Historical Accuracies of Mulan

Rachel Lunn
Ms. Barnes
9th Grade World History
18 November 2013
The Story of Huā Mùlán As humans, we gather information by the things we see, the things we hear and the people and places that surround us, but what if the things that surround us were inaccurate? We would have false knowledge and information, but wouldn’t know any different. If the things we watch made us believe the wrong things how would that affect our society? In some cases it could make a big difference but in other cases it could just change your perspective. The movie Mulan created by Disney is the story of a young, tomboy, Chinese girl named Mulan who tries hard to please her parents and ancestors but always feels like she is dishonoring them. In place of her father, she disguises herself as a man and goes to war to defeat the Huns from Mongolia. She is guided by a guardian dragon, named Mushu, who is trying to regain his status with the ancestors. She fights with the men, and even after her identity is made true, she fights and defeats the Huns, and saves the Emperor, bringing great honor to her family (Mulan). While the story of Mulan has very many historical accuracies, nothing can be completely accurate. This therefore makes the story historically inaccurate. It cannot be considered accurate with even one fact that is wrong or twisted to fit into the movie. The writers of Mulan did a very good job at intertwining facts and the culture into the movie. The movie is very accurate with the dates, and facts but it varies from the original folktale that it is based off. The movie is based off of the Chinese legend of Huā Mùlán. In the legend, Mulan uses her father’s name Li and she was never discovered as a girl, unlike the film, where her name is Ping, and she is discovered to be a girl when she is injured in battle. The legend has the character Mulan portrayed as a confident girl, who already knows a vast amount about martial arts, sword-fighting and archery. She puts those skills away in order to take up a more feminine activity, weaving (“Hua Mulan”). In the movie, Mulan is portrayed as an awkward, tomboy girl who has no clue how to act in Chinese society as a young girl. She has no knowledge of weapons or physical combat (Mulan). The legend says that she lived during the Northern Wei dynasty, whereas the movie is set during the Han dynasty. In the legend, Mulan is never revealed to be a girl. She fights many wars with them and then reveals herself voluntarily by inviting the soldiers to her home village and then putting on her clothes, make up, and binding her feet. Her fellow soldiers think nothing of it (“Hua Mulan”). In the movie, after she almost faced death, was left in the cold snow alone because a woman secretly in the army was a dishonor to her family (Mulan).
The fireworks that are featured in the movie do not match up with the time period. Fireworks were invented in 7th century China which is about 400 years after the Han dynasty (“Fireworks”). The film includes numerous anachronisms, such as the Forbidden City in Beijing. The story takes place in China, but the flag found outside of her tent while she is recovering is the Japanese flag. Cri-Kee has four legs, but crickets have six legs. Disney gives Mulan the pronunciation (Fa) for her family name which is Cantonese, even though Mulan is set in northern China (“DisGeek”).
In conclusion, you can see that although there are many facts put in the movie that make the movie accurate, it is made inaccurate by one small fact being twisted or wrong. By saying the movie is inaccurate sounds heavy, but by definition, if one thing is not as it should be, it is considered inaccurate. One can understand the accuracy of the movie by studying and reading about China and the folktale that the movie is based off. The writers included an amazing amount of accurate detail. For example, they add in the arranged marriage for daughters to bring honor to the family and the importance of ancestors and honor in the Chinese culture, such as fighting in the army (Holt, 93). They emphasize the importance of ancestor worship and the roles that women had in the family. They were there to respect the men and to carry on the family name with getting a husband and childbirth. Considering both sides, the movie of Mulan is dubbed historically inaccurate.

BIBLOGRAPHY
"Disney Story Origins #1: Mulan." The DisGeek Podcast. N.p., 12 Oct. 2019. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. .
"Fireworks." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. .
Holt, Rinehart. "Ancient Chinese Civilization." Holt world history: the human journey.. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003. 76-95. Print.
"Hua Mulan." Hua Mulan. Princeton, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.