Somehow I cannot hide /Who I am, though I've tried./ When will my reflection show who I am inside? Over the past seventeen years we younger Millennials have grown up with these lyrics from the Academy Award-nominated anthem “Reflection” from the 1998 Disney film Mulan. Loosely based on the Chinese legend of the same name, the movie tells the story of a young woman who defies the gender norms of her strict society when she disguises herself as a male soldier in order to save her father’s life. Like most other Disney protagonists (including Aladdin the impoverished “street rat,” Belle the bookworm, and Ariel the wannabe human) Mulan’s character is an underdog who wishes for something more from life than what her society expects from her.
Mulan is a story which can resonates with a wide audience and for a variety of reasons. When Mulan’s father accepts Mulan for who she is, it could simply be a story about the importance of family as a unit and not the roles they play. Young girls—the target audience—can also look up to Mulan’s character as a heroine who doesn’t need to be saved by men. In fact, she is the one who saves her loved ones (all male): her father, her love interest, and her army buddies. Feminists could interpret the song as Mulan’s longing to be more than a submissive wife and daughter. However, in addition to Mulan’s gender bending in order to join the Chinese army, the song lyrics, “…who I am inside” could also serve as coded language for a gay audience. In this case, a coming-out anthem.
Recently, ABC (whose channel is owned by Disney Studios) announcedthat their show Once Upon a Time would soon be featuring the show’s first LGBTQ+ relationship.Since then, speculation in the entertainment industry has centered on the idea that Mulan would be one half of this couple.
Although I personally do not watchOnce Upon a Time, I have to say I’m intrigued by Disney’s decision to portray openly-gay characters. It seems to me that the company, which I feel has a muddy track record of portraying non-white and gay characters as unflattering stereotypes, may finally be showing progress. Remember the song the Siamese cats sing in Lady and the Tramp—or the one the Native Americans sing in Peter Pan? However, others in fact, have a different point of view. Some, likeThe Atlantic’s Akash Nikolas suggest that most of WaltDisney Studios’ movies are “pro-gay.” Using Frozen as an example, Nikolas explains that most Disney protagonists are “odd, unusual, queer,” which could theoretically let gay children in the audience identify with these characters and understand that it is perfectly all right to be “different.” I don’t identify as queer, yet I find myself getting lost in these overall feel-good Disney messages, too. As an LGBTQ+ ally, I feel that it is important to point out that these films only celebrate the uniqueness of main characters.
Mulan, a relatively new Disney movie, is shockingly stereotypical, not just in its supporting Chinese characters, but also in the way the character Chi Fu (the emperor’s advisor) is implied to be gay through stereotypes. Chi Fu owns fluffy fur coats and screams and runs away as the battles take place, serving as our comic relief. This is disturbing for a movie which claims to be supportive of defying gender roles. Chi Fu is unlikeable; he suspects Mulan as being a woman the entire movie. However, why should Chi Fu be laughed at for being, as “Reflection” asks us, who he is inside, while Mulan is respected for the same?
The beauty of film is that each of us can find ways of identifying with a character. I hope that Once Upon a Time’s addition of an LGBTQ+ couple is Disney’s way of showing that they are trying to distance themselves from their past. Regardless, Disney is still making money off the “othering” of characters from their older films. For those of us who are allies, it is important for us to not be consumers of this media but critics, as well.
