the use of

Mulan, who rebels with cultural norms of obedience and finally emerges victorious to

demonstrate the dynamism of cultural norms in society. Fortunately, with the help of Wang

(2021) one can consider this change significant to depict the transformation in gender roles

within the framework of cultural transition. This is how Confucianism is presented in the film

and this is why the discussed film is helpful for identifying how Confucianism shapes the

development of both pre and post-modern gender roles.

To explain the cultural roles assigned to gender in the movie Mulan, this paper uses the

feminist view. With regards to gender the film’s narrative makes the audience start to question

the biological essentialism and social construct of gender through history and culture. As pointed

out by Martínez Esteban (2024), in the Disney movie Mulan the sidekick has both redaction and

personification of the traditional gender roles as stereotypical and restricting mainly in the

aspects of war and honor. Mulan does this by merely occupying a masculine space but also by

inverting the male gaze and thereby regaining control over her gender, which the male characters

(Scott, 2023). The movie is a perfect subject for the element of antagonism to some cultures and

women’s role in these cultures. Mulan as a warrior assists one to realize how one can trick the

societal problem solving mentality. Avelia (2024) pointed out that such portrayal is in harmony

with the overall goal of the feminist movement which is to subvert the patriarchal system. This

point of view is useful in expanding on knowledge about the movie Mulan using history and

liberal principles, as well as the feminist critiques of, and against the gender roles in the society.

Warriors of the Clans- The Search for the Female Warriors

The change that begins with Mulan in going from a housewife to a warrior best

represents a change that is a direct threat to gender roles. At the beginning of the movie Mulan is

a girl who stays home and her job is to get married and bring honor to the family. This trajectory

alters radically when she decided to join the army and to leave her home, to be a man instead of

her father. As stated by Yang (2024), this change is attributed to the critique of feminized

gendered spaces where women should be visible but not audible. According to Avelia (2024), the

fact that such constraints can be changed in the course of the story is the reason why the cartoon

is speaking for the viewers’ liberation from these standards in Mulan’s story. This is what makes

Mulan to be a good example of how Disney was able to tackle gender fully and clearly. The

shifts in the character of Mulan make it easier to see and comprehend the empowered external

beating of the stereotypically conforming nature. According to Scott (2023), this plot makes the

audience to consider how individual’s selfless actions lead to success and transformation of

social change. Touching the string of independence, the adventures of Mulan are depicted in the

film and they are relevant in most countries and regions of the world.

The main message of Mulan is the invasion of the female into the realm that is dominated

by males. That is why the military environment which was long considered as the man’s world,

becomes the ground for the main idea of Mulan’s character, equality and effectiveness. As

pointed out by Wang (2021), with success in such setting, Mulan disrupts the male West’s

concept of masculinity and demonstrate that being powerful and commanding is not a preserve

of men. Sotomayor (2021) discussed the potential of how the film that has Mulan as its

protagonist tries to show how gender roles are oppressive and how society particularly the

masculine organizations need to rethink the existing norms. In the light of this critique the work

can be seen to portray Mulan as a culture worth accepting since it was from a different age.

Sotornayor (2021) assert that the film nurtures the conversation on gender bias in the workplace

and other social spheres by portraying Keli as having triumphed over adversity and as an

individualistic subject. According to Zhou (2024), what Mulan has done is to show that

dismantling institutional requirements is crucial in the enhancement of the equality of the two

genders. Thus, the story of the successful Mulan sets up a script, which can be used by people

who want to turn themselves into more liberal societies that enclose.

The element of disguise and drama is best used in subverting the gender norms as

presented in the movie throughout stages of the Mulan’s process. This tactic also emerges as the

capacity to perform masculinity in order to both cope with and negotiate the gender regime in her

own drag queen manner. Zhou (2024) has stated that what Mulan needs to teach her own society

is Disguise as a mask which is a sign of the fact that social roles are a mask. Wang (2021)

continues to explain that is why the author concludes that gender is actually context dependent

since Wang is able to do what most men do while offering such performances and still remain

the stereotypically feminine woman. In this regards, the Mulan is a critique of the notion of

gender and an appeal to the deconstruction of the categorization of roles and appearances. It

argues that the choice of narrative approach in the film enriches its feminism and situates the

movie in the deliberate postmodern discourse on gender and performance. In this work,

Sotomayor (2021) asserts that disguise is used to reveal super survival of people who live freely

in the world but are subjected to very limited freedoms. Performance as a type of narrative

captures the audience into the performance structure and beyond, making them think about

gender within the framework of the limitation and enabler. Yin (2024) says such a thematic

saturation of Mulan makes it a ripe material for the analysis of how tropes introduce audiences to

the issues of identity, performativity, and roles.

Machismo and authoritarianism in conflict- A positive valence

Santino says that the main male characters in Mulan represent the main patriarchal power

structures that Mulan wants to overthrow. All the men from the commanding general to the

ordinary soldier conform to classic male stereotypes, the leader, the powerful man, the honorable

man. When analyzing these characters, Yang and Yang (2024) explain how these characters

promote the patriarchal hegemonic culture that Mulan has to navigate through as a female.

Sotomayor (2021) also points out that the submission of Mulan to male characters proves that

hierarchy is oppressive since the protagonist and male characters understand that to overcome

the enemy, there is no need for a hierarchy. In that way the film is Gan insisting on more

hegemonic forms of male violence at the same time as it imagined other kinds of leaders and

struggles. The other dimension of conflict that is shown in the movie is the contrast in

application of the more conventional assertive power between the hero and the heroine. From the

argument below Zhou (2024) concludes that this critique is in accordance with the feminists’

suggestion that the mode of power should be polymorphic instead of misogynous. Thus it can be

stated that Mulan might be productive in taking the discussion on gender and leadership further.

