Why Mulan (1998) is a Masterpiece, while Mulan (2020) is not (And the Importance of Mushu)

I have written a similar article before, about how modern movies for the younger audience do not stick to the initial mythological patterns they were based on and how it affects the overall production, why it is bad, and how it could've been better.

Now, I have a whole nother issue to discuss, just like all the other disappointed people who have watched Mulan (2020) and discussed it in their YouTube videos, like the absolutely admirable video essay of Accented Cinema. 

Mulan (2020) did not just create a whole nother story of its own, which was executed poorly like Frozen 2, or messed up the mythological patterns like Disney's animated version of Hercules (which, by the way, remained quite enjoyable, despite those flaws). No, Mulan (2020) is far worse: it had an impeccable preceding Mulan (1998) animated version, which it should've paid tribute to as its remake; it should've been based on the Chinese ballad of Mulan (as the creators claimed); and it should've been enjoyable to the Chinese audience (as the creators wanted). It did none of those: it messed up the Chinese mythological patterns, ruined the symbolical patterns of Mulan (1998) in several ways, and was despicable not only to the Western but to the Eastern audience (see the above link of the video essay of Accented Cinema, who happens to be Chinese, on YouTube).

How did it do all that? - Now, that's the interesting part! At least, we can give Disney a medal for good educational content: How a good movie adaptation should NOT be made.

You may argue that Mulan (1998) didn't follow the Chinese cultural and historical patterns either. That is true, but Mulan (1998) was still a masterpiece, and all of those messed-up patterns could be accepted as deliberate choices, just like in the case of Hercules. Why? - Because the symbolical pattern the creators had made on their own for Mulan (1998), was amazing, it paid tribute to the mythos of a Chinese dragon symbol (minus the fact that it was a comic relief character), and it paid respect to the Ballad of Mulan, fully realising its core message - that whether a woman or a man, they can work equally well in certain circumstances (like war) if given a chance, can fulfill their duties and responsibilities, and can serve their family and country.

In Mulan (1998), Mulan is shown as an ordinary girl like all others at first glance, but full of personality and individuality which makes her unique even as a woman - she is clumsy, messy, a tomboy, and a youngster who doesn't know how she can achieve self-realization but only knows that being a bride is not her thing. It is realistic in terms of teenage development, so not only women but also men viewers can relate to her in this aspect. What makes her a great female role model, especially for women in patriarchal countries, is that she lives in the society of Ancient China where they expect women to only serve as child-bearers for men - their attributes for house management, who remain silent, poised, submissive, etc. The society Mulan lives in is full of dogmas, and again, it is relatable for all of us, because a certain amount of dogmas persists in every society, more so when it concerns the issues of sexism vs. feminism. Prejudices too are quite common - what makes a person ideally masculine or feminine. Mulan (1998) shows those oppositions, dogmas, and prejudices well.

Mulan fully loves her family and understands their sorrow even if they put pressure on her. She is upset at herself for not being a good enough daughter and laments why she cannot show her true worth. So, as caring for her family as she is, she immediately steps up when she finds out that her father, injured and old, is to go to war, where he will definitely die. When her father yells at her that she should know her place, Mulan cries for a while (like any normal human child would do when they live under constant social and familial pressure and their father underscores their failures in the most emotional moment), and then decides to grab her and her father's fate in her own hands - she takes his armour, her horse, and rushes off to join the army in his stead. Why? - Because she wants to prove she can be just as much of a "son" by being a daughter, and, above all because she wants to protect her father and her family. All of that makes Mulan a realistic teenager, and a realistic human being.

Mulan has problems in the male society because, as the only daughter she's been, she has no idea how men act in specific situations, and society has made her believe that men act differently. When Mulan comes into close contact with men, both she and we, the viewers, begin to realise that the idealistic concept of a "man" Mulan's society often talked about, is far from the truth: men are just as clumsy, if not more; they're show-offs (which is common in men of young age); they don't know their self-worth and are aiming for self-realization just like Mulan, and they're no better than Mulan. She is shown to be smarter than them, because she is the one who, in the end, sees the essence of Li Shang's exercise and rekindles the others' spirits. She gets better gradually just like the men, becomes their comrade, and nobody suspects she's any different. They even begin to praise her for her ingenuity. 

