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At the Emperor’s Palace, the Chinese people celebrated the defeat of the Huns. Mulans tried to convince Shang that the Huns were still alive, but he did
not believe Mulan anymore. Therefore, she attempted to warn other people. But she was ignored because she was a female. Finally, Shan Yu surprised and
kidnapped the Emperor. Mulan asked Yao, Ling and Chien Po to dress as women to easily infiltrate the castle interior by pretending to be concubines. In the end,
the Emperor was saved, Mulan defeated Shan-Yu, and the Huns retreated. Although Mulan had saved china, Chi Fu still insulted her. However, The
Emperor honored Mulan’s bravery and bowed to her. It made all people followed him to bow to Mulan. The emperor gave her a medal and Shan Yu’s sword to
show great honor. In the end, Mulan returned home and gave the gift to her father.
4.2 The Problems Faced by Chinese Women in this Film
Women in this film faced many problems in their life. The followings are the elaboration of the problems that faced by Chinese women
4.2.1 Women’s Bigger Burden during the Invasion
Invasion was the problem which was faced by Chinese people in film Mulan. It was also problem which started all the problems faced by Mulan,
specifically, and Chinese women, commonly, in the film. The invasion in Chinese society can be seen from the conversation below.
1 Guard
: Were under attack Light the signal
Now all of China knows youre here. Shan-Yu
: Perfect. 02:08
– 02:48
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Conversation above took place on the Great Wall by Shan-Yu and Imperial army. Shan-Yu was the leader of the Huns. He and his troops entered the
Chinese by crossing the Great Wall in the mid night using hooks. Luckily, there was a guard who was patrolling to keep an eye on the situation, so that the
invasion could be detected. The sentence ‘light the signal’ means the guards had to light a fire in the tower of wall immediately in order that other guards knew that
the Huns had attacked. After seeing the fire, other guards in other towers would light a fire in other tower. It was one of the ways to deliver message to other
guards in fast way. This invasion was caused by the establishment of the Great Wall. It can be
seen in sentence ‘by building his wall, he challenged my strength’. From the sentence we see that Shan-Yu felt that the emperor had challenged him. He did
not like the emperor’s idea, so that he attacked China and wanted to rebel the emperor. Even he was not afraid of the emperor armies, because he had many
troops. Moreover, he had been ready to face imperial army. It can be seen from the datum below.
2 Shan-Yu
: Nice work, gentlemen. You found Hun army. Scout 2
: The emperor will stop you. Shan-Yu
: Stop me? He invited me. By building his wall, he challenged my strength. Well, I’m here to play his
game.
Go Tell your emperor to send the strongest armies. I’m ready.
26:47 –
27:07 This attack was directly responded by the emperor troops by telling this
situation to the emperor.
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3 General Li
: Your majesty, the Huns have crossed our Northern Border.
Chi Fu : Impossible No one can get through the Great Wall.
General Li : Shan-Yu is leading them. We’ll set up defenses around
your palace immediately. Emperor :
No Send your troops to protect my people. Chi Fu,
Chi Fu : Yes, your highness.
Emperor : Deliver conscription notices throughout the
provinces. Call up reserves and as many new recruits as possible.
02:55 –
03:22 Conversation above took place in the palace between General Li, Chi Fu,
and the emperor. General Li was the leader of imperial armies. He reported this matter to tell the emperor what he would do next to protect the emperor. It can be
seen from the sentence ‘we’ll set up defenses around your palace immediately’. From the sentence we can see that General Li would only guard the emperor.
However, the emperor disagreed with the General Li’s idea. It can be seen from the emperor’s answer ‘No Send your troops to protect my people’. Here we see
that the emperor wanted the General Li not only protected him, but also his citizens. In another sentence we see the emperor commanded Chi Fu ‘deliver
conscription notices throughout the provinces. Call up reserves and as many new recruits as possible’. It means that the emperor wanted to recruit as many as new
armies to strengthen his defense for fighting against the invaders. Actually, General Li disagreed with the emperor’s idea about recruiting
new armies. It was because he believed that he could handle the Huns with his troops. It can be seen from the conversation below.
4 General Li
: Forgive me your Majesty, but I believe my troops can stop him.
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Emperor :
I won’t take any chances, General. A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man may be the difference
between the victory and defeat. 03:23
−03:35 However, the emperor did not want to take a risk. We can take proof from
the sentence ‘I won’t take any chances, general. A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man may be the difference between the victory and defeat’. It can be
interpreted that the emperor thought twice before doing something. He thought everything could happen, so it was better for the general to prepare the best for
anticipation. Based on the order of the emperor, finally Chi Fu delivered the
proclamation to the citizens. It can be seen from datum below. 5
Chi Fu : Citizens, I bring you a proclamation from Imperial city:
the Huns have invaded China. Townspeople
: No
Chi Fu : By order of the Emperor, one man from every family
must serve in the imperial army. 15:10
– 15:25
From the proclamation above women would get double impacts at once. First, they would feel afraid because their country was not safe and peaceful
anymore. It was caused by the invasion. There was no guarantee to their viability. Death could come anytime and anywhere. Second, Chinese women would also
carry hard burden in their family. It is because an older man would leave his family. It can be seen from the sentence ‘by order of the emperor, one man from
every family must serve in the imperial army’. From this sentence we can conclude that a woman in a family would carry the family burden alone. She
would have double responsible, first as the chief of a family and second as a
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housewife. It would be hard for her because she was not only responsible for household but also the financial. It is because her husband who was responsible
for financial had to leave the family to serve the army. Not to mention, if her husband died in the battle field she would be a widow. Consequently, she would
carry this job in her lifetime.
4.2.2 Limitation of Women’s Domestics Roles