The way Mulan approach the conflict is much wiser and appropriate than the male’s

approach in conflict solving. The male soldiers relied on aggressiveness and force in

combination with their already known strategies of war, and Mulan by contrast, relies on her

intelligence and very sound strategies by changing the face of the battle entirely. In the view of

Wang (2021), this change challenges the notion of masculinity as invincibility and aggression in

leadership, which is diverse. Zhou (2024) also notes that Mulan’s strategy is also

instrumentalizing militarism in a way that resonates with the critical feminist analyses, and calls

for new modes of coordination and engagement. Therefore, the mentioned methods contrastively

show the ineffective of the traditional Male Paradigms and highlight the potential for Positive

Change in order to solve the conflict. As pointed out by Scott (2023), it is pertinent to locate

Mulan’s leadership behavior as an invasive model of power and authority in patriarchal terrains.

This story can be watched with the purpose of provoking the audience to think about the chances

of innovation and cooperation in the overly complicated hierarchy. To the classical paradigm,

Mulan offers new ways of perceiving people’s attitudes towards leadership and conflict

resolution.

Gender in Conflict and Resolution

Women in Militarized Spaces

When Mulan joins the military particularly it alters the depiction of women in other

masculine plot. However, the fact that Mulan has to dress up as a man to join the army and fight,

an area which in many historical movies has been portrayed as being out of bounds to women,

creates a chance to look at how and why women are kept out of the war. Xiao (2021) points out

that her choice of the disguise flips the war structure because women and erasing the gender

roles that define the war as a masculine endeavor and the key to triumph is dominance. This

disruption erases the distinction between the military and gender identity hence it creates

grounds for discussing women in war (Wang, 2021). While following the story of Mulan, the

septic sentiment of armed forces is not concealed from the audience. Militarized spaces still

remain a place where women are marginalized and oppressed. In the opinion of Silva (2021), this

is a ‘realist’ account of women of color’s endeavors to become accepted and included into male

and especially military spaces. It is therefore important for people to demonstrate that there is

more than one way of doing things by broadening the definition of leadership and capacity in the

high-risk job.

Feminism and analysis of militarism/war from the feminist perspective provides a deeper

insight into the portrayal of chauvinism in war particularly the movie Mulan. Militarism as a

structure then embraces a masculine worldview and approach to conflict and problem solving

solution thus excluding other forms of norm. As suggested by Yin (2024), the author of this

narrative tries to invert the roles whereby Mulan is depicted as being cleverer than the approach

employed by the men. This kind of reliance on intelligent, empathetic and creative approaches

provides an entirely different kind of story to the one that is usually told by the militarist, male-

centric approach to planning and warfare (Butter, 2021). This reframing disengages the body of

war from the attribute of masculinity and provides the values of non-phallic options. The

portraying of Mulan as a powerful and effective officer in this macho culture, this movie reveals

the need to let everyone and everyone’s opinions into the hegemonically closed occupations.

Zhao, Ang, and Toh (2022) notes that this critique is not only confined to the narrative but still

holds water in the larger discourse on women’s rights in militarized and professionalized

societies.

While power relations portrayed the women in militarized spaces as victims of power

structures the film also shows that change is possible. Mulan’s story is a good example of how

gender roles may be re-negotiated in societies where women are not yet permitted to do so.

According to Silva (2021), she is not imitating the male approach but rather, she is enlarging the

applicability of capability and leadership in the military. This revision of the success therefore

goes against hegemonic masculinity and hence the focus on power as a male asset. Chen and

Mehdizadkhani (2022) also point out that Mulan is a good example of the Disney heroine who is

willing to do great things and, therefore, embodies real Feminist Agency when practicing agency

and self-actualization. Mulan is capable of negotiating public space and male arenas of warfare

and labor, and transforms herself to fit spatially, economically, and militarily patriarchal arenas,

meaning that women possess the necessary tools for reimagining and remapping a patriarchal

gender order. The transformation of the daughter breathing new life to old clichés, make the

viewer to raise an eye brow on the walls that have been set for women when it comes to

leadership positions in the society in essence social engineering for gender and leadership.

Gender, Performance and Subversive Tactics

For this reason, the two chief forms of deception and disguise in Mulan are an effective

method of fighting the current hegemony of the patriarchal order of power. In this way, Mulan

subverts not only the role assigned to her by her society, as well as the restraints imposed on her,

by crossing the dress code of the man which will allow her to enter areas which are closed for

her. This act of subversion gives the audience a critique on the messed up ideas of gender by

trying to pass a certain test that is only meant to be passed for people of a certain physical

formation as pointed out by Wang (2022). Not only does it enable her to escape death but, rather,

it allows her to live the way she can within this patriarchal society (Zhao, Ang, & Toh, 2022).

This narrative strategy also enacts gender, in the way that Laclau’s and Mouffe’s theories do

when they argue against the dualism of identity. Because of the deception which illustrates the

weakness of the patriarchal systems, the movie forces the audience to increase the level of

skepticism towards the possibility of the real male-female division and the consequences of its

implementation of the individual freedom and society liberation. Moreover, success of Mulan in

the changed environment also provides a clear indication of the importance of the norms which

is a clear prove that leadership and competence is not strictly a male domain. Silva (2021) notes

that this subversion also reflects other aspects of the critique of the society and its organization,

that represents women as peripheral while praising men’s activities. Based on the analysis of the

film’s context and its main characters and the plot, it will be possible to state that Mulan is a

film, which is focused on the critique of gender roles in both the historical period and the

contemporary one. These themes are quite generic, appealing to the multicultural audience, and

focusing on breaking the gender stereotyped norms and accepting power.

By analyzing some of the scenes from Mulan it will be possible to explain how the main

character works around the gender roles in power and decision making. One of them can be seen

in the training sequence when Mulan outperforms all her opponents not by strength, but by

intelligence. According to Xiao (2021), this scene must be read as the author’s denunciation of

the restrictive definitions of competence that are installed within the armed forces, in order to

face the possible ways of leading that are not yet fully developed. The first one is on the

recognition of Mulan as an innovative strategist, strategist during the climactic battle when her

strategy works with the assistance of the comrades; the second one is on the deviation from the

usual victorious hero, the macho man which is typical for Disney films (Yin, 2024). These

scenes develop Mulan as Shang’s love interest, and also bring attention to the fact that people of

color are ignored, and how they can solve problems. Butter (2021) shows that these strategies

align with a postmodern power that feminism opposes because there is more emphasis placed on

people’s potential for working together and for being innovative as they attempt to transform

society. Besides, these scenes also introduce the requirement of the revisionist concept of

heroism and from the Patriarchal model of power to a different sort of victory, a class victory.

