Disney's Mulan: upholding misogyny / Tias Tanjung Wilis

ABSTRACT Wilis, Tias Tanjung. 2008. DisneyOCOs Mulan: Upholding Misogyny. Thesis, English Department Faculty of Letters State University of Malang. Advisor: M. Nasrul Chotib. Key words: Mulan, misogyny. Misogyny, which dates back to the story of the Fall, means the male hatred of women which allows men to create stereotypical images about women in order to keep women in subjection and, at last, maintain their power within the patriarchy. Misogyny allows men to oppress women by giving them no voice to define themselves. Since women do not have the authority to define and assert themselves, they tend to agree on any definitions men have made about them; they follow the path men have chosen for them no matter where it will end. Slowly, women begin to believe that those definitions represent who they really are; that becoming the second sex, second creatures, being responsible for and limited only to the domestic affairs are their destiny. Finally, they denigrate their own sex and thus, the culture can be kept male, the patriarchy can be maintained and the power can always be obtained. This subject could be found in Disney's Mulan. DisneyOCOs Mulan is a cartoon movie adapted from a Chinese poem titled OC£The Ballad of MulanOCO that dates back to the Southern-Northern Dynasty (AD 420-589) in which women were oppressed by the social codes of Confucianism. It tells about a Chinese feminist heroine Hua Mulan, who disguised herself as a man to take her ailing father's place in the army. As the Chinese version, DineyOCOs Mulan is expected to be a movie of feminist. Yet, it seems that the movie even conforms to misogyny. This study aims at uncovering misogyny in Mulan. The analysis centers on the usage of Film Studies, looking at the details provided in the screen (mise en sc?®ne): shots, angles, lighting, color, movement, sound, and etcetera. The analysis is much influenced by the perspectives of Feminism and Cultural Studies by exposing, identifying, and challenging stereotypes of women found throughout the movie. Through the analysis, it could be revealed that the movie upholds misogyny. The main character of the movie, Mulan, depicted as a free-spirited young woman in the beginning of the movie, happens to be the most misogynistic of all. She chooses to come back to her patriarchal family rather than accepting the Emperor's offer to become a member of his counsel, which is a strategic position to make a change for a better condition of women in her society. The movie conveys one message telling that a woman, no matter how successful she is in other cultural domain, must come back to her domestic place leaving any of her position in the public affairs.