Stereotypes In Mulan

The fairy tale that I am analyzing is Mulan. Mulan is the story about a traditional Chinese girl who secretly takes the spot of her father in the war. Although this story in a few aspects defies the traditional, gendered fairy tales, there are many parts of this fairy tale that are sexist, racist, and stereotypical.
These are the parts of the story that are not traditional. At the beginning of the story, Mulan is portrayed as a girl who wants to honour her family, especially her father. She is quite independent, and doesn’t truly agree with what her society promotes. Mulan doesn’t wait for someone to come and rescue her. She is not a typical “damsel in distress.” Near the end of the story, Mulan is happy when everyone finally accepts her as a woman, who defeated their sworn enemy. The few untraditional aspects of this movie occur within Mulan, and do not have much to do with her society.
Mulan comes from a traditional, strict family. In the story, it is very expected of her to rebel and run away. This story is very sexist. Women are shown as submissive and degraded upon. Women had to depend on the man in her life, and her honour depended on the quality of her husband. Women had to ask permission to talk. The scene where
This fairy tale shows viewers that women are only good for marriage. In order to receive approval from the matchmaker, certain characteristics are needed. This stereotype is so important in this film that they even wrote a song about it! In the song “Honour to us All”, the only way a woman can bring honour to her family is by getting married. The worst part is, children, particularly girls, will be taught that in order to please and bring honour to your family, you have to change your appearance, stand straight, put on makeup, wear fancy clothes and jewelry, and be proper. The ideal wife and perfect daughter stereotype is harmful to children, and could truly damage