Mulan is used as a good example of why leadership is not only about having power that can

influence people and mobilize them. This narrative decision also gets the point across for another

way of handling power dynamics which is having empathy and the potential to change as

important factors. In this aspect, the film supports Mulan’s example of leadership that is not the

conventional male authority, as depicted in societies.

Through the application of the narrative technique of the movie, Mulan also fights and

inverts the roles that have overwhelmed women throughout history. This can easily be painted

from the picture because the main theme of the film revolves on subversion hence it brings out

the constraints of gender roles and the ability to create change through the alterity and

sustenance. In the work of Wang (2021), Mulan is presented as a diverse leadership model that

presents a vision of structural leadership that is realistic and positive. This narrative strategy also

chimes well with the tenets of postmodern /feminist discourses which protest against structural

injustice and advocate for change in the terrains of patriarchal power (Chen & Mehdizadkhani,

2022). Mulan therefore subverts the culture of conflict by reconstructing gender and accepting

the equality dogma as part of the modal embrace. It not only raises the image of Mulan as a

character but also makes everyone, including audiences, question how gender affect the society

and bring a rather reasonable discussion about leadership and success into school. Secondly,

creativity of Mulan is another example of the film as a call to action to destroy stereotype and

come out of the shell no matter what. As noted by Silva (2021) the audience should be left to

question the institutional prejudices that construct the structures and hegemonic assumptions.

Chen and Mehdizadkhani (2022) say it does so in a bid to underscore the importance of

eliminating gender stereotyping to give everybody an equal opportunity to work for the

organization irrespective of their gender. This way, it performs the role of a culture artefact and

at the same time implies that the world requires a new definition of power and authority.

Feminist theory in practice- applied aspects of the theory

The liberal feminism can be employed to understand Mulan’s focus on women rights and

their capacity to get into the society and join the military. This view demonstrate that female

protagonist is struggling with the system that has forbidden women to head or to work in

particular organizations. In the view of Butter (2021), the success of Mulan provides evidence

that women should be given equal chance to perform optimally in the military since she is

equally capable in commanding and warfare. As pointed out by Yin (2024) in general the plot of

the movie can be considered as rather appropriate for the liberal feminism since it speaks on

individualism and equality within certain framework. Butter (2021) says this framework does as

much for the character of Mulan as it does to the cause of feminism, and the fight against

exclusion. This aspect of ‘use higher posts for those big enough’ in a way, gives Mulan an

opportunity to speak regarding inequality where one should be posted depending with their size

not their gender. Wang (2021) has one major criticism to make at this point, and that is that her

achievements fit in with the present discourse on gender equality and work, and the military, and

are therefore timely and powerful. This is important as it fosters perception that change on the

systemic level is possible in institutions that have bought into equity. Shifting the victory into the

battle for one’s and talent, the film complicates the relationships based only on gender for the

audience as applies to any field. While this framework expands the area of concern for the

feminists it also validates the application of liberal feminism to determine right contexts of the

institutions.

With regards to the approach taken in the present analysis to argue how the film handled

militarized masculinity inherent in the war genre, this paper adopted the radical feminism theory.

The film thus essentially turns a new leaf on the culture of violence and domination which has

been promoted by popular globalization and popular culture. In the words of Zhao, Ang, and Toh

(2022), Mulan changes the power relation dynamics within the domination system through

redefinition of power signs and reward structures of conflict resolution. As for this kind of

critique, Xiao (2021) has enriched the understanding that it connects with radical feminism that

is concerned with the overthrow of the patriarchal power regime. The construction of the port-of-

call of ‘traditional masculinity’ sets up the terms for considering how ‘other’ forms of behavior

and desire, kindness, creativity and respect might come to have an equivalent foothold. This

narrative therefore also has something to say about the relations of power in the economy and in

society more broadly and a vision of how things might change that is more amenable to the goals

of feminism. Zhao, Ang and Toh (2022) states that through portraying Mulan as achieving power

within the military structures within the society of China. It means that if leadership is perceived

as a form of competition and aggression, people are likely to fail to develop the very

characteristics that are necessary for leadership. According to Silva (2021), the movie shows

militarized masculinity that is important to current feminism that is struggling for narrative shifts

in power relations in systems. By challenging such constructs, the narrative captures, a process

of critical analysis of the structural culture which perpetuates the exclusion of the Other. In view

of the issues of gender, the film is equally a wakeup call for the society on the necessity to

withdraw the curtain on masculinity in determination of positions of power and authority and of

redrawing the demarcation line of qualification to those positions.

Intersectionality allows for the considering the cultural, gender, and social factors of the

narrative of Mulan. This view recognizes the fact that the main character of the story is in a male

oriented society among other things. Chen and Mehdizadkhani (2022) describe how the

intersectionality principle links gender with other factors, which also covers the woman’s role in

various societies. According to Wang (2022), this framework provides the given understanding

of the role of the film in both the conservative and progressive discourse. Thus, applying

intersectional approaches, Mulan allows considering how the identity is formed and how the

systematic problems that define it contribute to the erasure of gender and power. Also, from the

movie Mulan, the roles of women and the culture of the society discussed in this course have

impact in the opportunities and limitations of the female characters. As put by Zhao, Ang, and

Toh (2022), this is because all the people across the world experience such aspects hence making

it very important in explaining the effects of the film. In this way the film contributes to a

conversation about equality and voice in storytelling since it looks at these levels of subjectivity

together. It is shown that when speaking of gender and culture individuals should not be viewed

as black and white, these social constructs are more complex and require the consideration of

their intersections. Thus, Mulan goes beyond conflict and contradiction read in the text, and

becomes valuable icon for studying identity, equality and subordination.

