As different authors interpret the legend of Mulan, they add new values and personal touches. In The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston writes her own version of Mulan in the chapter White Tigers. Disney released its own rendition of this heroine in an animated movie for children in 1998. During the 1500’s a famous writer wrote a play about Mulan. He based it on the “Ode to Mulan,” a poem written about this courageous woman during the Han Dynasty around 5 AD. Though each author has written about the same legend, all the stories are different.
Throughout Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston stresses what it takes to become a “woman warrior.” Her version of Mulan helps to illustrate a picture of the idea “woman warrior,” a courageous person who accepts the tasks she are given in life and does it with passion and humility. In the chapter “White Tigers,” Maxine writes about Mulan from her point of view. It is the most unique of all the other Mulan stories. Her adaptation of the legend is written for an older age group. It is defiantly more intense and serious than the Disney movie. It starts off with a little girl by the name of Fa Mu Lan, following a bird, which leads her to an old man and woman who train he to become a warrior. “I was a little girl of seven the day I followed the bird away into the mountains.” Everyone has a certain role in life and that it was destined for Mulan to become trained as a warrior to avenge her village. “’You can recapture the harvests that thieves have taken. You can be remembered by the Han people for you dutifulness.’” It wasn’t her choice to be the one to seek justice for her people; she was just chosen to do it. During “White Tigers,” Maxine weaves in a strong connection with yourself and nature and magic into the story of Mulan. From her training, Mulan not only learned how too fight, but to also control her body, for example she “could control even the dilations of the pupils inside my irises.” She also learned how to live peacefully with the wildlife around her. “The deer let me run beside them.” There are hints of magic throughout the story: the rabbit that jumped into the fire, the swords fighting in midair, and the old man and woman. “When I caught them out of the corners of my eyes, he appeared as a handsome young man, tall with long black hair, and she, as a beautiful young woman who ran bare-legged through the trees.” In this adaptation of the legend, magic symbolizes the help Mulan, or any selfless person, receives on their journey to bring justice to their people.
Disney’s version of Mulan also includes magic. The comical Mushu, the cricket, and ghostly ancestors add humor to the movie. Since the movie was created specially with young children in mind, the producers had to add happier touches as comic relief. Witty lines and catchy tunes interrupt and balance the more serious and depressing movements of the movie. Young children can be entertained while at the same time recognize important values, such as love and honor, a person must have to become a “woman warrior.” Also the character of Mulan was someone they can identify with. She was a girl that didn’t seem to know how to fit in. No matter what she did, she always seemed to bring shame on her family until she went to battle in place of her father. Because of her love for her father, she was willing to sacrifice herself so he could live and because of her bravery in battle, she brought honor to her family. The movie brings to life the trials of a legendary heroine through song, dance, and a funny little dragon with his cricket friend.
Both the Woman Warrior and the movie “Mulan” are pretty recent versions of the legend of Mulan. The “Ode to Mulan” is a very old poem written around 5 AD. In this poem, little is written about the battles that Mulan had to endure; it is more about her life before and after she left. It begins with Mulan pondering on what she should do. She saw the army lists with her father’s names and knows nobody but her can serve in his place. “I want to buy a saddle and horse, and serve in the army in Father’s place.” The poem describes how she is very focused on her mission. “She doesn’t her the sound of Father and Mother calling, she only hears the Yellow River’s flowing water cry tsien tsien.” The war that Mulan fought in is barely addressed though it was twelve years long and quickly moves on to the day Mulan returns home and reveals to the soldiers that she is a woman. She then tells them that even though the stereotypes of women are usually that they are clumsy and lower then men, a person really cannot tell who is who when he looks at their values and the things they have done. “The he-hare’s feet go hop and skip, the she-hare’s eyes are muddled and fuddled. Two hares running side by side close to the ground, how can they tell if I an he or she?”
The play “Mulan,” by Xu Wei, is based on the “Ode to Mulan.” Xu Wei expands more on the poem while adding songs and dances to captivate the audience’s attention. The singing and dancing make the story lighter and happier compared to the seriousness of the “Ode to Mulan.” In “Ode to Mulan,” it states that Mulan was traveling for twelve years before she returned home. Xu Wei also relieves some of the mystery about what happened during the time that Mulan was away and serving in the army. He elaborates and shows Mulan capture the infamous rebel Leopard’s Skin. “We’ll go to attack the Black Mountain tomorrow. After we take up our positions, you charge out from the middle ground and capture that chieftain.” In the dialogue of “Mulan,” Xu Wei entwines values and lessons Mulan learns while she is in the army. Mulan expresses her thoughts in the form of song, thus helping the audience to remember and begin to ponder the meaning of the lines she sings. One of these lines discusses how honor, hard work, and sacrifice are worth more than material objects. “We are nobler than those who scramble for power and compete for fame. We are wealthier than those whose riches are piled to the sky.” Like the poem, the play also addresses how women should be treated as equals to men. “ People have looked at me over and again, but who could ever tell I was a woman?” “There are many confusing things in the world; this story recounts failure to distinguish sexes.”
“White Tigers,” Disney’s movie “Mulan,” Ode to Mulan,” and the play “Mulan,” are all different and unique, but they all have a common thread that runs through all of them that the legend of Mulan illustrates. All of these versions revel that it takes a very courageous person to be called a “woman warrior” and women are equals to men. People should not be judged on their gender, but rather by their accomplishments and character. “You cannot rely on your eyes to tell a woman from a man.”
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