T1 112010013 Full text
A CONCEPT OF FEMALE BEAUTY IN DISNEY’S CARTOON MOVIE
“MULAN”
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Chrisna Maharati
112010013
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2015
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A CONCEPT OF FEMALE BEAUTY IN DISNEY’S CARTOON MOVIE “MULAN”
Chrisna Maharati
112010013
Abstract
Media such as movie is not only used to entertain, but also to share several ideas
and concepts. One of the popular concept being share is about a beauty standard.
This issue becomes interesting to discuss because the concept makes women these
days pay too much attention to their appearances rather than to improve their
ability in order to be equal with men. Women are busy to maintain their
appearance without support by behavioral improvement. In this paper, the writer
attempts to find out the concept of female beauty by using the beauty myth
through the main character of Disney’s cartoon movie “Mulan”. This paper has a
purpose to examine whether the beauty myth is suitable or not with the character
of Mulan. In analyzing the character and determining Mulan’s concept of beauty,
the writer uses Naomi Wolf’s book, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are
Used Against Women which discuss about female beauty standard that formerly
set by the society in order to measure the women’s roles as well as female beauty
which only assess from their appearances rather than the behaviors. The finding
shows that based on the Chinese society standard of beauty, Mulan considered as
a not beautiful woman among her society.
Keywords: the beauty myth, female beauty, appearances, behaviors, roles, Mulan
Introduction
Human categorize certain aspects in life are precious for themselves, such as having
power, money and dignity. On the other hand, in the case of women, achieving social status and
being acknowledged by people surrounds them also considered as precious things. Long before
the feminist movement happened in the late twentieth century, women had experienced
oppression that makes them struggle to achieve their rights as a human. Although women are
look as the one who physically weaker, intellectually limited and have a tendency to depend on
their emotions rather than their intellect (Madsen 2), women, in fact, want to be accepted as
equal compare to men. Even women in the nineteenth century had no rights to vote or have their
own belongings due to the reason that they are women which are lower in status compared to
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men (Madsen 3) and valued as men's property that generally called as a wife. These
circumstances are unfair because women should highly be regarded as a human being (Maltin 5).
Women which tend to see the euphoria of feminist movement break certain ancient
boundaries and set them to be free, are not aware with sets of oppression that obstruct their
advancement. Society used to use gender as a term to against women’ advancement growth at
the previous time. Recently the society starts to use the term being beautiful as a tool to break the
images of women. In here media plays significant role through advertisement that directly
shaping women’s ideal self-image of beauty (Belk, Li and Min 444). Obviously, almost in each
beauty product advertisements portray women whom have white complexion, slim body, and
straight-long-hair as a beautiful woman. Thus, these women are categorized as good looking,
attractive and beautiful as expected by the society. Hence, the idea offered by the advertisement
shape women’s thought which impact to their perspective of being beautiful. Moreover, since
those people who are attractive assumed to have better prospects for happy social and
professional lives (Berscheid, Dion and Walster 298) has triggered women to compete one to
each other in order to be beautiful (Wolf 20), looked good and physically attractive in order to be
fitted in those criteria and get acceptance (Mares et al. 627).
Two basic questions should be asked when beauty is concerned: what are the standard of
beauty and who is responsible to define the standard. On the other hand, the issue becomes more
interesting since the phenomenon of female beauty is not only appearing in the advertising
media, but also within literature work such as movie. Disney, one of the most famous production
house which well-known with their beautiful princess characters have portrayed the issue of
female beauty. Mulan, a Disney’s cartoon movies which published in 1998, may provide an
exception in portraying women character because it shares the different concept of beauty
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compared to another Disney’s cartoon movies like Cinderella that provides the concept of
female beauty wrapped as a fair lady with white-beauty-complexion, slim, tall, powerless and
obedience.
As the movie becomes more popular among children, especially girls and teenager, their
concept of female beauty also influenced by Cinderella’s character or any other Disney
princesses that share the similar concept which are having a good look, beautiful face and
physically attractive. Mulan leads this paper to figure out the concept of female beauty from the
main character, Fa Mulan. In order to figure out the answer, the writer tries to formulate a
question: how does the beauty myth see female beauty through Fa Mulan character in Disney’s
cartoon movie. The aim of conducting this research is to examine whether the beauty myths are
suitable or not with Mulan’s character and also discover Mulan’s qualities within the concept of
beauty that she shares. To analyze this character, the writer is going to use Naomi Wolf’s book
as a guideline since the book discusses about the facts related about oppression happen because
of the beauty myth. Furthermore, the character will be analyzed based on her appearences,
behaviours, habits, actions and roles.
The significance of this research is to share another perspective of women’s role in the
society which formerly only considered as second class gender and incomparable to men. By
doing this research, the writer hopes the readers will not look women from their physical
appearance only, but also from their ability and the reason behind their action. Importantly, it is
because women deserve to be appreciated as the human being and not only their husbands’
property. In order to reach this significance, the writer will show the result of comparisons
between the beauty myth from society point of view and from Mulan’s character point of view
that appears in the movie. Eventually, by pointing out of those outcomes, the writer hopes the
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reader will get a clear picture of Mulan’s concept of beauty, which later on will serve as a new
perspective of female beauty towards Disney’s cartoon movie.
Literature Review
Beauty Myth
Beauty myth is a term introduced in 1991 by Naomi Wolf, an author, social critic and
political activist who is trying to raise awareness of the pervasive inequities that exist in society
and politics (naomiwolf.org). The term of beauty myth itself is well-discussed in Wolf’s book
entitled The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women which the first
edition was published by William Morrow and Company in 1991. According to Wolf, the beauty
myth refers to a concept of beauty standard that formerly set by the society in order to put
women into their standard and used to judge women, both physical and psychological states, for
their failure to achieve the goal of being a woman (85). In addition, based on the society
persepctive, as general, women who are fit into their standard of beauty is someone whom
consider as having a tall body, slim, white complexion, black hair and a face without pores,
asymmetry or flaws (Wolf 1:1991). Besides, on this paper, the Chinese society standard of
beauty during the fifteenth century or before where the story takes place considered women who
are slim, have a tiny waist and good hairdo, white complexion as white as porcelain and good
breeding as the beautiful women. In fact, Wolf’s pointing out her finding that shows the beauty
myth is actually a concept to measure someone’s beauty not only from their appearances as
society do, but the most important is measuring by their behaviors (14) which at the end aimed to
empower women and rise the ability to critique society standard of beauty (4) that sometimes
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seems unfair and furthermore give a measure of freedom to dress up and act without fearing that
their value as a women will be decreased (8).
Refer to Oxford dictionary, the word beauty (n.) means being beautiful, or a person that is
beautiful. The beauty issues that are going to be discussed further will not only see female beauty
from the physical aspect but also from any other supporting values that shape the beauty concept
of Disney’s cartoon movie Mulan.
As Wolf wrote in her book, nowadays people use the images of female beauty as a tool
against their advancement (10). Means that society, the place where people living together–share
the laws, values and organizations in order to make a community (Oxford Dictionary: 2000),
tries to stop women’s potentials by imposing their self-image and perception towards the image
of beauty that society wants. Furthermore, since women who have individual autonomy, which
are protected by guaranteed rights in economic justice and equality of opportunity influenced by
the society standard (Madsen 35) women start to look into the images of beauty that share
through the media in order to create their “new” identity. This is the first point that makes beauty
become something matters for women.
Second aspects that make beauty matters for women is because physical and or facial
attractiveness matters as a measurement to assess someone when they join in the new society for
the first time (Mares et al. 628). Rumsey also added that being beautiful and get the positive
feedback will help those people who classified as the beautiful person in building the relationship
with another (46). This idea makes women think that looking good and physically attractive are
like a golden ticket to be accepted by the society.
Moreover, because of the society recognizes that women’s advancement are growing
very fast, they are taking this opportunity to oppress women by using the term “beautiful” as the
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weapon. Wolf shares her finding related to society’s beliefs that categorized women into two big
categories. The first one is beauty-without-intelligence and the second one is intelligencewithout-beauty. Society belief that women cannot be put into both two categories, which are
beautiful-with-intelligence (Wolf 59). Then, another myth that blooms and deep-rooting on
society says, “beautiful things only happen to beautiful person”. This myth influences many
women, especially children. At the early stage of their ages, children have been taught that to be
beautiful was the most important thing that should be reached as they are growing older. As an
impact, these children believe that one of beauty standards is having a slim body which may
cause into an assumption that the lower number of the weight scale, the prettier she will be. They
think that to be slim is everything and it can give them happiness. In fact, it is not as simple as
like that because physical exercise is required in order to reach certain fitness level. However,
slimness, after all is added to be one of the very common requirements of the society standards
of beauty.