Broader Implications of Mulan’s Gender Narrative

Gender in Media

For the analysis of gender representation in the media of mass culture Mulan can be

considered as a perfect example of cultural product as it illuminates the positive and negative

functions of the system. The film does not reiterate the conventional portrayal of women as weak

victims and prisoners of their homes while giving its main character power that even surpasses

the stereotypically masculine strength. As stated by Fanolla (2024) the main hero of our story,

Mulan, and her actions are not in accordance with the common values of a woman, which are

quite opposite to the strong, wise, and moral male stereotype. Huang and Liu (2024) assert that

these divergences from the conventional gender portrayal present prospects of interest for

creating new perceptions among the audience, especially the young ones who are more likely to

learn on issues to do with gender and identity from the media. In the analysis by Muir (2023), it

is evident that media has a very powerful potential of promoting positive change in progressive

gender norms and thus portrayal of such characters as in Mulan can only contribute to it. They

are perfect examples of how and why one can love a film like this; it is mainstream media; yet it

is so obviously subverting and playing into gender norms at the same time. But Chen and

Mehdizadkhani (2022) insist that these representations must be read liberally so that they do not

turn into a mere sort of sorting mechanism for shallow actions that are far from changing the

structures. This is evident when considering Mulan and its ability to capture the imagination of

young girls across the globe and thus illustrating the altered role of media in the construction of

gender.

Regarding the impact of culture on construction of representations, and particularly

femininity and gender, this case of Mulan helps to gain comparative analysis of other films

related to female stories. According to Muir (2023), like Frozen and Brave, portray strong female

characters, however, Mulan not only presents the empowered woman but also the history of the

cultures and history of gender and its relation with the tradition. According to Romero (2023)

Mulan is located in a cultural specific and on the other hand a universal discourse of freedom.

This generality of representation allows this film to be expected that both male and female

students of every orientation would be interested in the topic of gender roles given the acceptable

cultures of every society. According to Fanolla (2024) the movie of Mulan focuses on

collectivism with the family honor rather than individualism of the western culture gender roles

model. Cultural adaptation is also described by Eshow and Lundsgaard (2023) in relation to a

storyline in which women are in the lead of the reception of gender and identity in various

sociopolitical contexts. It is in this relatively coded way that the film Mulan can provide

important information about the culture and gender debates concerning animated heroes.

Mulan also shows real-life aspect of how media can be used to combat stereotype and at

the same time to support the system of oppression. In an effort to break free from the traditional

form of femininity the film still falls back into the Disney category and the criticism of the

unrelenting depiction of gender norms. Karmakar and Bhadra (2024) rightly note that such

tension is typical of diverse representational conflicts in media when progressive narratives are

packaged for tourists. Zhou (2024) and Frees (2023) continues her discussion of gender in Mulan

beyond previous Disney movies and notes that such portrayals should be discussed in terms of

cultural impact of media. It is argued that Mulan is helpful in understanding the problems with

the current depictions of media, and how it is possible to create positive images within a

commercial framework. Tong (2024) agrees with the critics in the sense that they are right to say

that such narratives are mere representation; they should be accompanied by a change at the

cultural and structural levels. It is here that Mulan recognizes such themes and gives the audience

the opportunity to step back and reanalyze the mediation of the normal.

It is important that the connection between the two is elaborated in order to decipher how

media transmittal impacts on the cultural conversations of culture, gender, equality and

liberation. According to Romero (2023), being released worldwide the film inspired people to

think about the role of a woman in the society during the period of traditional farming and after

the liberation while focusing on the role of storytelling. According to Muir (2023) these

animation films for example the Mulan are very useful in transforming the culture and

transforming women roles by making strong women characters and role models look normal and

right. But Chen, and Mehdizadkhani stressed that such representations still have to be examined

in a way that they bring quality change instead of being a form of tokenism. Thus, the movie

Mulan enables the focusing of the arguments of this paper on the question of how and to what

extent media is an important factor in shaping the kind of society that is depicted in the story.

This it makes media timeless, it mirrors society and on the same note provokes them to ask

questions about gender power and representation.

Consequences for Feminist Movements

As such, Mulan is a cultural text which has much to contribute to any kind of feminists’

discourse concerning gender representation and equality. Besides other aspects, which the author

disclosed in the film, it is possible to state that the movie resonates the aspect of the feminist

agenda best and tries to empower women and provide options. In her article of 2023, Frees traces

on how the movie of Mulan changes the Cone of heroism and introduce a new type of hero the

role of women. It not only @feminism affirms with the feminist movement but also supports all

forms of representation to fight for gender equality. However, Karmakar and Bhadra (2024)

noted that in regard to views on the empowered position of Mulan as a focus of the community

as compared to personal values, the different cultural gender power relations are well

understood. Thus, posing the story of the protagonist amidst the socio-cultural framework the

movie provides a number of significant observations on the possible and inherent values of the

equal societies whether in post or contemporary world.

As we watched Mulan we could not help but remember that even the most progressive

examples of female characters in the media cannot completely dethrone the patriarchal power.

While the movie has taken a stance on gender roles it does so in the framework of a business

model that some films are still able to generate revenue from rather than trying to change society.

Chen and Mehdizadkhani (2022) also address this tension because the FTOS narratives are likely

to be commercialized to some extent, which will in turn make the recuperative message less

sharp. Therefore, writing a discussion of how empowered female characters in media are likely

to be drawn into endorsing structures of oppression and inequity, Romero (2023). This apparent

paradox is a good example of how gender politics are theorized in a mainstream media

production environment. As Huang and Liu (2024) rightly pointed out the improvement of

Feminist progress does not lie on the performative shift but on the shift in the paradigms of

representation. The film, Mulan, demonstrates the increased organizational and meta-

organizational concerns that global media face when trying to expand the scope of feminism.

There are useful tips on how to deal with the theme of Feminism and the main

concentration of lessons such as using inter-sectionalism in the struggle for women rights.

According to Karmakar and Bhadra (n.d), the cultural, social, and historical strands of gender are

well depicted in Mulan which makes it useful in explaining why there need to be more than one

ways of empowering and representing women. Frees (2023) has suggested that such topics are

changed in accordance with shifts within the Feminist agendas which, more currently, are more

likely to advocate for intersectional oppression. The same argument resonates in the other

discussions to do with the desire to expand the list of discriminations that is currently understood

in the feminism. As argued by Karmakar and Bhadra (2024) the process of collective action and

the ability of the community to come together in order to bring change in order to achieve the

change interventions that are being implemented is very crucial to Mulan. Since the movie

portrays personal agency in relation to the entire society it can go a long way in changing the

perception of activism and advocacy where people have a lot of fear.

