Tag: Animation

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all”

Mulan is an animated Disney movie from 1998 based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. In the story Mulan leaves home to take her father’s place in the army during the Hun invasion. The movie follows her path from being an outcast to becoming a strong warrior who eventually saves the Emperor and China.

Why I love Mulan as a Story

I’ve loved this story since I was a child, it had the perfect combination of action, drama, romance and suspense especially for an animated film. Additionally, Mulan was one of the first female-lead Disney movies that wasn’t a princess and made the lead character a regular person that didn’t include a traditional Disney version of ‘femininity’ and happily ever after.

Mulan & the Four Principles of Good Storytelling: Universal

As a story, Mulan hits every single point of Pixar’s four principles of good storytelling and incorporate a number of its 22 rules of storytelling. The first point, “great stories are universal” applies because many of us have struggled with being an outcast, trying to fit in or facing adversity to better yourself. We can also all relate to the reasoning why Mulan chose to risk her life and potentially bring dishonour to her family: the love of her father and being worried for his wellbeing and wanting to make her family proud. These themes are universal among many people in society and helps the audience connect to this story.

Mulan & the Four Principles of Good Storytelling: Clear Structure and Purpose

Mulan also has a very clear structure and purpose as the audience can easily follow along the different steps of her journey to get to the final. The structure, based on Helping Writers Become Authors website would (generally) be:

• Mulan fails at the matchmaker
• Mulan takes her father’s place in the army
• The Huns challenge the Chinese army
• Mulan retrieves the arrow at the camp
• The Chinese army is attacked
• Mulan is discovered as a woman and let go of the army
• The Huns kidnap the emperor
• Mulan kills the Hun leader
• Mulan returns to her family with honour as a hero.

Mulan & the Four Principles of Good Storytelling: Simple & Focused

Mulan as a story is also very simple and focused, while many elements are going on the primary focus is Mulan finding herself and growing into a warrior who honours their family. By keeping this focus, we feel even more connected to the character and root for them even more because we know what they are working towards.

Mulan & the Four Principles of Good Storytelling: Give a Character to Root for

Finally, the last principle of good storytelling, Mulan is absolutely a character to root for. Through her rejection at the matchmaker to her going through base camp and getting stronger and initially being rejected by the other soldiers we all want to see her succeed and bring honour to her family. They showed not only her highs and lows but also how she got from her lowest to her highest.