In the battle, Mulan shows her problem-solving skills: she calculates how she can obliterate the enemy army with the use of the environment around her, minimal effort, maximum audacity, and a bit of luck. Does it sound like an optimal battle strategist that only a few like Alexander the Great have been? - Yes, it does.

Mulan's plan succeeds, and Shan Yu loses most of his troops. But it's not over - Mulan is found out to be a woman and is shunned away by the men. Yet, her life is preserved by Li Shang, who owes her his life, and, let's be honest, we all know he fell for her at that moment, even if just a bit.

In the imperial city, Mulan (1998) takes the events to a whole new level: a woman disguising herself as a man is not enough to prove equality, is it? - Mulan's three comrades from the war disguise themselves as women this time, and, applying what they've learned in battle, they make way for Mulan and Shang to access the quarters where Shan Yu and the captured emperor are. It shows how Mulan's strategic skills work well even in this case, and how it never matters whether one is a man or a woman, both can succeed by applying their skill sets to solve the problem at hand. 

In the end, Mulan blows up Shan Yu (again, using her skills, a bit of luck, and the environment), and saves the emperor. The emperor scolds her for her audacity as the patriarch that he is, but then thanks her - a woman - for saving him and the entire China, breaking the dogmas right there. He offers her a place in his court, but Mulan denies it (just like she did in the ballad), and returns home, to the only patriarch she recognizes - her father. Her father, however, throws the gifts of honour she's brought, down to the ground, embraces her, and tells her that the greatest honour for him is to have her for a daughter, breaking the dogmas on his part. This is what a women-empowering movie should look like.

One of the visual metaphors I love the most in Mulan (1998) and that brings me goosebumps every time, is how Mulan's father pointed to the magnolia flower bud in the beginning and said that when it blooms, it will become the most beautiful of all. As you might know, "Mulan" means "Magnolia", and it was hinted in the movie that Fa Zhou was referring to his daughter's growth by that line. After the months of Mulan's absence, before she'd appear at the threshold, we saw the same flower bud in full bloom, falling on Fa Zhou's lap, hinting at Mulan's growth and return. Beautiful, isn't it?

Now, another symbolical pattern which I love and many viewers seem to miss when they watch the movie: not only is the grandma, not just a comic relief character but an important one (since she was at fault for giving the cricket to Mulan and ruining her matchmaking session, which, in the end, led to her running away; and afterwards, it was she who realised Mulan was gone by her psychic powers, and who prayed to the ancestors to give her protection and guidance, resulting in their awakening), but so is Mushu, a very important symbol for Mulan (1998). If you want the truth, that movie is not only Mulan's story but Mushu's story too. How? - I'll explain below.

Many people, including the creators of Mulan (2020), claim that Mushu was bad for the Chinese audience because it insulted their grandest symbol - the red lung dragon - and made it into a comic relief character. Well, that might be true, but there was more importance to Mushu's character in Mulan (1998) than it seemed at first glance, and those Chinese viewers who caught that pattern and forgave Mushu's comic attitude, remained amazed. So, cutting Mushu off for Mulan (2020), created a lot of problems for the creators which they couldn't solve. Cutting off Mushu in the wrong way is what resulted in their messing up the entire movie.

Mushu, as we know, is a little red lung dragon, formerly one of Mulan's family guardians, now demoted, due to his mistake in the past when he failed to guard one of Mulan's ancestors.

Lung dragons in Chinese and overall East Asian folklore come in many shapes and sizes. There is the glorious jade dragon who protects the emperor and his court, and there are many dragons who start little, grow as years pass by, and at 1000 years, become fully-fledged and ascend to the skies. We can only assume Mushu is just one of those little dragons who's got some wisdom to accumulate to ascend to the skies as all dragons do. In Mulan (1998), this pattern of "Dragon's Ascent", so common in Asian lore, was depicted as a demoted little dragon's struggle to ascend back to his glorious post as the guardian of the family. His comic character was a result of his excessive pride like that of a dragon, but physical weakness like that of a little, inexperienced one, who wishes to prove his worth. In a way, Mulan and Mushu were similar - both wanted to prove their worth to the world.

