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dishonor’. Consequently, she would be killed. Shang as the captain of the army had to execute her. Luckily, Mulan had saved Shang’s life from avalanche before,
so he felt debt in life to Mulan. Therefore, Shang did not kill Mulan. It can be seen from datum below.
10 Shang :
A life for a life. My debt is repaid. Move out
1:01:45 –
1:01:50 The
sentence ‘a life for a life. My debt is repaid’ means that Shang had
replied Mulan’s merit. He had been saved, so he let her alive. Afterwards, Shang and his troops left Mulan alone in snow toward to city. They ignored Mulan even
though Mulan had deserved well of the army and even saved Shang’s life.
4.2.5 Women’s Value as Second Class Citizens
Women in this film were really despised. They were regarded as worth nothing by men. Their words were never being believed.
After knowing that the Huns were still alive, Mulan decided to go to town to tell Shang. However, Shang did not believe in Mulan again. It can be seen from
the datum below. 11
Mulan : Shang, The Huns are alive, they’re in the city.
Shang : You don’t belong here Mulan, go home.
Mulan :
Shang, I saw them in the mountains. You have to believe me.
Shang :
Why should I?
Mulan : Why else would I come back? You said you’d trust
Ping. Why is Mulan any different? 1:07:03
– 1:07:29
The conversation above took place in the city when all citizens were celebrating the victory. As a matter of fact, the Huns were still alive and up to
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something. Mulan tried to convince Shang that the Huns survived from avalanche and now they were in the city. Then Shang answered ‘why should I’. It can be
interpreted that it was useless for Shang to believe Mulan because she was a woman. Even he did not respect to Mulan and ignored all what Mulan said.
Because Shang did not believe in her again, Mulan realized that it was useless to keep telling Shang. Therefore, she looked for another person who
wanted to believe her. It can be seen from quotation below. 12
Mulan : Sir, the emperor’s in danger
Man 1 rips his shoulder away from Mulan’s touch and moves away.
Mulan : But the Huns are here
Mulan : Please you have to help me.
Man 2 walks away from Mulan.
Mulan :
No one will listen
Mushu : Huh? Oh, I’m sorry, did you say something?
Mulan :
Mushu Mushu
: Hey, you’re a girl again, remember?
Disney’s Mulan compiled by Bryan Adams, page 26 of 32 Nevertheless, all of her efforts were useless because no one believed her. It
can be seen from what Mulan said ‘No one will listen’ Then Mushu replied ‘hey, you’re a girl again, remember?’ From the conversation it can be seen that Mulan
was desperate to look for people who wanted to believe her. It was different from when she disguises as a man. It would be easy to her to convince men.
Nevertheless, now people would never believe in her again because she did not disguise as a man.
In other scene we will find another case that shows the oppression of women. After succeeding to save the emperor and China, Mulan still faced a
problem.
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13 Chi Fu
: That was a deliberate attempt on my life. Where is she? She’s done it. What a mess.
Shang : She’s a hero.
Chi Fu
: This a woman. She will never be worth anything.
1:15:50 –
1:16:06 The conversation above took place in the palace between Shang and Chi fu
when Mulan succeeded to defeat Shan Yu. However, she broke the palace when fought again him. It made Chi Fu angry. Nevertheless, Shang protected her and
told him that she was a hero. Then Chi Fu replied ‘this a woman. She will never be worth anything’. It means that Chi Fu did not respect her. He thought that a
woman was not worthy.
4.3 Mulan’s Personality Traits
