Mulan

Mulan is a 1998 cartoon film released by the Walt Disney corporation, based on the Chinese poem The Ballad of Mulan. The film is set in China during an invasion by the Huns.

Mulan is a young woman who, following the custom of her people, is sent to a matchmaker for an arranged marriage, but is rejected as unworthy to marry for her clumsiness, which carries a scourge of dishonor on her family. Meanwhile, as the Huns invade China, her crippled father is drafted to fight the Huns. Mulan sneaks out of the house and disguises herself as a man to take the place of her father, and becomes a hero by helping defeat the Huns.

Criticism

The central message in Mulan is filial piety, but with a feminist twist. The film frequently takes aim at the custom in her society that women are unfit to fight. This was most famously pointed out in Mike Pence's editorial regarding Mulan, in which he also points out that Bambi has an anti-gun message. Also worth pointing out is Shang, Mulan's superior, who seems to fall in love with Mulan even while believing that she is a boy.