Women have been led into a different stage of women’s oppressions against their own
advancement. What cause they are not realizing the oppression is because they are too busy in
maintaining their physical beauty and focusing on developing their appearance only. Thus, these
circumstances lead women to degrade their equal rights with men to grow and explore their
potential into the second priority of human development. Therefore, the writer summarized that
the beauty myth and female beauty are related to the demotion of women's value in female
beauty from a gift to an obstruction towards their advancement.
Synopsis of the movie. “Mulan” which is published in 1998 is an animated musical
comedy drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, directed by
Tony
Bancroft and Barry Cook, written by Robert D. San Souci and starring Ming-Na, Eddie
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Murphy, Miguel Ferrerand and BD Wong. The story itself is based on the Chinese legend of Hua
Mulan that sets on during the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534).
Mulan typically portrays a Chinese young lady which have a straight-long hair,
proportional body shapes and usually wear hanfu. As the only hairs of Fa family, Mulan expects
to bring an honor into her family by marry with a man that selected based on the matchmaker’s
decision. However, at the same time when Mulan cannot find the good match to be married with,
she finds that her father who injured should go to the war because it is the only way for men to
bring honor to his family. Worries about her father, Mulan decides to take his father’s
responsibility and enlists herself into The Imperial Army by pretending to be a man. Mulan who
now transforms into a man as Fa Ping acknowledged as the strongest as well as the smartest
soldier among the troops. Mulan’s clever tactics have successfully defeated the Huns that want to
take over the entire empire and rule the mainland of China. However, after getting injured, her
identity as “woman” is revealed and she is driven from her fellow army.
Not so long after being left by her troops, Mulan found that Shan Yu, the leader of the
Huns was still alive and planned to kill The Emperor. Considering the situation, Mulan ran into
her general, Shang and the rest of fellow army to inform that the Huns are coming, but no one
listen to her because she is a woman who formerly does not have a voice among her society.
With her friends’ help, Mulan has successfully save The Emperor and take down the Huns which
at the end makes her as the one becoming Chinese warrior. As well as becoming the hero, at the
same time Mulan also brings back the honor into the Fa family.
Discussion
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As has been mentioned previously, Mulan lived during the Northern Wei dynasty,
between 386-534 century. At that moment, the Chinese society has several female beauty
standards that are being set to put women into their expectation. Those standards, mostly set in
the way women maintain their look, appearance and some additional values. In the movie, it
shows that Chinese society demanding women who are slim with tiny waist and good hairdo,
white skin complexion and black hair as a good wife. In addition, society also considered women
who have good breeding and ability to do domestic sphere, obedient, calm and submissive as a
worthy woman. Together, these two criteria makes Chinese women become the perfect women
which is called beautiful. Thus, this standard were used by the Chinese society to measure the
concept of female beauty of Chinese women on Mulan’s era.
On the other hand, the term beauty myth has been used by the society to classify if a
woman is beautiful according to their expectation. Wolf in her book entitles The Beauty Myth:
How The Images of Beauty Used To Against Women has explained that this term has always
prescribed behavior and not appearance. Means, the measure of beauty is not only determined by
appearance but the way women acts (14). As the main character, Mulan is described as a woman
who decide to take a different role compare to other women in the movie. In here, the way Mulan
expresses herself both in appearance and behavior are an illustration toward her actions to
against the rules being set by society for her as a woman.
1. Appearances
Appearance in the relation with the physical aspects becoming the first thing that people
look upon someone and it may lead the person into two categories which are attractive and
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unattractive. However, since the appearance is something that can be assessed easily, society
used this point in order to put women into their beauty standard.
1.1. Complexion
According to Bray, having a white complexion is considered as noble and aristocratic,
especially for women in Southeast Asia (CNN.com). Previously, back to the past, women in
China are formerly ground the pearl from seashells into powder and swallowed it to whiten their
skin. Considering the characteristic of pearl that reflects light and beauty through their whiteness,
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
women in China also add some of the pearl powder and cover their face with it (Bray: 2002).
This belief has deep-rooting among Chinese people, subsequently developed as one of the beauty
standards among Chinese women.
Minutes 07.17-07.27, shows that Mulan is dressed up by several women whose already
categorized as beautiful women because they are following the Chinese society standard of
beauty. Those women are preparing Mulan to be a beautiful groom before meeting a
matchmaker. Here, at the beginning, Mulan is trying to follow the society standard of beauty by
putting make up to cover her face. However, while following this rule Mulan found herself
uncomfortable with it, which at the end as figure 3 shows us, it makes her feel upset because she
turns to be a completely different person after it was done.
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The point to strengthen Mulan’s feeling is indicated in the lyrics on the song “Reflection”
that sung by Mulan. While singing, Mulan said: “…who is that girl I see. Staring straight back
at me. Why is my reflection someone I don’t know… somehow I cannot hide who I am, though
I’ve tried…”. By singing this song, Mulan shows her desperation toward society standard of
beauty that wanted her to become beautiful by putting makeup in order to make her skin looks
white. Although she tried to follow the standard, at the end Mulan still assigned as not the
beautiful women by the society because she ruin her arrangement ceremony with the
matchmaker. Based on this scene, the writer concludes that the way society classified women
into two categories which are beautiful and not beautiful is unfair, because women are being
directed without any choices by the society in order to follow a certain set of standard which at
this point is to be beautiful by putting makeup in order to get the white complexion. The impact
of this judgement makes women like Mulan feel oppressed because the society do not appreciate
the effort that she gave. The song also indicates that Mulan feels upset because she has to pretend
to be someone else when she following the society standard. Moreover, the writer also sees
makeup as restricted tools used by society to limit women’s freedom.
1.2. Hair
Based on the Chinese society standard of female beauty, women expect to style her hair
properly. Several women whose consider as “beautiful women” in Chinese society version, sing
a song entitled “Honor to us all” to show the Chinese society's expectation toward female
beauty. In the lyrics, it says that: “… Boys will gladly go to war for you. With good fortune and a
great hairdo…”. It briefly describes that society wants women to have a good hairdo which is
tied up all hair upwards to make a bun. Looking closer to that point, society wishes all Chinese
women styling her hair into bun so their beauty will reveal without blocked by the hair.
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However, Mulan does the opposite as society wants her to do. At the beginning and
closing part of the movie, it shows that Mulan portrays with her hair that is hanging loosely.
Mulan’s action is an indication of her freedom. She does not follow the society standard of
beauty that require her to tie up her hair into the bun. Mulan shows that women have their own
choice, whether to follow the rule or make another version of the rules that suit themselves well.
1.3. Body Shapes
Physical appearance also related to the Chinese society standard of ideal body shape.
Since being slim is what women admire (Gelles, 20:2011), women are trying to manage their
body due to be fitted into the society’s expectation which at the end may bring them to be able to
get in the society and being accepted. Quoting from Brooks, Devendra Singh mentions that
women are considered more attractive if her waists 70% as big as her hips
(www.huffingtonpost.com). The reason society expecting this from women subjectively because
of slimness will radiate women’s true beauty. Refer back to the movie, the society defines the
idea of slimness as women with a tiny waist which is proven in some part of the song “Honor to
us all”. One of women that follow society standard of female beauty says:“… men want girls
with… good breeding and a tiny waist…”
As the result, Mulan indirectly directed to follow “the tiny waist” criteria. Figure 4 and 5
clearly show that several women are trying to dress up Mulan with formal hanfu, a traditional
Figure 4
Figure 5
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costume of Chinese which is worn by people in Han’s period, so she will look good in the front
of the matchmaker. In addition, to make Mulan looks slim and beautiful, society that illustrated
by those “beautiful women” whose ruled under Chinese society standard are fasten the belt
around Mulan’s waist. It shows the way how society directing Mulan to enter their standard of
beauty.
