SPOILER DISCUSSION

1.The first song foreshadows where Mulan’s strengths actually lie. Before she puts on her outfit, she moves a piece in a strategy based game and assures one of the player’s victory. After she has her outfit on, she notices two boys pretend playing war; the two kids attack a girl and take her doll but Mulan intervenes and gives it back.; this action is mirrored in the latter half of the film when she finds a little girls doll and gets revenge on the Huns for what they’ve done to the girl.

But once the song ends, Mulan, in her attempt to live up to the ideals from the song, reads her cheat-sheet on proper conduct which prompts the matchmaker to check for signs of foul-play. While she doesn’t notice anything, the ink from the cheat-sheet rubs off on her hands and creates the impression of facial hair on her face. Given Mulan’s upcoming transformation, her attempts at cheating the honor system culminating in a woman looking like a man is perfect.

The third song, “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” idealizes the idea of a macho man, one who has strength capable of toppling their enemies. There’s an explicit mention of daughters and their relative weakness. Mulan’s subsequent victory through strategy instead or brute force is nicely serves as a counterpoint to the idea of an archetypal warrior.

Furthermore, the song establishes the importance of height as a visual marker of influence. Shang bemoans his soldiers’ ineptitude and challenges them reach the top of a poll with weights on. At the midway point of the song, he sits at the mountain-top with no one on his level. But then Mulan is able to reach the heights of the tower and can gaze down upon Shang – she’s moved the levers towards her.

As the song ends, the film cuts to Shan Yu who sits above the tree-tops. He too is in a heightened position and is coming for the others. It’s a battle to the top. All parties are now situated for battle.

The fourth song, “A Girl Worth Fighting For”, is about what characteristics a woman has to have in order to inspire her husband. While the men’s preferences differ, the core of what they seek is the same: a girl who plays to their sense of self and makes them feel better. When Mulan interjects by mentioning some of her own characteristics, she’s immediately shut down.

But this lighthearted motivational song is brought crashing down as the army enters the attacked and savaged town. The brutality of the war ends the lighthearted festivities and sets the tone for the rest of the film.

Shang finds his father’s helmet and makes a memorial for it, affirming his resolve. He doesn’t need a hypothetical girl worth fighting for to do his duty. Mulan finds a similar resolve ; her girl worth fighting for, the deceased girl whose doll remains at the battlefield, reminds Mulan of the stakes of the war and gives her the drive to succeed. Her drive is just as strong as Shang’s and her commitment no less. Consequently, she places the doll at the same memorial point.

2.When the Emperor is kidnapped, the men try and ram one of the phallic shaped statues through the gates to get to him. They exhibit the strength and brute force of a “manly” warrior but are unable to proceed.

But then Mulan uses her strategic thinking to come up with an alternative plan of action. The men dress as women and use their sashes to climb up the building – a parallel to using weights to climb up the pole from earlier. The musical cues from “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” play as the paradigm for manly, honorable action gets a course correction by Mulan.

3.The way Mulan utilizes the concept of high ground would make Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith blush. The concept is first established in “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” and serves as the perfect visual representation of the hierarchy that the characters find themselves navigating. All parties want to be on top in order to celebrate and/or change cultural values.

When the Huns show up to attack the army, they show up from the top of the hill. They’re in clear control of the situation and have the upper hand. But Mulan fires her rocket above them, at the mountain itself, bringing the peak down onto the Hun army. Her aims are higher than the Hun’s, both literally and in terms of ambition; she seeks to change the system from the ground up as opposed to just taking control.

In the aftermath of the battle, the Huns rise from the snow and look at China from the mountaintop. Now they have an element of surprise. But the camera continues to pull-back and reveals that Mulan is on even higher ground than them. She’s positioned as the only one capable of toppling them – her vantage point can see further than them.

When Shan Yu makes his appearance in front of the Emperor, he approaches from the top of the building. He immediately announces himself as the supreme power at the top of the hierarchy. His only aim is to get the Emperor to bow to him, thereby establishing himself as the true, highest power. But he’s unable to get his way.

Mulan ends the film being praised by the Emperor who bows to her as a result of her accomplishments. His action prompts the entirety of the city to bow to Mulan. No head is higher than hers; she comes to the highest point not through force or brutality but by the charisma and honor of her actions. She has effectively reformed the cultural system by coming to the top through the will of the people.

4. The ending is basically perfect. Mulan’s father waits by the blossoms, alone without his daughter. She comes back into frame with her spoils and the two are once again connected in front of the flowers. He proceeds to choose her as his “honor” as opposed to her spoils, having now come to truly understand his daughter’s worth. As the two embrace, now seeing eye-to-eye, they along with Mulan’s mother and grandmother become reflected in the pool; Mulan’s familial identity has been solidified and she knows who she truly is.