A Feminist Perspective of Mulan II
Mulan II portrays the story of three Chinese princesses who must marry to expand China’s reign for their father, the emperor. The women at first go along with the plan even though inside none of them are content with marrying men they have never met before. The princesses question themselves as how they fit into their world, illustrating Simone de Beauvoir’s idea where “one wonders . . . what place [women] occupy in this world, what their place should be.” On their long trip to their awaiting marriages, the women seriously consider whether they are “where they belong” rather than standing up for themselves and their rights.
De Beauvoir emphasizes Dorothy Parker’s position on humanity when she quotes “‘My idea is that all of us, men as well as women, should be regarded as human beings.’” The princesses struggle with finding the realization that they deserve the right to be able to choose who they want to marry rather than being cast off as objects. Mulan is able to see through this unfairness and stresses the importance of women making their own life-changing decisions (and specifically in this case, marriage). The reason the princesses are unable to see the world as Mulan sees it is due to the fact that they have accepted their “roles” in the master/slave relationship to men. De Beauvoir explains that “woman may fail to lay claim to the status of subject because she lacks definite resources, because she feels the necessary bond that ties her to man regardless of reciprocity, and because she is often well pleased with her role as the Other.” They have simply accepted the fact that they are dependent on men in order to determine who they are as individuals.
Luckily, the film allows for the princesses to overcome their labels as the “Other” and to choose who they want to be as defined by themselves and not by Man. Although the film ends happily ever after, we’re left wondering: Will there ever be an end to the master/slave relationship between men and women?
Works Cited
Beauvoir, Simone De. "The Second Sex: Woman as Other." Marxists Internet Archive. Web. 04 Aug. 2010.
Mulan II. Dir. Darrell Rooney. Disney, 2004. DVD.
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