Moreover, Mulan never questioned whether the tiny waists were the ideal body shape or
not because she seem fine with any kind of body shape. Here, Mulan’s point of view is in line
with Wolf. Wolf claimed that it does not matter at all whether women’s bodies are fat or slim,
because women actually are welcome in any shapes (205). In conclusion, it means women shall
not follow any certain society standard, including body shapes because they have their own
choices. Furthermore, the point to be underlined here is Mulan in the minutes 38.28-39.24 takes
a decision to shape her body based on her own will. On that scene, Mulan shapes her body by
exercising in order to be able to survive and get avowal. By shaping her body (fig. 6-8), Mulan
break her society standard of beauty that demands her to have a slim body. On the other hand,
Mulan’s body shaping has an aim which is to get respect and look equal as men. In brief, the
writer may say that Mulan refuses to submit under the society standard of beauty which expect
her to be attractive and beautiful through shaping her body as slim as other women among her
society.
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
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1.4. Clothing
Based on the movie, Chinese women usually wear hanfu while doing their activities.
Hanfu, on the other hand, is represented as one of beauty attributes that should be worn by
women to elevate their beauty. By wearing hanfu, society tries to put an identity to women as the
one who should act delicately. Moreover, hanfu not only uses as one of Chinese society’s
expectation toward women to act delicately, but it also reflects the inferiority of women because
in addition to show women’s beauty, wearing hanfu also show restriction of women’s freedom.
The restriction strengthen women’s position as the second class of gender who should obey
under the male domination.
Mulan in hanfu looks as an inferior compared to
men that characterize as the superior side of gender.
While figure 9 shows Mulan in armor which gives her
power to speak up her ideas, the chances to join as a
member of an imperial army and shows her beauty
Figure 9
qualities through bravery and intelligence. Here, she tries to make a breakthrough within the
society so women can be equal with man. Moreover, Mulan’s intelligence and bravery proven
through minutes 50.52–56.42. During that minute, it shows that without hesitation Mulan takes a
risk to save others by taking the last cannon with her and targeting it to the top of the mountain
which is covered by snow so it would bear down the Huns (figures 10-12). Considering Mulan’s
contribution, it makes Mulan deserve to get a credit for her effort to choose her own way.
Based on the movie, the writer interprets that clothes are used not only as the attribute
that should wear by women to make themselves beautiful, but also as a tool to make women
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submit under the society’s control. Furthermore, the writer concludes that clothes may indicate
the gender inequality between man and woman because Mulan in hanfu probably looked as the
beautiful woman who limited and not too smart, while men describes as the strongest and welleducated person.
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
1.5. Tidiness
Refers to the previous discussion, it is clear that Chinese society standard of beauty
during Mulan’s era are required women to look good in the front of people, so they may fit into
the society and label as beautiful women. Like the example, in the way women style their hair,
they supposed to bind up their hair into bun to make it tidy and beautiful. Moreover, in the way
women dress up their clothing, women also expected to dress properly.
In the minutes 05.41-05.59 shows that Mulan looked messy with hair full of straw and
rumpled dress because she is in a hurry to reach the meeting point where she should prepare
herself before meeting the matchmaker. Here, Mulan’s appearance at that moment were
considered untidy from the society point of view. In fact, Mulan can maintain her looks well and
tidy which is portrayed in the scene where Mulan came to the imperial city by wearing the hanfu
beautifully and tidy.
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2. Behaviors
According to the Chinese society standards of female beauty, women categorized as the
beautiful women if they are submitting under the male domination and obeying every rules and
values that set by society. Chinese society expect women to behave as what the standard says.
Furthermore, from the Oxford dictionary, the word behavior (v.) refers to the way someone acts
or gives response in order to handle or face something. As has been mentioned before by Wolf
that the beauty myth is prescribing behavior and not appearance (Wolf 14:1991), in this section,
the discussion will cover several behaviors that relate to the character of Mulan in the way she
shows her beauty qualities as a woman.
2.1. Submissive
As Astuti (2014) quoted from Plantilla through her writing entitle Traditional Role of
Women in China, she mentioned that Chinese women still adopt a patriarchal system which put
male as the domination actor in the ruling the system. Then, since the setting of the movie takes
place during the Northern Wei dynasty that portrays a patriarchal system, women who express
their though by speaking without permission after men considered as insubordinate and bring
dishonor to the family. By looking at the scene from the minutes 13.47–14.57, when Chi Fu has
come to the village to inform that every man of the family must serve the emperor by joining the
army to defeat the Huns, Mulan, who concern about her father’s condition, along with the way
society insists her father to enlist himself into the army interrupted the conversation and asked to
replace his father’s position which ultimately makes her father felt upset and dishonored.
At this point, the movie portraying Mulan’s character as a young woman who briefly
speaks her opinion out of loud, although it against the society’s rule that require her to be
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obedient. The result of her behavior causes the society’s judgement which assess Mulan as not
the beautiful woman. It is strengthened through the song entitled A Girl Worth Fighting For,
precisely in the minutes 46.52-47.10. Through the song Mulan once mentioned about female
beauty characteristic which has brain and always speaks her mind as the woman that is worth to
be fighting for, but her friend whose men that looked as the superior actor from the patriarchal
point of view, think the opposite. He explains to Mulan that woman should be trilled to be
submissive which implicitly shows that men want women who are willing to be devoted to
whatever they say without questioning whether it is right or wrong. Despite of being
characterized as submissive and devoting women, Mulan expresses herself by speaking what
flows in her mind in order to do the right thing and it also reveals her real personality which are
caring and affectionating toward her beloved one.
2.2. Obedient
Another society’s standard of female beauty says that women require to be obedient. As
the lyric on the song Honor to us all, one of the women that following the society standard
mentioned that “…Men want girls with good taste… Obedient…”. The reason of society,
especially men, wants women who are obedient simply because they are identified as second
class gender and should follow the men’s rule. Here, the inferiority of women demanding them
to be obedient to whatever the men say. Meanwhile, Mulan portrays as someone who always
disobey to the society rules in order to do what she thinks is right.
Mulan as the young woman that always speaks out her mind found that the society
standard of beauty which required women to be obedient somehow is burdensome to her. It is
because she realizes that women will be trapped to the oppression if they have no rights to speak
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and cannot contribute a lot in the forum discussion. Mulan refuses this condition by taking
several decisions such as going into the battlefield while she pretends to be a man, disobeying
her general’s orders, even speaking up her voice in the front of men. By taking those actions,
Mulan culturally breaks the society’s standard of beauty. The point to be emphasized is all of
Mulan’s actions basically are for other benefits and not only for Mulan own pride.
2.3. Calm
Beautiful women are the one who can maintain her behaviors and act calmly in front of
men. That statement is one of beauty standards that Chinese society’s set for women. In the
movie, society labeled Mulan as a disobedient woman that broke the society standard which lead
her to be assessed as not the beautiful woman. Figure 13 and 14 show that Mulan had argued
with her father because of his father’s decision to serve the emperor and join the army. She
claims that her father should not have to go because there are amount of capable men that can
replace her father. However, her father replied Mulan by saying that she should maintain her
behavior and realize her position as second class gender just like her mother. In comparing
Mulan with her mother, the writer found that Mulan’s mother is the example of a flawless beauty
women measured by the society. Mulan’s mother acts calmly in that particular situation, even
when she actually felt contradictory inside. She maintains her behavior and put herself as the
women who should obey to her husband, which actually makes her become powerless and weak
in some way (figure 15).
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
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Moreover, after analyzing Mulan’s character, the writer found that Mulan sometime does
act calmly. It is proven in minutes 51.03-54.40 when the Huns are coming from the mountain
and attacking Mulan and her fellow army. Mulan shows her calmness by thinking about the
strategy to defeat the Huns in under pressure situation. Her successfulness happened not only
because she is smart, but also because she is able to manage her calmness. Mulan just proven the
study that says the ability to manage the emotion and remain calm under pressure has a direct
link to the performance. Furthermore, the research also explained that 90% of top performers are
skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control
(www.forbes.com). At the end, Mulan broke the society’s labeled toward herself, which is
claimed that she cannot act calmly as other women do. Here, the writer concludes that Mulan
actually can be a calm woman, depend on which situation she faced. In the situation when she
was arguing with her father, Mulan lose her calmness because she found the way society treated
her father was unfair and it was not the right thing to do. Furthermore, she cannot be calm
because she should obey under the patriarchal system that required her to accept every decision
decided by men. While in the situation when Mulan and her fellow army were attacked by the
Huns, Mulan showed her calmness because she wanted to save others and it was the right thing
from her perspective. Thus, instead of following her society standard of beauty that required
Mulan to be calm because of men power over women, Mulan chooses to act calmly in the form
of doing the right things such as making critical decision in the right time for saving others.