It is also providing an excellent example of modern issues of women’s rights and

continue fight for equal rights as the feminism movements to this day. On the aspect of gender,

the movie portrays positive change in women since it reflects the existing social culture and

structuralism that defines media dilemmas. According to Romero (2023), such Feminist

movements need to continue to call for revolutionary transformation to eliminate subordination

and to try to disrupt power relations or formations. This, as noted by Huang and Liu (2024) calls

for a shift of an epistemology of how the media constructs narratives and how listeners shift from

being passive recipients of media products to active envoys of justice. In these cases, Mulan

stands for reflection and work as the two principal concepts regarding the further stages in the

evolution of different types of feminism. This is why it is always pertinent to look at some other

instances or examples wherein the media impacted culture and/or women rights which the

present book also offers a relevant experience in so far as a feminism case study is concerned.

Environmental and Global Impacts

It is particularly useful in the context of audience globalizing and translating Disney into

multicultural concerns of empowered metanarratives like Mulan. This makes the film a very

good case study in terms of understanding how cultural interpretations are negotiated in order to

suit another region. Chen and Mehdizadkhani (2022) describe how the Disney live-action

adaptation of the Mulan movie addresses Samuels’ conflict between the two faces of appearance

and how cultural and political pluralism can be reconciled. This has made the film to gain much

recognition in the world because people of different culture like pulling the film. According to

Eshow and Lundsgaard (2023) producers of media like Mulan can play a role in shaping the

cross cultural dialogue in regards to gender and identity. However, Zhao, Ang, and Toh (2022)

pointed out that this globalization of culture may sometime overemphasize or misrepresent

cultural narratives and therefore the authors caution against an absolutist view of this

phenomenon. At this level of analysis, Mulan presents our students with several important

lessons relating to culture, gender and global media in the making.

It is for this reason that the effects of the movie Mulan all across the globe can be used to

explain how the media can create interdependence of people. Fanolla (2024) assert that the real

life setting of the film makes the audience think about issues of identity and tradition in diversity

and the relations of power concerning them. Frees (2023) notes that this is a didactic piece of

work that introduces the world to elements of the Chinese history and mythology while at the

same time focusing on virtue of courage and heroism. Thus, when focusing on the relations

between the local and the global the possibility of the positive impact of media on the level of

cultural integration should be noted. Accordingly, Karmakar and Bhadra (2024) have identified

the following issue with the process including cultural adaptation also means shielding from such

conflicting concerns of the originality and the commercialization. Therefore, it is possible to

conclude that with the media as an intermediary, cross-cultural communication as a process can

be liberating for members of the globalizing world.

Analyzing the movie Mulan, the critics identify the issues of the movie using gender

liberation as a marketing strategy while raising real feminism concerns on the international

markets. Mandy is a rather typical post-Hollywood character of a strong woman in the group of

some of the landmarks, but the context of the image presented for sale makes one question what

is being sold such as a real emancipated woman, or just another product. However, Chen and

Mehdizadkhani (2022) stated that such beautification of feminism and feminist incorporation

into the popular culture perpetuates their trivialization. Hence, as noted by Romero (2023), this

conflict is of particular importance in global media since stories from such a source have to

benefit from more than cultural oddity of a nation. As a result, Huang and Liu (2024) argue that

these problems can only be addressed if representation is done right and that the depiction of the

women’s voice should be limited to only credible but also realistic means. Butter (2021) says by

engaging these criticisms, Mulan also becomes an important example of how the notion of media

needs to be explained and advanced for the cause of women’s emancipation struggle.

In the discussed movie Mulan, this paper has shown how such media can help people to

deconstruct and re-learn given norms when viewed from the international perspective. Xiao

(2021) indicate that this success meant that a cultural product became part of a discussion

regarding gender, identity, representation and once again, the stories saved the world. Proc

Mulan takes time to expand the script, and even other measures other themes of equality as

Espow and Lundsgaard (2023) will explain. The movie points out a clear working plan of

cultural translation and representation, and therefore serves as a good orientation in the study of

the role of media in developing intercultural communication. However, Zhao, Ang, and Xue

Ming Toh (2022) elaborate this capability by pointing out that there is the need to be critically

aware of the opportunities and risks of delivering global media productions and the options

thereof. Thus, the analyzed topics suggest that the critical analysis and debate of the media as a

cultural commodity which has an impact on and is shaped by the society and culture norms, as

well as the gender and culture relations, remain important and valuable goals.

Cultural Impact and Global Feminist Discourse

The worldwide movement of Mulan is a perfect example of how feminist concepts can

move beyond one culture and still be relevant albeit in different ways. According to Stromquist

(2015), one of the sources of the expansion of feminist discourse is the deliberate political

struggle and the other, the subtler processes, such as cultural diffusion. To a large extent

Disney’s adaptation is a witness of this expansion as it shows gender equality being deeply

embedded in a media product that is shared by different countries. On one hand the film can be

seen as advocating for female heroism which is in line with the liberal feminist ideals of

individual empowerment, however, McCann and Kim (2016) point out that feminist theory is

inevitably connected to the local histories and specificities that shatter the idea of universality.

The case is China where for example, Mulan relates to Confucianism which is a tradition that has

been limiting women and in the process generating a narrative that works both ways, one that

subverts and reaffirms the cultural expectations. All this points to what Aniche, Efanodor, and

Ofordum (2017) state in their work as the “globalisation of feminism,” a process in which global

feminist values come into contact with local norms and negotiate with them. The thing is,

however, that the consequences of the phenomenon are still a matter of debate: on the one hand,

Mulan gives the worldwide viewers an image of female agency, on the other, it is possible that

the feminist struggles are turned into oversimplified ones or even commodified when

Hollywood’s global distribution system is involved. Such sensitivity to the dynamics is a good

indicator of the cultural influence of feminist representation being far from a neutral one as it is

shaped by global power hierarchies.

