Resumo: Como uma pérola brilhante na cultura tradicional chinesa, Mulan está profundamente enraizada no coração das pessoas com sua imagem única de heroína feminina. Este trabalho busca retratar a experiência lendária da luta heroica de Hua Mulan, no exército, no lugar de seu pai, e integrar os elementos centrais de família, honra, lealdade, dentre outros, no contexto da cultura oriental, de modo que a história tenha profunda herança cultural. O artigo mostra, em primeiro lugar, o complexo cultural oriental (...) que está claramente refletido em Mulan. As cenas, figurinos, etiqueta e outros detalhes do filme refletem o charme único da China antiga, apresentando ao público um mundo artístico repleto de estética oriental. Além disso, através da personagem Mulan, o filme mostra o alto valor da família, da honra e da lealdade na cultura oriental. Em segundo lugar, explicita que o papel de Mulan incorpora plenamente os valores femininos, no filme. Ela não apenas se juntou corajosamente ao exército, por causa de seu pai, mas também obteve repetidas conquistas no campo de batalha, quebrando as algemas dos estereótipos de gênero. Essa subversão dos papéis tradicionais de gênero destaca o importante estatuto e valor das mulheres, na sociedade, desempenhando um papel na promoção do despertar da consciência feminina, na cultura oriental. Finalmente, o artigo analisa a influência de Mulan na consciência feminina, concluindo que esta desempenha um papel vital na formação e herança da consciência feminina, na cultura oriental. A imagem heroica de Mulan inspira as futuras gerações de mulheres a enfrentarem as dificuldades com coragem e a buscar a autoestima. Ao mesmo tempo, as ações de Mulan, para além das restrições dos papéis sociais tradicionais, também fornecem um modelo para as mulheres concretizarem a independência e a autonomia individuais. (shrink)

This research article examines how the female agency is manifested across three films, namely Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000); Mulan (1998); and The Last Emperor (1987). The paper draws a comparison between different contexts in the East and the West on how expressions of cultural norms and values enhance female empowerment, independence, and self-determination. This paper analyzes how the Confucian ideal plays its role in Eastern representation while individualism with feminism influences Western depictions. Studies regarding gender dynamics have been (...) approached in this case from the point of view of Hofstede's Five Cultural Dimensions. Gender role differentiation is particularly seen through the two dimensions of individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity. An interesting result emerges from the inquiry of a complex representation of female agency in perspective to different cultural contexts and how, in these, gender is constructed and contested in this kind of cinematic narrative. (shrink)

One of the first things people learn about Disney's Mulan is what a clever and resourceful young woman she is, a trait she shares with many Disney princesses. If Mulan fails to cultivate the virtues that correspond to her allotted role in her society, she fears that she might just “uproot the family tree,” not only because she might fail to find a husband and produce some of those highly sought‐after sons, but also because she will disgrace her (...) family name. But to understand how that works, people need first to look at the significance of family in traditional honor‐based cultures and in traditional Chinese thought in particular. The idea of Mulan bringing honor or disgrace to her family through her actions, either matrimonial or military, is hard to square with the individualistic assumptions of modern Western thought. (shrink)

In Chinese films with intangible cultural heritage themes, female images are an indispensable presence. Particularly, several renowned female hero figures derived from folklore literature, such as Liu Sanjie, Ashima, and Hua Mulan, stand out as symbols of both traditional Chinese heroines and the cultural zeitgeist. This paper utilizes Roland Barthes' semiotic theory to analyze the characteristics of these three representative intangible cultural heritage-themed folk literature films. By employing text analysis methods, it examines the elements of costume, dialogue, setting, and (...) plot in these films. These symbolic elements elucidate the development of female characters and cultural transformations, revealing how traditional culture is represented and transmitted in modern media. The paper also explores the crucial role and value of women in the preservation and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, offering suggestions for better shaping the images of female heroes in intangible cultural heritage-themed films. (shrink)

Cross-dressing, as a cultural practice, suggests gender ambiguity and allows freedom of self expression. Yet, it may also serve to reaffirm ideological stereotypes and the binary distinctions between male and female, masculine and feminine, homosexual and heterosexual. To explore the nature and function of cross-dressing in Chinese and Western cultures, this paper analyzes the portrayals of cross-dressing heroines in two Chinese stories: The Ballad of Mulan, and The Butterfly Lovers. Distorted representations in the English translated texts are also explored..

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Images of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings from the Pre-Qin Period through the Song DynastyXiufen LuImages of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings from the Pre-Qin Period through the Song Dynasty. Edited by Robin R. Wang. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2003. Pp. xiv + 449.Images of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings from the Pre-Qin Period through the Song Dynasty, edited by Robin R. (...) Wang, is an excellent collection of English translations from the Classical Chinese of writings on women. As the title indicates, the book starts with writings from before the founding of the Qin, China's first bureaucratic state, in 221 B.C.E., and ends with the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279 C.E.), a period that has been considered the richest in Chinese history in terms of literature and art production.The anthology includes fifty-four selections arranged in five parts based on a conventionally accepted chronology of the texts. There is a brief introduction at the beginning of each selection that helps familiarize the reader with the texts and the historical and cultural context out of which women's issues have arisen. The first two parts include selections from oracle-bone inscriptions, the earliest Chinese writings ever discovered; texts from the major ancient philosophical schools, such as Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism; and folk literature together with poems by some of the best-known poets of their time. These writings not only encompass the intellectual foundations of Chinese civilization but also provide valuable sources for understanding how perceptions of gender relations have been shaped by the Chinese cosmological and philosophical view of the world. In text number 3, the Classic of Changes (Yijing), women and men are understood as the highest embodiments of yin and yang, the two fundamental forces that characterize the development of the universe. Since these forces are understood as both hierarchical—as they are manifested in the interrelation between the earth and sky—and, more importantly, complementary to each other, women's roles in family and society are thus recognized as distinct from, yet complementary to, those of men.In part 3, the reader is led through the Han (202 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), China's longest-lived dynasty. Writings from this period reveal the processes by which the ancestral wisdom, especially the Confucian Classics, were codified through government-sponsored scholarship. The writings of Dong Zhongshu (195-115 B.C.E.) and The Comprehensive Discussion in the White Tiger Hall (Baihu tong) were two of the texts responsible for the establishment of the official Confucian ideology of the Han. Texts drawn from this period also include works by Ban Zhao (45-114 C.E.), China's first and most influential female historian and scholar. Her writings were originally intended as moral guidance for women and were regarded in Chinese society as key texts in women's education up to the twentieth century.The six selections included in part 4 are comparatively less well known to English readers, except for The Ballad of Mulan, which became popular in the West after the story of Mulan was made into an animated movie in 1998. The other writings in this part have only been translated into English since the 1970s. Among them, [End Page 496] English versions of Family Instructions to the Yan Clan and Women in the Standard Histories were prepared especially for this volume. These writings reveal how Neo-Confucianism and Neo-Daoism became the principal approaches to comprehending the social reality and gender relations following the chaotic disintegration of the Han dynasty, and they help explain the increasing dominance of Confucian ideology and its implications for women.Finally, in part 5, there are included among other selections some well-crafted love stories written in the classical language by eminent men of letters and works by several great poets (both men and women) of the Tang and Song periods. In this section there are writings by some of the most familiar names of the period, such as Bojuyi (772-846 C.E.), Yuan Zhen (779-831 C.E.), and Li Qingzhao (1081-1151 C.E.). These authors have... (shrink)