2.4. Hygienic
According to Chinese culture, women have a job to take a good care of family. Then, in
order to do this job, women must keep her body fit and clean. The statement is strengthened by
looking at the figure 16. The figure shows several women who taking a charge due to Mulan’s
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arrangement with the matchmaker are trying to clean Mulan’s body so she will look good and
attractive. Those women are the best example of “beautiful women” in Chinese society version.
Society wants every girl has the ability to look tidy and clean. However, although Mulan are not
putting too much effort at maintaining her appearance in the front of men, she actually quite
cares about the hygiene. During the minutes 40.23-41.00 shows that Mulan while pretend to be
men is trying to take a bath in the lakeside in order to look good and avoid the smell from her
body. The writer interprets that even though at beginning it is the society that are trying to
manage Mulan’s appearance so she may look good and fit into the society standard, as an
individual Mulan actually cares about being hygienic too (fig. 17). Mulan distinguishes herself
from the men that may not even care about being hygienic. Another prove are Mulan’s statement
that said: “just because I look like a man, doesn’t mean I have to smell like one”. According to
this statement, at that moment, men who are going into the war probably may not too care
whether they are stinky or not while Mulan thinks the opposite because she is a woman.
Figure 16
Figure 17
3. Roles: Man vs. Woman
There are several beliefs among the society that exist until today related to the differences
on the gender roles between man and woman. One of that belief says “women and men are
different but equal, and each has a unique role within society” (Wienclaw 15). In other words, it
can be said that women and men do equal in term of gender, but again the sex and roles in the
Maharati 20
society that makes these two different. On the opposite, after analyzing the character, the writer
found Mulan has no equality compared to the men in term of gender because of male domination
that deeply rooted within Chinese culture.
In the movie, the different roles of women and men will lead them to bring an honor for
their family. The way men bring honor to his family is by joining the Imperial Army as a soldier,
while women have to marry so she can bear the child as the heirs of the family. However,
because of Fa Zhou, Mulan’s father, is the head of the family as well as the only men in Fa
family, he has no choice except to go. Instead of married and be the good wife, Mulan who sees
the way society treat her father unfair, break society standard that restrict women to go into the
battlefield. Here, Mulan takes his father’s roles and responsibility in order to bring back the
honor of the Fa family. Her decision is completely opposed the society standard of beauty that
wants women to do the domestic sphere, including nurturing children, maintaining the household
and serving their family and husband (Madsen 2). By doing those things women will consider as
the beautiful women, because for the society, “beautiful women are more reproductively
successful” which mean that women who can bear the children to the family will automatically
called as beautiful women because for them women’s beauty must correlate to their fertility
(Wolf 12: 2002).
Furthermore, since Mulan took over her father’s roles due to bring back the family honor,
Mulan actually crossed ahead the border between what women should and should not do.
According to Wolf, she explains that society wants women not to compete for resources that men
have appropriated for themselves (1991: 12). In fact, Mulan “competing” with men in order to be
accepted and equal by exercising a lot. It helps Mulan to be more powerful than before which at
the end makes society assess her as not the beautiful women because she did what men should do
Maharati 21
rather than fulfill her job as “women”. Mulan’s actions in line with Wolf’s finding which shows
that society look women as unbeautiful since her grow more powerful (Wolf 14:1991). In
addition, beauty is particularly cannot be matched with power. It explained before that women
may consider as the beautiful women if she has the slim body. In contrast, exercises that Mulan
did in the military training helps her to shape the muscles,–men’s feature of body that indicate
their power and strength, in her body. Thus, since Mulan become stronger and more powerful,
society labeled her as not the beautiful women. However, even though the society assumes that
being powerful is not women’s standard of beauty, Mulan shows that her abilities which are used
for others benefit as the prove to the society that women actually can be as strong as men and
importantly it makes Mulan no longer sees as inferior parties in her society .
Conclusion
The Beauty Myth does not talk about the physical attractiveness, but more about how
women behave and value themselves as human being who have rights to decide what they want.
Mulan film sets on China during the Northern Wei period, which at the moment placed women
as second-class citizen. This movie reflects the condition of women that being controlled by
patriarchal system which deeply rooting within Chinese society at that moment. The way society
controls women is by putting them into certain standards of beauty which merely assess on the
appearances only rather than the behaviors. Based on the previous discussion, it shows that the
character of Mulan does not fit into several standard of female beauty based on Chinese society
perspective, such as not putting makeup and dressing up properly, disobey the men and speaking
without permission. However, although the society assesses that Mulan is not the beautiful
women after all that she has done, in fact, Mulan is actually can be considered as the beautiful
women. It is because Mulan fits with the beauty myth’s aim which says that the one who can
Maharati 22
empower other women by the way she behaves and not only about how she manage her looks
well is considered as the beautiful one. Furthermore, Mulan is considered as the beautiful women
because she is able to criticize the male domination over women and take action to get her
freedom. Here, she divides herself on the opposite side from other women that submit under the
society standard of beauty and create her own criteria of being beautiful.
Discussion shows that Mulan’s beauty is reflected in the way she speaks up her mind and
it is also supported by other behavior such as acting calmly in the critical situation. In addition,
the writer would say that Mulan also considers as the beautiful women since she can prove
herself as the one who equal compared with men. At the end, Mulan successfully gives a new
perspective of women’s role in her society at that moment, which not only limited at domestic
work such as taking a good care of family and bearing the child, but women can also improve
themselves in other fields as long as she knows what she wants to do. Thus, the main idea of
Mulan’s female beauty is a woman that could speak her though without any doubt.
For the further research, the next researcher can analyze Disney’s cartoon movie songs by
using semiotic studies. Semiotic studies which refer to the study of meaning-making, the
philosophical theory of signs and symbols may help the future reader to be understood about the
meaning behind the song used in Disney’s cartoon movie. In addition, by analyzing the symbol
that inserted into the song, people can get a clear picture about the values that the movie are
going to share.
Maharati 23
Acknowledgment
First and above all, I need to thank to Jesus Christ for the unstoppable blessing that
remind me if all things are possible for those who believe and do something to reach their dream.
I could not have done this paper without His guidance. In this beautiful moment, I would also
like to express my appreciation and gratitude toward these following people: Ibu Purwanti
Kusumaningtyas, S.Pd., M.Hum as my supervisor for her patience and guidance through all
those process of making this paper and to Ibu Ervin Suryaningsih, S.S., M. Hum as my examiner
for her suggestion in order to make this paper to be better. Secondly, to my advisors Ibu
Nugrahenny T. Zacharias-Liem, M.A, PhD and Ibu Neny Isharyanti, S.Pd., M.A as my second
advisor. My unspeakable thanks also goes to my mom, my sister and brother, Araini and Boyke,
for always praying, supporting and cheering me up when everything seems impossible for me.
To my best friends Odry, Monica, Noel and Rio, thank you for the friendship and beautiful
moments we had shared together. Last but not least, to Insideout community whose let me grow
and understand about being whole as a person, thank you so much guys, may God bless you all.
Maharati 24
Work Cited
Astuti, Sulistyaning Dwi Puji. An Analysis on Male Domination As A Popular Culture in Film
“Mulan”. Salatiga: Satya Wacana Christian University, 2014. 11. Pdf.
Bradberry, Travis.” How Successful People Stay Calm.” Forbes. 2 June 2014. Web. 3 April
2015.
Bray, Marianne. "SKIN DEEP: Dying to be white." CNN. 15 May 2002. Web. 18 February 2015.
Brooks, Rob. “What Science Tells Us About the 'Ideal' Body Shape for Women”. The Huffington
Post. 9 March 2015. Web. 20 March 2015.
Dion, Karen K. “Stereotyping Based on Physical Attractiveness.” (1990): 26. Pdf.
Dion, Karen; Berscheid, Elen; Walster, Elain. “What is Beautiful is Good.” Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 24.3 (1972): 285-290. Pdf.
Gelles, Rebecca. “Fair and Lovely: Standards of Beauty, Globalization and the Modern Indian
Woman.” Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection (2011): 1-38. Pdf.
Li, Eric P. H., et al. "Skin Lightening and Beauty in Four Asian Cultures." Advances in
Consumer Research 39 (2008): 444-449. Pdf.