The feminist conversation about Mulan emphasizes the importance of language and

representation in the way they influence cultural imaginaries. Lazar (2017) states that feminist

critical discourse analysis reveals that even the most neutral texts embody ideologies, especially

in terms of gendered power relations. In Mulan, the language used - be it the war metaphors or

the honor of the family - are the aspects that define and shape the society's view of femininity.

By analyzing such discursive patterns, the viewers become aware of how patriarchal power is not

only dominant but is also the basis of cultural authority even though the main character defies

gender norms. Von Flotow (2016) goes further than this by arguing that translation is a site for

ideological disputation; the adaptation of a Chinese legend for global audience changes cultural

narratives and thus, local feminist struggles may get subdued in the favor of the West. Mohanty

(2016) also points out that feminist confrontations should not amalgamate the experiences of

women and should not put them under one universalist category, thus reminding us that the

empowerment of Mulan cannot be separated from the aspects of Chinese tradition and colonial

legacies. Therefore, although the movie presents a feminist heroism, the linguistic and cultural

translation of the film has the potential of still reproducing dominance by giving more advantage

to Westernized feminism rather than the indigenous perspectives. The tension here between

discourse and translation helps explain how global feminist imaginaries are constructed through

the two processes and that Mulan is a text that can be interpreted as both empowering and

problematic from the perspective of feminist cultural politics (Mohanty, 2016).

Mulan's impact on culture can be better grasped by considering the digital media, which

played a significant role in the feminist responses to the film. Keller, Mendes, and Ringrose

(2018) explain that online feminist communities use digital platforms to show their opposition to

rape culture and patriarchal narratives.When people share their feminist view of Mulan on

Twitter, Weibo, or any other platform, they basically realize Åhäll’s (2018) concept of “the

politics of emotion,” which means that they use their affect as a tool to impose new feminist

narratives. These emotional confrontations not only reject the patriarchal nature of the stories but

also establish ties between different countries, thus giving feminism a new life and cultural

momentum in digital spaces. Ging and Siapera (2018) say that the internet world is also a source

of misogynistic backlash, which is why the feminist interpretations of Mulan are a very sensitive

issue in the digital sphere. This duality, on the other hand, reveals the way global media texts

operate as agents of both resistance and reinforcement of patriarchal norms. More than anything,

it demonstrates how spectators are not only passively receiving but rather they are the ones

actively co-creating feminist meanings with the film. It is to say that the digital afterlife of Mulan

accounts for a large part of its cultural impact which is the reason why the film can be seen as a

player in a bigger feminist fight for narrative authority, visibility, and the contested terrain of

online public discourse.

One factor that makes it difficult for the feminists to accept Mulan is the celebrity culture,

especially through branding of actors and creative team. According to Hamad and Taylor (2015),

feminism is increasingly affected by celebrity culture which, in turn, creates more possibilities

but also more limitations for gender advocacy. The selection of Liu Yifei to play Mulan became

a politically charged issue when her public declarations about Hong Kong protests did not match

with the liberal feminist resistance, thus making the people question the involvement of the

celebrities in the feminist discourse after the issue of responsibility was raised. Gill and Orgad

(2017) point out that "confidence culture" helps redefine feminism as an individual's self-

confidence and a marketable empowerment which in the case of Mulan fits well with Disney's

branding of the character as a source of inspiration but at the same time, it loses the essence of

feminism by turning it into a product. Koivunen, Kyrölä, and Ryberg (2018) take this argument

further by indicating that media cultures use the concept of vulnerability to attract the audience

emotionally and then, they use it for commercial purposes. Thus, the feminist message of Mulan

being conveyed not only by the film but also by the celebrity apparatus creates a hybrid

discourse where the two concepts of empowerment and commodification are still struggles. It is

an example of how feminism dissemination through cultural film is intertwined with political

economies of celebrity and consumer culture.

Mulan movie voices issues of post-feminism as a transnational cultural logic. Dosekun

(2015) says that post-feminism went global but is still mostly considered a concept "for Western

girls only," thus non-Western audiences are excluded from its liberation promises. The story of

Disney, by its very nature of choice and self-realization, is a mirror of these post-feminist ideals,

hence laying down power as a personal transformational rather than a social one. Alvarez (2018)

says that Latin American feminisms have opposed such models by defining the collective and

local-based struggles, thus implying that the global diffusion of feminism has to be critically

looked at for power imbalances. Stromquist (2015) also points out that the spreading of feminist

ideas is a continual struggle between the grassroots and the universalizing aspects of global

discourse. Taking this as an example, we see the celebration of the hero’s journey as a feminist

triumph while at the same time, the patriarchal militarized system surrounding her is barely

interrogated. The worldwide acceptance of this story is endangering the post-feminist logic to be

reinforced which is more inclined to personal success than the collective fight. The analysis here

demonstrates the urgency to question whether Mulan's popularity across different cultures results

in a genuine feminist transformation or if it simply offers empowerment within the neoliberal

frameworks (Stromquist, 2015).

The emotional politics in Mulan highlight the role of the affect system as a feminist

critique tool. Åhäll (2018) states that emotions should not be considered only as individual

reactions but rather as political forces that influence collective feminist imaginaries. The pride

and identification of the audience with Mulan’s protest against patriarchal authority results in the

transformation of the cinematic affect into feminist power, thus, crossing national borders and

connecting people. According to Owens (2018), a postmodern feminist discourse loses its rigid

categories of identity and thereby opens up different affective engagements, which in turn

deepen the feminist theorizing. Accordingly, the emotional bonds of the viewers with Mulan are

the places where they simultaneously interpret multiple feminist positions. Keller, Mendes, and

Ringrose (2018) argue that one of the main sources of anger and other negative emotions that are

directed at the perpetuation of inequalities, and that in turn become the fuel of digital feminist

practices, is the online debate about the film. These emotional responses serve as proof that

Mulan should not be regarded only as a narrative but also as a text that evokes political emotions

and thus, facilitates the mobilization of feminism in a way that transcends the screen.

Nevertheless, the issue of whether Disney’s commodification of these affects is contributing to

the feminist struggle or only to the market imperatives is still open. Hence, affect is on the one

hand a tool of feminist solidarity and on the other hand, a reminder of the limitations imposed by

the global media industries.

