And Mulan should be considered one of the first and most successful adaptations in this sense. While objectifying women and romanticizing domestic abuse in earlier movies, Disney has been intentionally trying to change the tide by building strong and multi-faceted female characters like Tiana and Elsa. In the 2019 documentary Leftover Women, 34-year-old lawyer Qiu Huamei was brutally condemned by her parents for being selfish to stay single. In China, any woman unmarried after their late 20s is considered “leftover women” and brings disgrace to the family, while men have much more flexibility in the timeline. While parental control applies to sons and daughters equally, women face the pressure even more because they have to get married to qualify for a good daughter. Take me as an example I had to go through years of traumatic protests to defend my major in Media Studies, my career in filmmaking, and my choice of a boyfriend. Parents still use filial piety to control and manipulate their children into obedience for career choices and marriage choices. How is it relevant, you may ask? We may not live in feudal dynasties anymore, but the shadow of filial piety still haunts millions of people in China.
And historically, it was only the non-Confucian nomadic culture that may allow more liberty. One infamous discipline goes: “Obey your father at home, obey your husband after getting married, and obey your son if your husband passes away (在家从父，出嫁从夫，夫死从子).” So if Mulan followed this, she would never have the chance to run away and join the army. In ancient times, the disobedient could be punished by expulsion from the family, or worse - execution.įor women, filial piety means that they have no right to choose their fate but serve the patriarchy. To achieve this virtue, one must obey the parents unconditionally and sacrifice his/her personal interest if must. It might be the opposite of that Disney’s Mulan was actually fighting for, and the exact reason that Disney has failed to appeal to the Asian audience.Īfter thousands of years of development, filial piety has become one of the greatest excuses for oppression, especially for women. Nevertheless, the idea of filial piety is not what they think it is. And I assume that the intention is to link the narrative back to its cultural roots. This virtue was translated into “devotion to family” in the live-action version of Mulan, in addition to loyal, brave, true.ĭisney might have done some research to choose filial piety as a key concept in the new adaption.
The Han rulers then promoted it as a glorified example of filial piety, a virtue of respect for one’s parents. The original Ballard of Mulan was born in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420–589 A.D.) and likely from the Northern nomadic culture.
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