Madsen, Deborah L. Feminist Theory and Literary Practice. London: Pluto Press, 2000. Pdf.
Matlin, Margaret W. The Psychology of Women. 6th. Belmont: Thompson Higher Education,
2008. 5-6. Printed.
Maharati 25
Mulan. Dirs. Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Perf. Ming-Na, Eddie Murphy, Miguel Ferrer and
BD Wong. Prod. Pam Coats. Walt Disney and Buena Vista Pictures, 1998. Film.
Rumsey, Nichola. "The psychology of appearance: Why health psychologists should “do looks”.
The European Health Pschologist. September 2008: 46-50. Pdf.
Wienclaw, Ruth A. “Gender Differences: Biology & Culture”. Sociology Reference Guide:
Gender Roles & Equality. New Jersey: Salem Press, 2011. Pdf.
Wolf, Naomi. http://naomiwolf.org/. n.d. 28 January 2015 .
––––––––––. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. 1991. 2nd.
United State: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002. Pdf.
“MULAN”
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Chrisna Maharati
112010013
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2015
Maharati 1
A CONCEPT OF FEMALE BEAUTY IN DISNEY’S CARTOON MOVIE “MULAN”
Chrisna Maharati
112010013
Abstract
Media such as movie is not only used to entertain, but also to share several ideas
and concepts. One of the popular concept being share is about a beauty standard.
This issue becomes interesting to discuss because the concept makes women these
days pay too much attention to their appearances rather than to improve their
ability in order to be equal with men. Women are busy to maintain their
appearance without support by behavioral improvement. In this paper, the writer
attempts to find out the concept of female beauty by using the beauty myth
through the main character of Disney’s cartoon movie “Mulan”. This paper has a
purpose to examine whether the beauty myth is suitable or not with the character
of Mulan. In analyzing the character and determining Mulan’s concept of beauty,
the writer uses Naomi Wolf’s book, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are
Used Against Women which discuss about female beauty standard that formerly
set by the society in order to measure the women’s roles as well as female beauty
which only assess from their appearances rather than the behaviors. The finding
shows that based on the Chinese society standard of beauty, Mulan considered as
a not beautiful woman among her society.
Keywords: the beauty myth, female beauty, appearances, behaviors, roles, Mulan
Introduction
Human categorize certain aspects in life are precious for themselves, such as having
power, money and dignity. On the other hand, in the case of women, achieving social status and
being acknowledged by people surrounds them also considered as precious things. Long before
the feminist movement happened in the late twentieth century, women had experienced
oppression that makes them struggle to achieve their rights as a human. Although women are
look as the one who physically weaker, intellectually limited and have a tendency to depend on
their emotions rather than their intellect (Madsen 2), women, in fact, want to be accepted as
equal compare to men. Even women in the nineteenth century had no rights to vote or have their
own belongings due to the reason that they are women which are lower in status compared to
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men (Madsen 3) and valued as men's property that generally called as a wife. These
circumstances are unfair because women should highly be regarded as a human being (Maltin 5).
Women which tend to see the euphoria of feminist movement break certain ancient
boundaries and set them to be free, are not aware with sets of oppression that obstruct their
advancement. Society used to use gender as a term to against women’ advancement growth at
the previous time. Recently the society starts to use the term being beautiful as a tool to break the
images of women. In here media plays significant role through advertisement that directly
shaping women’s ideal self-image of beauty (Belk, Li and Min 444). Obviously, almost in each
beauty product advertisements portray women whom have white complexion, slim body, and
straight-long-hair as a beautiful woman. Thus, these women are categorized as good looking,
attractive and beautiful as expected by the society. Hence, the idea offered by the advertisement
shape women’s thought which impact to their perspective of being beautiful. Moreover, since
those people who are attractive assumed to have better prospects for happy social and
professional lives (Berscheid, Dion and Walster 298) has triggered women to compete one to
each other in order to be beautiful (Wolf 20), looked good and physically attractive in order to be
fitted in those criteria and get acceptance (Mares et al. 627).
Two basic questions should be asked when beauty is concerned: what are the standard of
beauty and who is responsible to define the standard. On the other hand, the issue becomes more
interesting since the phenomenon of female beauty is not only appearing in the advertising
media, but also within literature work such as movie. Disney, one of the most famous production
house which well-known with their beautiful princess characters have portrayed the issue of
female beauty. Mulan, a Disney’s cartoon movies which published in 1998, may provide an
exception in portraying women character because it shares the different concept of beauty
Maharati 3
compared to another Disney’s cartoon movies like Cinderella that provides the concept of
female beauty wrapped as a fair lady with white-beauty-complexion, slim, tall, powerless and
obedience.
As the movie becomes more popular among children, especially girls and teenager, their
concept of female beauty also influenced by Cinderella’s character or any other Disney
princesses that share the similar concept which are having a good look, beautiful face and
physically attractive. Mulan leads this paper to figure out the concept of female beauty from the
main character, Fa Mulan. In order to figure out the answer, the writer tries to formulate a
question: how does the beauty myth see female beauty through Fa Mulan character in Disney’s
cartoon movie. The aim of conducting this research is to examine whether the beauty myths are
suitable or not with Mulan’s character and also discover Mulan’s qualities within the concept of
beauty that she shares. To analyze this character, the writer is going to use Naomi Wolf’s book
as a guideline since the book discusses about the facts related about oppression happen because
of the beauty myth. Furthermore, the character will be analyzed based on her appearences,
behaviours, habits, actions and roles.
The significance of this research is to share another perspective of women’s role in the
society which formerly only considered as second class gender and incomparable to men. By
doing this research, the writer hopes the readers will not look women from their physical
appearance only, but also from their ability and the reason behind their action. Importantly, it is
because women deserve to be appreciated as the human being and not only their husbands’
property. In order to reach this significance, the writer will show the result of comparisons
between the beauty myth from society point of view and from Mulan’s character point of view
that appears in the movie. Eventually, by pointing out of those outcomes, the writer hopes the
Maharati 4
reader will get a clear picture of Mulan’s concept of beauty, which later on will serve as a new
perspective of female beauty towards Disney’s cartoon movie.
Literature Review
Beauty Myth
Beauty myth is a term introduced in 1991 by Naomi Wolf, an author, social critic and
political activist who is trying to raise awareness of the pervasive inequities that exist in society
and politics (naomiwolf.org). The term of beauty myth itself is well-discussed in Wolf’s book
entitled The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women which the first
edition was published by William Morrow and Company in 1991. According to Wolf, the beauty
myth refers to a concept of beauty standard that formerly set by the society in order to put
women into their standard and used to judge women, both physical and psychological states, for
their failure to achieve the goal of being a woman (85). In addition, based on the society
persepctive, as general, women who are fit into their standard of beauty is someone whom
consider as having a tall body, slim, white complexion, black hair and a face without pores,
asymmetry or flaws (Wolf 1:1991). Besides, on this paper, the Chinese society standard of
beauty during the fifteenth century or before where the story takes place considered women who
are slim, have a tiny waist and good hairdo, white complexion as white as porcelain and good
breeding as the beautiful women. In fact, Wolf’s pointing out her finding that shows the beauty
myth is actually a concept to measure someone’s beauty not only from their appearances as
society do, but the most important is measuring by their behaviors (14) which at the end aimed to
empower women and rise the ability to critique society standard of beauty (4) that sometimes
Maharati 5
seems unfair and furthermore give a measure of freedom to dress up and act without fearing that
their value as a women will be decreased (8).
Refer to Oxford dictionary, the word beauty (n.) means being beautiful, or a person that is
beautiful. The beauty issues that are going to be discussed further will not only see female beauty
from the physical aspect but also from any other supporting values that shape the beauty concept
of Disney’s cartoon movie Mulan.
As Wolf wrote in her book, nowadays people use the images of female beauty as a tool
against their advancement (10). Means that society, the place where people living together–share
the laws, values and organizations in order to make a community (Oxford Dictionary: 2000),
tries to stop women’s potentials by imposing their self-image and perception towards the image
of beauty that society wants. Furthermore, since women who have individual autonomy, which
are protected by guaranteed rights in economic justice and equality of opportunity influenced by
the society standard (Madsen 35) women start to look into the images of beauty that share
through the media in order to create their “new” identity. This is the first point that makes beauty
become something matters for women.
