History Fridge / Mulan

* When Mulan returns home after being disgraced by the matchmaker, she prays to the Great Stone Dragon, and sits under the statue, very depressed, while her surroundings are soaked and it’s the middle of a thunderstorm. [[DrivenToSuicide Was she hoping she'd die?]]

** Chi Fu also has reasons to be so dismissive of Shang and object to Mulan being made an advisor: the Imperial Examination system meant that he had to pass multiple ''hard'' exams to get to the ''lowest rank of the court bureaucracy'' before starting to work his way to the top. He'd obviously be resentful to Shang, who had recently completed his training and became a captain through nepotism alone, and the very idea of Mulan becoming an advisor without taking even the basic exam would have driven him mad had anyone but the Emperor himself suggested it. If Shang had earned his rank he'd not have dismissed him until proven otherwise, and offering Mulan a reward that did not include such a job in the bureaucracy would have been acceptable to him.

* As awesome as "I'll Make a Man Out of You" is, there's a secondary message to it. The continual background chant "''Be a man''" is actually ''parodying'' the stereotype of men. It's an affirmation that the new recruits ''must'' train for war despite having no experience in it, because "that's what men do". Mulan is seeing first-hand that, although she's not the most experienced soldier, the others are struggling like she is, and also have to bear the social pressure of being strong and battle-hardened. Even if they do bully her in the beginning, [[NotSoDifferent they're in the same boat as she is]].

* If you watch carefully, Mulan was being kicked out not only because she seemed unable to withstand the physical training, but also because she (well, it was actually Mushu, but not from Shang's point of view) resorted to trickery. He doesn't say "you are too weak", but "you are unsuited for/ the rage of war" (because an undisciplined soldier can result in many dying). He believed she lacked ''both'' strength and discipline. By passing the test, she proved him completely wrong.
* There's also the metaphor behind it all: Mulan was only able to succeed when she stopped viewing Strength and Discipline as obstacles pulling her back and started using them as tools to aid her.

* Filial piety is one of the greatest cultural values of China. She had endangered her own life, risking a most shameful death, to respect that value well beyond anyone would deem possible. It helps explain why Shang spared her.

