BEFORE: Still feeling the effects of the super-bug, but at least I've gone back to work, so I can pretend I'm getting over this thing. The blizzard kept most people home, so Manhattan would be a winter wonderland if not for the sub-zero temperatures and the black ice.
Tough to link out of "Gay Purr-ee", but since it was a Warner Bros. cartoon, I'll exploit the Mel Blanc connection - noting that June Foray did a voice in tonight's film, and they co-starred in many "Looney Tunes" compilation movies. I've determined I can link thematically or by actor, but I can no longer do both simultaneously.
THE PLOT: To save her father from death in the army, a young maiden secretly goes in his place and becomes one of China's greatest heroines in the process.
AFTER: Of course, as part of the process I have to admit that I've never seen "Mulan", a movie most everyone seems familiar with. I have to fall back on the fact that I was probably quite busy in - what year was this released - 1998? Yeah, very busy.
Plus I was 35 - and I think most people go through a period of watching Disney films when they're kids, and then sort of re-discover them as adults, when they have kids of their own. In my case, since Disney has assimilated franchises in Borg-like fashion, I find myself watching "Disney's Muppets", "Disney's Marvel's The Avengers" and "Disney's The Star Wars".
But anyway, "Mulan". The story of a Chinese girl who dresses as a boy to fight the Huns in her father's place. Which raises all kinds of questions about gender roles and gender identity, not just in ancient China, but by extension in today's world. That makes this pretty progressive for a Disney film. Cel animation just makes it easier for her to be drawn as a boy, but if she fools anyone, then you've got to put this one in the same category as "The Crying Game" and that Glenn Close film.
Perhaps I'm projecting my own experiences onto the movie, but the film makes it clear that Mulan can't seem to follow the tea-pouring and non-speaking rules that society demands of her - she can't cut it as a feminine woman, but by contrast when she dresses as a man she (eventually) succeeds at training camp. She's also repulsed by the sight of warrior men bathing in the river, so to me, that adds up as Disney's first lesbian hero. I know, they set her up with a man at the end, but to me that just seems like back-pedalling.
If you believe in the butch/femme dichotomy, then logically there are girls who can cut their hair and pass as boys and there are those that can't. And those that can are potentially more sexually ambiguous in nature as well as appearance. The reverse is also possibly true - men who can dress in drag and pass are often (but not always) more towards the gay end of the scale. (I'm not making any judgments here, just observations.)
I know, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. But we live in a world now where people can change their covers to match the book, either cosmetically or surgically. So if a woman dresses like a man, or vice versa, we're all supposed to switch pronouns. Mulan even wonders in song when her reflection will match what she feels inside - so that's telling. And she (as Ping) ends up succeeding in a man's world better than she ever did in a woman's world. Is that just society's rigidness and lack of understanding?
Also starring the voices of Ming-Na Wen (last seen in "Push"), Lea Salonga, BD Wong (last seen in "Father of the Bride Part II"), Donny Osmond, Eddie Murphy (last seen in "Tower Heist"), George Takei (last seen in "Larry Crowne"), Miguel Ferrer (last seen in "Iron Man 3"), Pat Morita (last seen in "The Next Karate Kid"), Harvey Fierstein (last seen in "Mrs. Doubtfire"), James Hong, Gedde Watanabe, Freda Foh Shen.
RATING: 5 out of 10 fireworks
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