Social Norms In The Film Mulan

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The film Mulan, which was directed by Tony Bancroft in 1998, is about a young woman seeking to fit into the Chinese society she is living in. Throughout the film I was able to see the different aspects of the social norms and symbolic culture China had during that time period which is estimated to be during the Wei Dynasty. The culture and norms are displayed by the different obstacles the main character, Fa Mulan, had to overcome. At the end of the film I realized the role conflict she had to face and the deviant acts she had to accomplish in order to bring honor to herself and her family. When I am first introduced to the movie I am automatically drawn to the gender roles the citizens in China had to fit into. In one of the first scenes…show more content…
If they did not have the standards and beliefs they held in the film, Mulan would most likely not have done the things she had done and would have lived a different lifestyle. The society then believed that women were only there to bear children and help raise them when their husbands were not home. They did not really work unless given permission, but that was a rarity, and they were mainly seen as property for quite some time until China started passing laws against certain circumstances. Regardless, how the women acted reflected on the honor of the household and the man. If she behaved then it was seen as if the husband had everything under control like it should have been back then, if the wife had thoughts of her own and the determination to accomplish something that was not seen as lady-like then the household would be socially shamed from society and the husband would be shamed because he could not control his wife. These ideals were in the film Mulan and although not directly mentioned, I was able to spot a few customs that the main character had in her life. The first one was the requirement from her family to see a matchmaker. Matchmakers were created to help families find potential spouses so that they could continue the family line and have a stable economy. Fa Mulan, had she not gone to war, was supposed to be married off in an arranged marriage with whoever the matchmaker set her up with. Another custom was that men where the only ones allowed to go to war. This is due in part to the belief that women must stay home and watch the children while the men fought for their country, their family and honor. Another custom is the way men and women behaved around people, women had to get permission before being able to speak out in public while men were required to act like a gentlemen and honor their elders. Li Shang is shown numerous times talking to his superiors and
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