Filed under: Movies | Tags: Disney, Feminist Movement, May 68, Mulan, Smoking a Bong, Weed
As the sun set on the sad afternoon of June 23, 1968 it was evident that all the social upheaval of the month before was for naught. Georges Pompidou and the UDR, representing the fascist interests of Charles De Gaulle would win; and the CGC, which held the students on a tight leash to leverage their anger into an electoral victory, would lose; thus making it evident that the true enemy of social progress is not the authoritarian or the conservative, but rather the liberal in the ranks who’s just not radical enough. This truth holds its weight with Mulan, a movie that should be about empowering women, but really just holds them down. While Mulan grants the notion that a woman can overpower a man; it holds fast to the militaristic system in which she had to join in order to achieve this feat. It excuses that system by saying that women can participate too, when really the odds are stacked against them. Moreover, it buys into the patriarchal notions that initially kept Mulan oppressed. Simply put, she had to become a man in order to achieve what she did. A true feminist movie would have her stay as a woman, even in man’s clothing.
However, while the social implications of this movie are suspect, the content in terms of form is exuberant. Try to watch this movie and not sing to yourself afterwards, “Mister, I’ll make a man out of you!” Even though the messages of these songs stomp on the feminist nature of any woman watching the film, they still leave you satisfied. The story arc is amazing, and while it may seem a tad formulaic, at no point in the movie does that fact induce the type of nausea as it would in other films. The Walt Disney animators make amazing images, both in their portrayal of people and the color schemes that they use to create and sustain whatever mood they are looking for you to feel. At times they juxtapose these images quite drastically; but these parts are my favorite. Because instead of leaving you disoriented, these drastic juxtapositions show the stark differences in the film. In conclusion: this is an amazing film with amazing form that is beautiful and amazing to watch when you’re high; just don’t think it’ll empower you if you’re a woman, because it won’t.
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