Mulan
I really didn’t think I was going to like this film. The story, about a
Chinese girl who dresses like a man so she can go to war, doesn’t
exactly sound like a knee-slapper. But it’s good. Really good. In
fact, this may be the best Disney film since "Beauty & the Beast." (I
was never much of a "Lion King" fan.) Like all Disney animated films,
"Mulan’s" production values are exceedingly high, making Warner Bros.’
recent "Quest for Camelot" and Fox’s "Anastasia" look a bit amateurish.
But what sets "Mulan" apart from recent Disney fare is the overall
entertainment level and the moral quality of the characters. Although
the comical dragon voiced by the not-so-Asian Eddie Murphy comes across
annoyingly ‘90’s Western at times, most of the other characters, and in
particular Mulan herself, are really admirable people. Evidently Disney
thinks family values were alive and well in ancient China because the
film is filled with themes like courage, honesty and loyalty... half the
Book of Virtues right there! Apart from Murphy’s often hilarious but
rather snide dragon, the film is virtually free from the sarcasm,
cynicism and disrespect that mar many recent family movies.
Mulan herself is particularly admirable. When a Hun invasion requires
all Chinese families to send an able-bodied male to the Emporer’s army,
Mulan’s sickly father prepares to leave, determined to uphold the
family’s honor. Unable to tolerate the thought of her frail father in
battle or her mother as a widow (yes, more new ground for Disney...
Mulan has two parents!), Mulan cuts her hair short and runs off to join
the battle in her fathers place. She doesn’t do it to be macho or
because she has a chip on her shoulder, she does it becuase she loves
her family. Wow!
At the end of the film as Mulan is being honored for saving the day, the
Emporer gives her the opportunity to serve on the royal council...
China’s first career woman! But what does she do? She declines the
offer and returns home to her family! My jaw dropped! This is from
Disney? In Hollywood?!?
Well, not exactly. Mulan is actually the first film created by Disney’s
Orlando animation studio. You know... the one in the theme park with
the "animators under glass." Is it possible that these animators,
working within sight of a constant stream of real kids and real parents
were a bit more in touch with their audience than their brethren locked
away in Hollywood’s ivory towers? They’ve been the butt of many
industry jokes for working all these years in a "fishbowl," but if
that’s what it takes to make a sensitive, caring film like Mulan that
entertains in all the right ways, I might suggest that every animation
studio in America install glass walls and bus in the kids! Perhaps the
best way to develop artists with conscience is to keep them constantly
in touch with those their art affects the most.
Concerns
Even though the film is about a war, it is not particularly violent nor
unnecessarily frightening. Overall, the battle scenes are tastefully
handled. (Much more tastefully, for example, than the scene of Simba
nuzzling his dead father in the Lion King!)
There is one element, however, that many parents will find troubling.
Recent Disney films have served up a smorgasboard of non-Judeo-Christian
religious heritages. "Pocahontas" showed kids how Native Americans
worshipped the "spirits" of the water, land and trees. "Hercules"
taught them good old Greek polytheism ("Oh my gods!"). "Mulan"
continues the tradition with a crash course in ancestor worship. None
of this is necessarily bad, mind you, as eventually, kids need a basic
understanding of world religions. But Disney doesn’t stop there. After
we learn that Pocahontas believes there are spirits in the trees, we
meet Grandma Willow, the wise old spirit of a willow tree who guides
Pocahontas. In effect, Disney is saying "Native Americans believe there
are spirits in the trees... and look! They’re right!"
In "Mulan" the case is even stronger. Desperate for help, Mulan burns
incense and prays to her ancestors. Sure enough, the ghosts of her
ancestors spring to life and hatch a plan to help her! (Eddie Murphy’s
comical dragon is actually a "guardian" sent by the ancestors to aid
Mulan.) "The Chinese believe that their ancestors hear their prayers
and answer them," Disney is saying, "and look! It’s true!"
Once again, it’s one thing to present the religious views of another
culture in a film for kids; it’s another thing to present those views
to kids as truth. Knowing this was an issue in Mulan, I brought my
seven year old daughter to see the film with me. She loved it. In the
car on the way home, after letting her recite all her favorite lines for
a while, I asked her if she noticed to whom Mulan was praying. "Her
ancestors!" Do we pray to our ancestors? She laughed. "No!" Why
not? "They can’t do anything!" I smiled. She got it.
Raising kids with clear religious beliefs in a society so hopelessly
muddled is quite a challange. Because I parented proactively (that
time, anyway), I was able to use a film like "Mulan" to help my daughter
clarify her beliefs by discussing the differences with another world
religion. Of course, I also have a three year old, whom I would not
take to Mulan. Most kids 4 or under simply are not able to see
something with their own eyes and then say "that’s not true." For those
kids, the religious messages of films like Pocahontas and Mulan may be
dangerously confusing.
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