Still, just like Mulan's problem-solving skills and personality come in handy, so does Mushu's small size, the ability to breathe fire, and even his advice and attitude. Due to his small size, nobody can see him other than Mulan, his fire was what saved Mulan in the mountains when she lost the matches and fired up the cannon with Mushu's help, and his being there was the reason for Li Shang's troops' going into battle, in the first place (remember how Mushu and the cricket composed a fake letter for the emperor's vizier and Li Shang? Well, if not for that letter, Li Shang's army would've never departed, and the Huns would've seized China. In those moments, Mushu proved not only Mulan's guardian but the one of China, as the red dragon that he was). So, this at-first-glance comic character is one of the core features of Mulan (1998) - not only a visual metaphor but a mythological symbol serving the advance of the movie.

There's more to it, though: generally, a lung dragon in the Asian lore is considered to be a masculine symbol - a male spirit, while his wife and matching female is the Fenghuang or the phoenix. Now you understand why they added a phoenix instead of the dragon in the Live Action? - Well, they were wrong, because Mushu as a male symbol served a purpose in Mulan (1998): he was a visual metaphor for Mulan's worth as a man. A dragon who accepts to become a woman's guardian acknowledges her as worthy, worthier than other females. It already hinted, although subtly, that Mulan was special among other girls. Mushu did say once that he sacrificed Mulan's safety to regain his position. It meant he betted on Mulan for his "ascent".

Now, how could Mulan (2020) execute this? - They could not, because there was no Mushu. So, instead, they added Chi "superpowers" (because the essence of "Qi" is different in the Chinese lore from what was shown in the movie), which added more confusion to the overall product. As I've said, Qi in the Chinese lore is a different concept: it is sort of an "inner energy flow", that exists in every living being (so, only men or warriors having Qi, as the movie claimed, is wrong). Granted, the Chinese lore suggests that there is a chance to master manipulating one's Qi, but that requires a lot of training and practice, something that was not shown in the Live Action movie (Mulan is introduced as a mistress of Qi at around 10 years of age without any prior hint on how she achieved that. They imply she was born like that, and it's wrong). Apart from Mulan's being born with supernatural abilities rendering her an already-perfect and therefore boring character, the misinterpretation of the Qi abilities and the addition of witches and magic in the movie to uphold the women's "manliness", was confusing and bothersome. 

They said that they cut Mushu to make it more realistic, but cutting a symbol out of a story requires it to be refilled by something of a similar calibre, and they did not succeed in that. As a result, the movie became as unrealistic as possible, both in symbolic and direct ways. Adding a phoenix who did absolutely nothing in the movie, was a wrong step, and would've been even if it had had a purpose, because, as I've said, the phoenix is a female symbol and it guards all women, so, it would not prove that Mulan was any more special than other girls, or that she was a warrior.

Now, how would've Mushu helped the situation? - If a red dragon, little or big, old or young, named Mushu or not, were there and were the Hua Clan's guardian, his choosing a woman to guard and accompany as a spirit, would've been the first hint on Mulan's uniqueness - because, as I've said, a dragon is regarded as a male symbol and never would've guarded females if they were not special in his eyes. So, "Mushu", who was a red dragon aiming for his ascent, would accept to guard Mulan, help her in the war more seriously (compare how they made comic relief characters like Jasmine's and Belle's fathers serious in the Live Action), and help her save China. As a result of guarding a hero, he'd ascend to the skies, and the entire China would've beheld the Dragon's Ascent, which is a symbol of luck and prosperity for the whole country, in Asian lore. Everyone who sees a dragon ascend receives luck and success for years to come. The Hua family would be honoured, both by Mulan's heroism and by the fact that their guardian dragon ascended to the skies. What's more, they wouldn't need such useless concepts as "only men can use Qi but Mulan can use it" anymore. Mushu's guardianship would've served as enough of a hint at Mulan's uniqueness and worth as both a woman and a "manly man" they wanted to portray.

Apart from this, many other issues can be encountered in Mulan (2020), but I will not talk about them since many YouTube reviewers and article authors across the internet have mentioned them multiple times. Here, I only wanted to stress what makes Mulan (1998) a masterpiece and Mulan (2020) a failure, and why Mushu would've been a good add-on to preserve. 

As a wrap-up, I will only mention that when one wants to make a good folktale adaptation from another culture, they'd better hire a representative of that culture as a writer in the pre-production stage (hinting at the fact that Mulan (2020) had 4 screenwriters and none of them was East Asian, let alone Chinese), and a folklorist knowledgeable of that culture who can provide help in terms of visual metaphors and symbolical meanings (Mulan (1998) did have such a specialist, the writer named Robert D. San Souci). Maybe then, we will not get disasters like Mulan (2020) anymore.