Second aspects that make beauty matters for women is because physical and or facial
attractiveness matters as a measurement to assess someone when they join in the new society for
the first time (Mares et al. 628). Rumsey also added that being beautiful and get the positive
feedback will help those people who classified as the beautiful person in building the relationship
with another (46). This idea makes women think that looking good and physically attractive are
like a golden ticket to be accepted by the society.
Moreover, because of the society recognizes that women’s advancement are growing
very fast, they are taking this opportunity to oppress women by using the term “beautiful” as the
Maharati 6
weapon. Wolf shares her finding related to society’s beliefs that categorized women into two big
categories. The first one is beauty-without-intelligence and the second one is intelligencewithout-beauty. Society belief that women cannot be put into both two categories, which are
beautiful-with-intelligence (Wolf 59). Then, another myth that blooms and deep-rooting on
society says, “beautiful things only happen to beautiful person”. This myth influences many
women, especially children. At the early stage of their ages, children have been taught that to be
beautiful was the most important thing that should be reached as they are growing older. As an
impact, these children believe that one of beauty standards is having a slim body which may
cause into an assumption that the lower number of the weight scale, the prettier she will be. They
think that to be slim is everything and it can give them happiness. In fact, it is not as simple as
like that because physical exercise is required in order to reach certain fitness level. However,
slimness, after all is added to be one of the very common requirements of the society standards
of beauty.
Women have been led into a different stage of women’s oppressions against their own
advancement. What cause they are not realizing the oppression is because they are too busy in
maintaining their physical beauty and focusing on developing their appearance only. Thus, these
circumstances lead women to degrade their equal rights with men to grow and explore their
potential into the second priority of human development. Therefore, the writer summarized that
the beauty myth and female beauty are related to the demotion of women's value in female
beauty from a gift to an obstruction towards their advancement.
Synopsis of the movie. “Mulan” which is published in 1998 is an animated musical
comedy drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, directed by
Tony
Bancroft and Barry Cook, written by Robert D. San Souci and starring Ming-Na, Eddie
Maharati 7
Murphy, Miguel Ferrerand and BD Wong. The story itself is based on the Chinese legend of Hua
Mulan that sets on during the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534).
Mulan typically portrays a Chinese young lady which have a straight-long hair,
proportional body shapes and usually wear hanfu. As the only hairs of Fa family, Mulan expects
to bring an honor into her family by marry with a man that selected based on the matchmaker’s
decision. However, at the same time when Mulan cannot find the good match to be married with,
she finds that her father who injured should go to the war because it is the only way for men to
bring honor to his family. Worries about her father, Mulan decides to take his father’s
responsibility and enlists herself into The Imperial Army by pretending to be a man. Mulan who
now transforms into a man as Fa Ping acknowledged as the strongest as well as the smartest
soldier among the troops. Mulan’s clever tactics have successfully defeated the Huns that want to
take over the entire empire and rule the mainland of China. However, after getting injured, her
identity as “woman” is revealed and she is driven from her fellow army.
Not so long after being left by her troops, Mulan found that Shan Yu, the leader of the
Huns was still alive and planned to kill The Emperor. Considering the situation, Mulan ran into
her general, Shang and the rest of fellow army to inform that the Huns are coming, but no one
listen to her because she is a woman who formerly does not have a voice among her society.
With her friends’ help, Mulan has successfully save The Emperor and take down the Huns which
at the end makes her as the one becoming Chinese warrior. As well as becoming the hero, at the
same time Mulan also brings back the honor into the Fa family.
Discussion
Maharati 8
As has been mentioned previously, Mulan lived during the Northern Wei dynasty,
between 386-534 century. At that moment, the Chinese society has several female beauty
standards that are being set to put women into their expectation. Those standards, mostly set in
the way women maintain their look, appearance and some additional values. In the movie, it
shows that Chinese society demanding women who are slim with tiny waist and good hairdo,
white skin complexion and black hair as a good wife. In addition, society also considered women
who have good breeding and ability to do domestic sphere, obedient, calm and submissive as a
worthy woman. Together, these two criteria makes Chinese women become the perfect women
which is called beautiful. Thus, this standard were used by the Chinese society to measure the
concept of female beauty of Chinese women on Mulan’s era.
On the other hand, the term beauty myth has been used by the society to classify if a
woman is beautiful according to their expectation. Wolf in her book entitles The Beauty Myth:
How The Images of Beauty Used To Against Women has explained that this term has always
prescribed behavior and not appearance. Means, the measure of beauty is not only determined by
appearance but the way women acts (14). As the main character, Mulan is described as a woman
who decide to take a different role compare to other women in the movie. In here, the way Mulan
expresses herself both in appearance and behavior are an illustration toward her actions to
against the rules being set by society for her as a woman.
1. Appearances
Appearance in the relation with the physical aspects becoming the first thing that people
look upon someone and it may lead the person into two categories which are attractive and
Maharati 9
unattractive. However, since the appearance is something that can be assessed easily, society
used this point in order to put women into their beauty standard.
1.1. Complexion
According to Bray, having a white complexion is considered as noble and aristocratic,
especially for women in Southeast Asia (CNN.com). Previously, back to the past, women in
China are formerly ground the pearl from seashells into powder and swallowed it to whiten their
skin. Considering the characteristic of pearl that reflects light and beauty through their whiteness,
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
women in China also add some of the pearl powder and cover their face with it (Bray: 2002).
This belief has deep-rooting among Chinese people, subsequently developed as one of the beauty
standards among Chinese women.
Minutes 07.17-07.27, shows that Mulan is dressed up by several women whose already
categorized as beautiful women because they are following the Chinese society standard of
beauty. Those women are preparing Mulan to be a beautiful groom before meeting a
matchmaker. Here, at the beginning, Mulan is trying to follow the society standard of beauty by
putting make up to cover her face. However, while following this rule Mulan found herself
uncomfortable with it, which at the end as figure 3 shows us, it makes her feel upset because she
turns to be a completely different person after it was done.
Maharati 10
The point to strengthen Mulan’s feeling is indicated in the lyrics on the song “Reflection”
that sung by Mulan. While singing, Mulan said: “…who is that girl I see. Staring straight back
at me. Why is my reflection someone I don’t know… somehow I cannot hide who I am, though
I’ve tried…”. By singing this song, Mulan shows her desperation toward society standard of
beauty that wanted her to become beautiful by putting makeup in order to make her skin looks
white. Although she tried to follow the standard, at the end Mulan still assigned as not the
beautiful women by the society because she ruin her arrangement ceremony with the
matchmaker. Based on this scene, the writer concludes that the way society classified women
into two categories which are beautiful and not beautiful is unfair, because women are being
directed without any choices by the society in order to follow a certain set of standard which at
this point is to be beautiful by putting makeup in order to get the white complexion. The impact
of this judgement makes women like Mulan feel oppressed because the society do not appreciate
the effort that she gave. The song also indicates that Mulan feels upset because she has to pretend
to be someone else when she following the society standard. Moreover, the writer also sees
makeup as restricted tools used by society to limit women’s freedom.
1.2. Hair
Based on the Chinese society standard of female beauty, women expect to style her hair
properly. Several women whose consider as “beautiful women” in Chinese society version, sing
a song entitled “Honor to us all” to show the Chinese society's expectation toward female
beauty. In the lyrics, it says that: “… Boys will gladly go to war for you. With good fortune and a
great hairdo…”. It briefly describes that society wants women to have a good hairdo which is
tied up all hair upwards to make a bun. Looking closer to that point, society wishes all Chinese
women styling her hair into bun so their beauty will reveal without blocked by the hair.
Maharati 11
However, Mulan does the opposite as society wants her to do. At the beginning and
closing part of the movie, it shows that Mulan portrays with her hair that is hanging loosely.
Mulan’s action is an indication of her freedom. She does not follow the society standard of
beauty that require her to tie up her hair into the bun. Mulan shows that women have their own
choice, whether to follow the rule or make another version of the rules that suit themselves well.
1.3. Body Shapes
Physical appearance also related to the Chinese society standard of ideal body shape.