Transnational feminist critiques of Mulan therefore, point out the risks associated with

the essentialization of cultural traditions. Mohanty (2016) cautions against treating the struggles

of women as one under a single feminist framework, as this may lead to the disregard of the

different realities of women in the non-Western world. The Western interpretation of Mulan as a

feminist hero of the individualist kind may hide the fact that Chinese feminisms have always

been based on collectivist values and the teachings of Confucius. Aniche, Efanodor, and

Ofordum (2017) claim that the worldwide spread of feminism has been a factor in the promotion

of the West ideals and the relegation of the local struggles, thus creating unequal terrains of

recognition. McCann and Kim (2016) also emphasize that feminist theory should be sensitive to

the intersections of local and global discourses if it wants to refrain from reproducing

dominances. If one looks at it from this angle, Disney, by delivering Mulan’s empowerment as a

universal feminist message, is taking the risk of using Chinese culture to strengthen its global

soft power, a move that eventually leads to the fading away of indigenous feminist narratives. In

this regard, it is a critical feminist transnational discourse that unveils how authenticity in the

cultural realm becomes a battleground where empowerment is both celebrated and commodified.

Hence, Mulan points to the feminist cross-cultural narrative in the telling, showing both the risks

and the potentials, which in turn reveals the necessity of plural feminist frameworks that are local

and grounded in the global media.

On top of that, one of the major cultural implications of Mulan worldwide has been its

role as a space where feminist universality and cultural differences have been debated and

negotiated. Stromquist (2015) explains how the core of feminist concepts spreads all over the

world but in many places where they clash against established customs, they still have to face

resistance, thus pointing to the complexity of their acceptance in different countries. The same

idea is being supported by Alvarez (2018) who studies the development of feminisms in Latin

America through influence of both global and local forces and comes to the conclusion that the

notion of feminist universality is always veiled by the local struggles. Lazar (2017) goes even

further in this direction by arguing that discourse is able to create power by privileging certain

stories at the cost of others and this is the reason why Disney’s Mulan empowerment narrative is

so loud whereas alternative feminist voices derived from Chinese history are so quiet. Their

interplay reveals that the extent of the film’s influence on culture goes beyond the realm of

entertainment and it is, in fact, deeply involved in political debates about which feminisms get

recognized, commodified, or marginalized at the global level. Mulan, by putting the emphasis on

the daring resistance, gets the heroic message across to the people from all over the world,

however, it also seems to be echoing the sustained dominance of a particular set of global

feminist narratives when it confines the depiction of freedom to one mostly Western liberal

feminist framework. Therefore, the movie becomes a symbol of both the power of the media to

generate transnational feminist solidarity and the risk of disregarding the different traditions to

favor universalized, market-friendly narratives.

Conclusion

Synthesis of Findings

In light of the above, this paper posits that the movie of Mulan is able to develop a

narrative around portraying the gender roles in war and conflict and how conflict can be resolved

as a critique on change and possibility. Thus, the conformity with the male and female parts

taken by the main character of the movie allows the latter to become a ‘shining’, ‘resourceful’,

‘stake of a hero’ and thus close the cultural gap. It was evident in what way, when, and with

which kind of feminism Mulan offers critical discourses regarding the patriarchy and its potential

for altering the leadership and the equality. For Butter (2021) the film can be seen as a way of

promoting more progressive thinking about femininity beyond the goal of making the audience

into active activists. Besides this, Mulan being a product of global production and dissemination,

it has a global impact and should be a part of the conversation on how gender, culture and power

is represented in the media. It gives the picture a cultural specificity of the root and at the same

time the potential for applicability to any culture thus providing a constant food for thought for

scholars and connoisseurs of culture. It also explains how the story of Mulan supports the

argument about the role of the media in changing the norms of society, and how, when changing

these norms, the media provide people with good examples to think about rather than blindly

obeying the crowd. As observed by Romero (2023), Mulan falls in the historical-genre category

and thus, it teaches children as well as audience who are critical and senile. As an enlightening

comedy, the film up to date informs discourses on gender equality, academically and culturally.

Consequences on academic and other sphere of culture

Mulan also enriches the themes of gender and power and the political place of media in

society. This film demonstrates how stories can challenge and challenge hegemonic and offer

alternative discourses of identity and power. According to Muir (2023), for the same reason

stating that the story of Mulan is important to the cause of feminism because it is important that

there is more to be done to advance the goal of equality. However, Chen and Mehdizadkhani

(2022) have stated that such representations merely reduce the researched object to the post-

neoliberal and post-feminist agenda that are then brought back to the readers for their liminal

discussion of media discourses. Analyzing these processes, the film Mulan can be descriptively

analyzed as an example of how media can be employed to support the processes of social

change. But wait, there are more; cross-cultural themes are depicted, and as the school of thought

that holds that every story from any culture is acceptable anywhere in the world would have it.

Frees (2023) has noted that the film Mulan is a good example of how the relationship between

tradition and the formation of the contemporary world is not as straightforward as it may seem;

therefore, this work is most helpful for the modern discussion of feminism. The positive

motivation of the transformational culture, leadership issues, spirit, and gender roles in the film

make it an inspiring piece of art. Therefore, it has it that Mulan is still a cultural icon that sets the

pace with regard to orientation and representation of gender.

References

Åhäll, L. (2018). Affect as methodology: Feminism and the politics of emotion. International

political sociology, 12(1), 36-52.

Alvarez, S. E. (2018). Latin American feminisms “go global”: trends of the 1990s and challenges

for the new millennium. In Cultures of politics/politics of cultures (pp. 293-324).

Routledge.

Aniche, ET, Efanodor, HO and Ofordum, CM (2017). Feminisation of Globalism and

Globalisation of Feminism: The Impacts on Women. In EA Obi (Ed.) Gender Politics in

Nigeria: A Reader. Onitsha: Bookpoint Educational.

Avelia, R. D. (2024). The Disney Movies’ Influence upon People’s Perception about Feminism

in Indonesia.

Butter, M. (2021). From History to Herstory: Disney’s Feminist Re-Conceptualizations of

Princesses in the Post-2010 Era (Doctoral dissertation, University of Tübingen).