Since being slim is what women admire (Gelles, 20:2011), women are trying to manage their
body due to be fitted into the society’s expectation which at the end may bring them to be able to
get in the society and being accepted. Quoting from Brooks, Devendra Singh mentions that
women are considered more attractive if her waists 70% as big as her hips
(www.huffingtonpost.com). The reason society expecting this from women subjectively because
of slimness will radiate women’s true beauty. Refer back to the movie, the society defines the
idea of slimness as women with a tiny waist which is proven in some part of the song “Honor to
us all”. One of women that follow society standard of female beauty says:“… men want girls
with… good breeding and a tiny waist…”
As the result, Mulan indirectly directed to follow “the tiny waist” criteria. Figure 4 and 5
clearly show that several women are trying to dress up Mulan with formal hanfu, a traditional
Figure 4
Figure 5
Maharati 12
costume of Chinese which is worn by people in Han’s period, so she will look good in the front
of the matchmaker. In addition, to make Mulan looks slim and beautiful, society that illustrated
by those “beautiful women” whose ruled under Chinese society standard are fasten the belt
around Mulan’s waist. It shows the way how society directing Mulan to enter their standard of
beauty.
Moreover, Mulan never questioned whether the tiny waists were the ideal body shape or
not because she seem fine with any kind of body shape. Here, Mulan’s point of view is in line
with Wolf. Wolf claimed that it does not matter at all whether women’s bodies are fat or slim,
because women actually are welcome in any shapes (205). In conclusion, it means women shall
not follow any certain society standard, including body shapes because they have their own
choices. Furthermore, the point to be underlined here is Mulan in the minutes 38.28-39.24 takes
a decision to shape her body based on her own will. On that scene, Mulan shapes her body by
exercising in order to be able to survive and get avowal. By shaping her body (fig. 6-8), Mulan
break her society standard of beauty that demands her to have a slim body. On the other hand,
Mulan’s body shaping has an aim which is to get respect and look equal as men. In brief, the
writer may say that Mulan refuses to submit under the society standard of beauty which expect
her to be attractive and beautiful through shaping her body as slim as other women among her
society.
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Maharati 13
1.4. Clothing
Based on the movie, Chinese women usually wear hanfu while doing their activities.
Hanfu, on the other hand, is represented as one of beauty attributes that should be worn by
women to elevate their beauty. By wearing hanfu, society tries to put an identity to women as the
one who should act delicately. Moreover, hanfu not only uses as one of Chinese society’s
expectation toward women to act delicately, but it also reflects the inferiority of women because
in addition to show women’s beauty, wearing hanfu also show restriction of women’s freedom.
The restriction strengthen women’s position as the second class of gender who should obey
under the male domination.
Mulan in hanfu looks as an inferior compared to
men that characterize as the superior side of gender.
While figure 9 shows Mulan in armor which gives her
power to speak up her ideas, the chances to join as a
member of an imperial army and shows her beauty
Figure 9
qualities through bravery and intelligence. Here, she tries to make a breakthrough within the
society so women can be equal with man. Moreover, Mulan’s intelligence and bravery proven
through minutes 50.52–56.42. During that minute, it shows that without hesitation Mulan takes a
risk to save others by taking the last cannon with her and targeting it to the top of the mountain
which is covered by snow so it would bear down the Huns (figures 10-12). Considering Mulan’s
contribution, it makes Mulan deserve to get a credit for her effort to choose her own way.
Based on the movie, the writer interprets that clothes are used not only as the attribute
that should wear by women to make themselves beautiful, but also as a tool to make women
Maharati 14
submit under the society’s control. Furthermore, the writer concludes that clothes may indicate
the gender inequality between man and woman because Mulan in hanfu probably looked as the
beautiful woman who limited and not too smart, while men describes as the strongest and welleducated person.
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
1.5. Tidiness
Refers to the previous discussion, it is clear that Chinese society standard of beauty
during Mulan’s era are required women to look good in the front of people, so they may fit into
the society and label as beautiful women. Like the example, in the way women style their hair,
they supposed to bind up their hair into bun to make it tidy and beautiful. Moreover, in the way
women dress up their clothing, women also expected to dress properly.
In the minutes 05.41-05.59 shows that Mulan looked messy with hair full of straw and
rumpled dress because she is in a hurry to reach the meeting point where she should prepare
herself before meeting the matchmaker. Here, Mulan’s appearance at that moment were
considered untidy from the society point of view. In fact, Mulan can maintain her looks well and
tidy which is portrayed in the scene where Mulan came to the imperial city by wearing the hanfu
beautifully and tidy.
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2. Behaviors
According to the Chinese society standards of female beauty, women categorized as the
beautiful women if they are submitting under the male domination and obeying every rules and
values that set by society. Chinese society expect women to behave as what the standard says.
Furthermore, from the Oxford dictionary, the word behavior (v.) refers to the way someone acts
or gives response in order to handle or face something. As has been mentioned before by Wolf
that the beauty myth is prescribing behavior and not appearance (Wolf 14:1991), in this section,
the discussion will cover several behaviors that relate to the character of Mulan in the way she
shows her beauty qualities as a woman.
2.1. Submissive
As Astuti (2014) quoted from Plantilla through her writing entitle Traditional Role of
Women in China, she mentioned that Chinese women still adopt a patriarchal system which put
male as the domination actor in the ruling the system. Then, since the setting of the movie takes
place during the Northern Wei dynasty that portrays a patriarchal system, women who express
their though by speaking without permission after men considered as insubordinate and bring
dishonor to the family. By looking at the scene from the minutes 13.47–14.57, when Chi Fu has
come to the village to inform that every man of the family must serve the emperor by joining the
army to defeat the Huns, Mulan, who concern about her father’s condition, along with the way
society insists her father to enlist himself into the army interrupted the conversation and asked to
replace his father’s position which ultimately makes her father felt upset and dishonored.
At this point, the movie portraying Mulan’s character as a young woman who briefly
speaks her opinion out of loud, although it against the society’s rule that require her to be
Maharati 16
obedient. The result of her behavior causes the society’s judgement which assess Mulan as not
the beautiful woman. It is strengthened through the song entitled A Girl Worth Fighting For,
precisely in the minutes 46.52-47.10. Through the song Mulan once mentioned about female
beauty characteristic which has brain and always speaks her mind as the woman that is worth to
be fighting for, but her friend whose men that looked as the superior actor from the patriarchal
point of view, think the opposite. He explains to Mulan that woman should be trilled to be
submissive which implicitly shows that men want women who are willing to be devoted to
whatever they say without questioning whether it is right or wrong. Despite of being
characterized as submissive and devoting women, Mulan expresses herself by speaking what
flows in her mind in order to do the right thing and it also reveals her real personality which are
caring and affectionating toward her beloved one.
2.2. Obedient
Another society’s standard of female beauty says that women require to be obedient. As
the lyric on the song Honor to us all, one of the women that following the society standard
mentioned that “…Men want girls with good taste… Obedient…”. The reason of society,
especially men, wants women who are obedient simply because they are identified as second
class gender and should follow the men’s rule. Here, the inferiority of women demanding them
to be obedient to whatever the men say. Meanwhile, Mulan portrays as someone who always
disobey to the society rules in order to do what she thinks is right.
Mulan as the young woman that always speaks out her mind found that the society
standard of beauty which required women to be obedient somehow is burdensome to her. It is
because she realizes that women will be trapped to the oppression if they have no rights to speak
Maharati 17
and cannot contribute a lot in the forum discussion. Mulan refuses this condition by taking
several decisions such as going into the battlefield while she pretends to be a man, disobeying
her general’s orders, even speaking up her voice in the front of men. By taking those actions,
Mulan culturally breaks the society’s standard of beauty. The point to be emphasized is all of
Mulan’s actions basically are for other benefits and not only for Mulan own pride.
2.3. Calm
Beautiful women are the one who can maintain her behaviors and act calmly in front of
men. That statement is one of beauty standards that Chinese society’s set for women. In the
movie, society labeled Mulan as a disobedient woman that broke the society standard which lead
her to be assessed as not the beautiful woman. Figure 13 and 14 show that Mulan had argued
with her father because of his father’s decision to serve the emperor and join the army. She
claims that her father should not have to go because there are amount of capable men that can
replace her father. However, her father replied Mulan by saying that she should maintain her
behavior and realize her position as second class gender just like her mother. In comparing
Mulan with her mother, the writer found that Mulan’s mother is the example of a flawless beauty
women measured by the society. Mulan’s mother acts calmly in that particular situation, even
when she actually felt contradictory inside. She maintains her behavior and put herself as the
women who should obey to her husband, which actually makes her become powerless and weak
in some way (figure 15).
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Maharati 18
Moreover, after analyzing Mulan’s character, the writer found that Mulan sometime does
act calmly. It is proven in minutes 51.03-54.40 when the Huns are coming from the mountain
and attacking Mulan and her fellow army. Mulan shows her calmness by thinking about the
strategy to defeat the Huns in under pressure situation. Her successfulness happened not only
because she is smart, but also because she is able to manage her calmness. Mulan just proven the
study that says the ability to manage the emotion and remain calm under pressure has a direct
link to the performance. Furthermore, the research also explained that 90% of top performers are
skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control
(www.forbes.com). At the end, Mulan broke the society’s labeled toward herself, which is
claimed that she cannot act calmly as other women do. Here, the writer concludes that Mulan
actually can be a calm woman, depend on which situation she faced. In the situation when she
was arguing with her father, Mulan lose her calmness because she found the way society treated
her father was unfair and it was not the right thing to do. Furthermore, she cannot be calm
because she should obey under the patriarchal system that required her to accept every decision
decided by men. While in the situation when Mulan and her fellow army were attacked by the
Huns, Mulan showed her calmness because she wanted to save others and it was the right thing
from her perspective. Thus, instead of following her society standard of beauty that required
Mulan to be calm because of men power over women, Mulan chooses to act calmly in the form
of doing the right things such as making critical decision in the right time for saving others.
2.4. Hygienic
According to Chinese culture, women have a job to take a good care of family. Then, in
order to do this job, women must keep her body fit and clean. The statement is strengthened by
looking at the figure 16. The figure shows several women who taking a charge due to Mulan’s
Maharati 19
arrangement with the matchmaker are trying to clean Mulan’s body so she will look good and
attractive. Those women are the best example of “beautiful women” in Chinese society version.
Society wants every girl has the ability to look tidy and clean. However, although Mulan are not
putting too much effort at maintaining her appearance in the front of men, she actually quite
cares about the hygiene. During the minutes 40.23-41.00 shows that Mulan while pretend to be
men is trying to take a bath in the lakeside in order to look good and avoid the smell from her
body. The writer interprets that even though at beginning it is the society that are trying to
manage Mulan’s appearance so she may look good and fit into the society standard, as an
individual Mulan actually cares about being hygienic too (fig. 17). Mulan distinguishes herself
from the men that may not even care about being hygienic. Another prove are Mulan’s statement
that said: “just because I look like a man, doesn’t mean I have to smell like one”. According to
this statement, at that moment, men who are going into the war probably may not too care
whether they are stinky or not while Mulan thinks the opposite because she is a woman.
Figure 16
Figure 17
3. Roles: Man vs. Woman
There are several beliefs among the society that exist until today related to the differences
on the gender roles between man and woman. One of that belief says “women and men are
different but equal, and each has a unique role within society” (Wienclaw 15). In other words, it
can be said that women and men do equal in term of gender, but again the sex and roles in the
Maharati 20
society that makes these two different. On the opposite, after analyzing the character, the writer
found Mulan has no equality compared to the men in term of gender because of male domination
that deeply rooted within Chinese culture.
In the movie, the different roles of women and men will lead them to bring an honor for
their family. The way men bring honor to his family is by joining the Imperial Army as a soldier,
while women have to marry so she can bear the child as the heirs of the family. However,
because of Fa Zhou, Mulan’s father, is the head of the family as well as the only men in Fa
family, he has no choice except to go. Instead of married and be the good wife, Mulan who sees
the way society treat her father unfair, break society standard that restrict women to go into the
battlefield. Here, Mulan takes his father’s roles and responsibility in order to bring back the
honor of the Fa family. Her decision is completely opposed the society standard of beauty that
wants women to do the domestic sphere, including nurturing children, maintaining the household
and serving their family and husband (Madsen 2). By doing those things women will consider as
the beautiful women, because for the society, “beautiful women are more reproductively
successful” which mean that women who can bear the children to the family will automatically
called as beautiful women because for them women’s beauty must correlate to their fertility
(Wolf 12: 2002).
Furthermore, since Mulan took over her father’s roles due to bring back the family honor,
Mulan actually crossed ahead the border between what women should and should not do.
According to Wolf, she explains that society wants women not to compete for resources that men
have appropriated for themselves (1991: 12). In fact, Mulan “competing” with men in order to be
accepted and equal by exercising a lot. It helps Mulan to be more powerful than before which at
the end makes society assess her as not the beautiful women because she did what men should do
Maharati 21
rather than fulfill her job as “women”. Mulan’s actions in line with Wolf’s finding which shows
that society look women as unbeautiful since her grow more powerful (Wolf 14:1991). In
addition, beauty is particularly cannot be matched with power. It explained before that women
may consider as the beautiful women if she has the slim body. In contrast, exercises that Mulan
did in the military training helps her to shape the muscles,–men’s feature of body that indicate
their power and strength, in her body. Thus, since Mulan become stronger and more powerful,
society labeled her as not the beautiful women. However, even though the society assumes that
being powerful is not women’s standard of beauty, Mulan shows that her abilities which are used
for others benefit as the prove to the society that women actually can be as strong as men and
importantly it makes Mulan no longer sees as inferior parties in her society .
Conclusion
The Beauty Myth does not talk about the physical attractiveness, but more about how
women behave and value themselves as human being who have rights to decide what they want.
Mulan film sets on China during the Northern Wei period, which at the moment placed women
as second-class citizen. This movie reflects the condition of women that being controlled by
patriarchal system which deeply rooting within Chinese society at that moment. The way society
controls women is by putting them into certain standards of beauty which merely assess on the
appearances only rather than the behaviors. Based on the previous discussion, it shows that the
character of Mulan does not fit into several standard of female beauty based on Chinese society
perspective, such as not putting makeup and dressing up properly, disobey the men and speaking
without permission. However, although the society assesses that Mulan is not the beautiful
women after all that she has done, in fact, Mulan is actually can be considered as the beautiful
women. It is because Mulan fits with the beauty myth’s aim which says that the one who can
Maharati 22
empower other women by the way she behaves and not only about how she manage her looks
well is considered as the beautiful one. Furthermore, Mulan is considered as the beautiful women
because she is able to criticize the male domination over women and take action to get her
freedom. Here, she divides herself on the opposite side from other women that submit under the
society standard of beauty and create her own criteria of being beautiful.
Discussion shows that Mulan’s beauty is reflected in the way she speaks up her mind and
it is also supported by other behavior such as acting calmly in the critical situation. In addition,
the writer would say that Mulan also considers as the beautiful women since she can prove
herself as the one who equal compared with men. At the end, Mulan successfully gives a new
perspective of women’s role in her society at that moment, which not only limited at domestic
work such as taking a good care of family and bearing the child, but women can also improve
themselves in other fields as long as she knows what she wants to do. Thus, the main idea of
Mulan’s female beauty is a woman that could speak her though without any doubt.
For the further research, the next researcher can analyze Disney’s cartoon movie songs by
using semiotic studies. Semiotic studies which refer to the study of meaning-making, the
philosophical theory of signs and symbols may help the future reader to be understood about the
meaning behind the song used in Disney’s cartoon movie. In addition, by analyzing the symbol
that inserted into the song, people can get a clear picture about the values that the movie are
going to share.
Maharati 23
Acknowledgment
First and above all, I need to thank to Jesus Christ for the unstoppable blessing that
remind me if all things are possible for those who believe and do something to reach their dream.
I could not have done this paper without His guidance. In this beautiful moment, I would also
like to express my appreciation and gratitude toward these following people: Ibu Purwanti
Kusumaningtyas, S.Pd., M.Hum as my supervisor for her patience and guidance through all
those process of making this paper and to Ibu Ervin Suryaningsih, S.S., M. Hum as my examiner
for her suggestion in order to make this paper to be better. Secondly, to my advisors Ibu
Nugrahenny T. Zacharias-Liem, M.A, PhD and Ibu Neny Isharyanti, S.Pd., M.A as my second
advisor. My unspeakable thanks also goes to my mom, my sister and brother, Araini and Boyke,
for always praying, supporting and cheering me up when everything seems impossible for me.
To my best friends Odry, Monica, Noel and Rio, thank you for the friendship and beautiful
moments we had shared together. Last but not least, to Insideout community whose let me grow
and understand about being whole as a person, thank you so much guys, may God bless you all.
Maharati 24
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