Chen, L., & Mehdizadkhani, M. (2022). Disney’s Two Versions of Mulan (1998, 2020) and

Twitter: A Reception Study in Terms of (Im) politeness. Journal of Intercultural

Communication Research, 51(6), 595-610.

Dosekun, S. (2015). For western girls only? Post-feminism as transnational culture. Feminist

Media Studies, 15(6), 960-975.

Eshow, A. S. P., & Lundsgaard, D. B. G. (2023). A Cultural Analysis of The Walt Disney

Company and Their Production of Non-White Imagery in Aladdin (1992), Mulan (1998),

Pocahontas (1995), Lilo & Stitch (2002), The Princess and The Frog (2009), and Pixar’s

Soul (2020).

Fanolla, A. (2024). Beyond Happily Ever After: Unveiling Gender Dynamics in Disney’s Fairy

Tale Romances: A CDA on female gender representation in animated Disney movies.

Frees, M. M. (2023). Disney Princess Films: Feminist Movements and the Changing of Gender

Roles.

Gill, R., & Orgad, S. (2017). Confidence culture and the remaking of feminism. New

formations, 91(91), 16-34.

Ging, D., & Siapera, E. (2018). Special issue on online misogyny. Feminist media studies, 18(4),

515-524.

Hamad, H., & Taylor, A. (2015). Introduction: Feminism and contemporary celebrity

culture. Celebrity studies, 6(1), 124-127.

Huang, P., & Liu, X. (2024). Challenging gender stereotypes: representations of gender through

social interactions in English learning textbooks. Humanities and Social Sciences

Communications, 11(1), 1-14.

Karmakar, A., & Bhadra, A. Disney Setting and Changing Gender Stereotypes.

Keller, J., Mendes, K., & Ringrose, J. (2018). Speaking ‘unspeakable things’: Documenting

digital feminist responses to rape culture. Journal of gender studies, 27(1), 22-36.

Koivunen, A., Kyrölä, K., & Ryberg, I. (Eds.). (2018). The power of vulnerability: Mobilising

affect in feminist, queer and anti-racist media cultures. Manchester University Press.

Kusen, F. J., Noah, A., Setiawan, S. F., & Silaen, G. L. (2024). Challenging Gender Binaries in

A ‘Journey to Honor’: A Feminist Critique of Performativity in Mulan (2020)

Movie. Boanerges: Makarios Education Journal, 2(1), 74-86.

Lazar, M. M. (2017). Feminist critical discourse analysis. In The Routledge handbook of critical

discourse studies (pp. 372-387). Routledge.

McCann, C., & Kim, S. K. (2016). Feminist theory reader: Local and global perspectives.

Routledge.

Mohammed, E. Y. (2024). Reclaiming Agency: Mulan's Empowerment in the Post-feminist

Era. Midad Al-Adab Refereed Journal, 1(English Department Confrence).

Mohammed, E. Y. Reclaiming Agency: Mulan's Empowerment in the Post-feminist Era.

Mohanty, C. T. (2016). ‘Feminist Encounters: Locating the Politics of Experience'. In Space,

Gender, Knowledge: Feminist Readings (pp. 82-97). Routledge.

Muir, R. (2023). The Disney Princess Phenomenon: A Feminist Analysis. Policy Press.

Owens, C. (2018). The discourse of others: Feminists and postmodernism. In The Expanding

Discourse (pp. 486-502). Routledge.

Romero, N. C. (2023). Media Representation of the New Disney Princesses: Portrayal of Gender

Roles (Doctoral dissertation, University of Oklahoma).

Scott, A. (2023). A Distorted Reflection: An Analysis of Chinese-American Relations through

the Westernization of ‘Mulan’. The Mirror-Undergraduate History Journal, 43(1), 1-17.

Silva, I. S. D. C. C. D. (2021). Make a feminist out of you: Disney´ s potential to promote

behavioural change in gender stereotyping (Doctoral dissertation).

Sotomayor, H. (2021). 'A Girl Worth Fighting For': Transformations of the Woman Warrior Hua

Mulan (Doctoral dissertation, University of Guelph).

Stromquist, N. P. (2015). Explaining the expansion of feminist ideas: cultural diffusion or

political struggle?. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 13(1), 109-134.

Tendenan, V. (2024). The Body as a Battlefield: A Feminist Interpretation of Mulan as a Source

of Theology in the Face of Gender-Based Violence. Feminist theology, 33(1), 445-460.

Von Flotow, L. (2016). Translation and gender: Translating in the'era of feminism'. Routledge.

Wang, A. (2022). Mulan meeting her waterloo in homeland: Analysing the 2020 film from a

cultural perspective. Lingual: Journal of Language and Culture, 13(1), 3.

Wang, J. (2021). Portrayal of Chinese culture in Hollywood films: A case study of Mulan and

Kung Fu Panda.

Wang, Z. (2021, December). From Mulan (1998) to Mulan (2020): Disney conventions, cross-

cultural feminist intervention, and a compromised progress. In Arts (Vol. 11, No. 1, p. 5).

MDPI.

Xiao, E. (2021). Disney’s Reconstruction of the Traditional Chinese Heroine: a Comparative

Analysis of the Three Mulan Movies. Communications in Humanities Research, 1, 19-27.

Yang, S. (2024). Mulan From Legend To Screen: The Influence Of Globalisation On The

Representation Of China In Film (Doctoral dissertation, Open Access Te Herenga Waka-

Victoria University of Wellington).

Yang, Y., & Yang, L. (2024). Sino-US film collaboration in practice: Mulan. Transnational

Screens, 15(2), 198-217.

Yin, J. (2024). Gender, culture and emancipation: A paradigmatic outline of Asiacentric

womanism. In The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Discourse Studies (pp. 137-161).

Routledge.

Zhao, M., Ang, L. H., & Toh, F. H. C. (2022). Hybridising the cultural identity of Mulan from a

Chinese ballad to American films. Asian Journal of Social Science, 50(2), 130-136.

Zhou, C. (2024). The politics of constructing counternarratives against Orientalism in popular

media reception: the case of Mulan (2020). Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 1-26.

Students also viewed