* Mulan's CharacterDevelopment is possibly [[RuleOfSymbolism signified]] by the only two times in the movie we see her take a bath: In the beginning, [[EstablishingCharacterMoment during "Honor to us all"]], Mulan has to be pushed in (representing how she lives in a society where a woman can't act for herself), she falls into the bath rather [[TheKlutz gracelessly]], and she fusses over how cold her bath is. After the training montage in "I'll make a Man out of you", Mulan simply jumps into the water (representing her independence), she's much more coordinated at this point, and she savors her bath despite the river's possibly frigid temperature.
* As awesome as "I'll make a Man out of you" is, there's a secondary message to it. It clicks when one listens to the continual background chant "''Be a man''" and realize that in a [[ComicallySerious serious]] way, the song is unto itself a satire of the stereotype of men. It's an affirmation that Ling and Chin Po and Yao ''must'' train for war despite having no experience in it because "that's what men do". Mulan is seeing first-hand that although she's not the most experienced soldier, the others are struggling like she is, and also have to bear the social pressure of being strong and battle-hardened. Even if they do bully her in the beginning, [[NotSoDifferent they're in the same boat as she is]].
* It's very easy to dismiss the subplot involving Cri-Kee in ''Mulan'' as simple RuleOfFunny. Everyone believed he was lucky when he truly wasn't, thus explaining why so much went wrong when people depended on him for luck -- case in point, Mulan's session with the matchmaker. However, unless Grandma was really lucky on her own, there's no way she could have made it across that road without Cri-Kee's luck. But if Cri-Kee really IS lucky, then why did he cause so much trouble with the matchmaker? Sure, he may have just been trying to escape, or hated being taken advantage of, or he was just a little troublemaker, or because he believed himself to be so unlucky that the thought of him being there to help Mulan terrified him... '''but then''' the answer comes: if Mulan had passed the matchmaker's assessment, she would have become "a perfect porcelain doll", married some rich man the matchmaker or her parents chose for her... and then ''all of China would have fallen to the Huns'', and she would never have proven she could bring honor by her own individual merit instead of through marriage (not to mention find a fine man all on her own, thank you). Therefore, even though it didn't feel like that to her at the time, being humiliated before the matchmaker was the ''luckiest'' thing that could ever have happened, for her or for China.
* Noted in a WMG: the letter that Mushu gave Chi Fu was exactly what was needed for Shang's troop to arrive in time to save the day. Now think about who actually WROTE the letter for a second... That is one lucky cricket.
* More on the cricket: note that in war, good fortune for one side is terrible fortune for the other. Now consider what all the good fortune Cri-Kee brought to his keepers cost everyone else: the terrible traffic accident Mulan's grandmother caused with her reckless test was a terrible misfortune to all the people driving those carts and rickshaws, the matchmaker suffered a lot of AmusingInjuries and ClothingDamage for the sake of Mulan's fortuitous change of career path, and the barbaric Huns (or Xiongnu) suffered a catastrophic defeat at Mulan's hands. His "lucky" letter that brought Shang's forces to the front lines saved China, but also introduced the entire unit to the very "unlucky" [[WarIsHell horrors of war]]. That cricket is actually TheJinx -- the good fortune he brings his keepers comes at the expense of a great many others' misfortunes. Perhaps this is why Cri-Kee tearfully declares (as translated by Mushu) that he is not a lucky cricket during the scene in the mountains after Mulan's secret is discovered.
* A lot of people were annoyed that Creator/EddieMurphy was cast as Mushu, the disgraced Chinese Dragon sent to help Mulan. (Sort of) Everyone else in this movie was Asian-American, so why not Mushu? Look at what he is: he's selfish, lighthearted, joking, obsessed in regaining his reputation, and willing to pull a few strings in order to get what he wants. OK, but what's the big thing? He breathes fire. Now fire breathing is normally a Western Dragon trait. Western? Wait a minute -- that's it! The whole reason Eddie Murphy was cast as Mushu was ''to help amplify the idea of throwing Western values into the Chinese society''. No wonder he's so out of place.
* A troper with a grasp of Chinese history will appreciate the plotline and story a lot more (with the entire conflict between the Xiongnu and the Imperial Authority).
* During Mulan's preparations for meeting the Matchmaker, one of the women getting her ready sings that she'll turn "this sow's ear into a silk purse". The thing is, the proverb specifically states that it can't be done, just like Mulan could never be the perfect little doll that everyone expected. Nevertheless, the woman was stating how she knows it's impossible and is accepting the challenge.
* As for the Great Stone Dragon not waking up to the gong, Mulan sat under that very statue when she made her decision to run away to the army and take her father's place. Mushu couldn't wake the dragon up because its spirit had already left with Mulan, inspiring her to courage!
* Mulan is considered as an official Franchise/DisneyPrincess despite not being royalty, by birth or marriage. Had she ended up marrying the wrong guy at the end of the sequel, she would have become a princess herself! In the first move she can be considered a princess because of the crest her country's emperor gave her and the fact that everyone, including the emperor, bowed to her; being bowed to was a big honour... especially since it came from the emperor himself.
* In Chinese social structure things were a bit more meritocratic. To start with how you get placed in social classes is primarily based on your academic performance. A peasant can not only rise through the classes via performing well in state sponsored tests, the aristocracy of Chinese civilization for the most part tended to be scholars who were the most educated and scholars had to maintain their reputation for intelligence as required by their social classes even after passing the test and being accepted into the equivalent of nobility. Even non-academic stuff like [=CEOs=] and politicians required showing intelligence expected with the scholar classes to even be accepted. The fact Li was already a Captain at the start of the film and his father a high ranking general (with implications that Li's family line was military) pretty much is the signal Li's family had been in the equivalent of royalty for generation. So in a sense Mulan did become a Princess by marrying someone from the (scholarly) aristocracy.
* While not strictly the scholarly castes, Mulan's father was a war hero and given a parcel of land that was pretty big even by the standards of minor nobility in Europe. Going by his reputation and his assets, Zhou was probably made into the Chinese equivalent of a knight which was lesser royalty in Europe. This is especially since Mulan's maternal relatives are so obsessed with her marrying a man (even by the standards of her sexist culture) and were so upset Mulan had to do hard labor outside the kitchen. They wanted to maintain the image that they were a noble family. So while technically not a princess, not even an aristocratic daughter, Mulan had a position that would qualify as a "minor princess".
* Shan Yu's lack of humiliation at being [[IWasBeatenByAGirl defeated several times by a woman]] makes sense: most steppe people have had warrior women and up to the 12th century, the Huns in particular were very accepting of women hunting and going to battle. To him, [[WouldHitAGirl she was just another warrior to defeat]]!
* Mulan uses a fan, an object that is a symbol of femininity, to defeat Shan-Yu. Even more brilliance is the fact that the move she uses is an actual Wushu move.

* The Emperor bows to Mulan but refuses to bow to Shan-Yu. The mountain doesn't bow to a simple strong wind like Shan-Yu's demands. But Mulan impresses the Emperor through several heroic deeds, the way a mountain is gradually eroded by consistent winds.
* The entire training sequence might just seem like typical slapstick comedy, but upon further examination -- ''of course'' the men sucked at first, they were all recruited from their respective villages, and had probably never held a weapon in their lives. However, not being nobility, they would have had to be pretty fit to work in their respective occupations, which explains why they are able to complete the running exercises and why they improved so quickly. This also explains why Mulan has such a hard time fitting in and keeping up, eventually washing out of training because of those same running exercises; she's only used to chores around the house and farm, not hard labor.
* Why did Mulan adapt quite so quick especially in a time women would be out of shape? She may not have been used to backbreaking jobs such as mining or chopping trees, but she still had to do not only hard household chores (for a Chinese woman at the time) but also farm work. Even jobs that don't require strength such as feeding the rooster can be exhausting and builds up endurance. As shown her prime difficulties were with strength and the actual skillsets of war like using with rockets. In many parts of the strength such as the stretching, aerobics,martial arts sparring,, and warm up jogging (without weights), she did quite well and was even outperforming some of the less competent soldiers in the camp. A typical Chinese girl would be so used to very easy labor such as doing the dishes she would not have lasted even the less intense activity like stretching that Mulan did. She merely needed to get used to handling weapons and build up strength to carry heavy military equipment.
* Mulan not only keeping up but outrunning everyone at the end of "I'll Make a Man out of You" can be explained by her extremely good horsemanship. She can ride Khan bareback at a gallop, from the top of the movie. This builds up plenty of endurance but little strength (since Khan would have logically carried everything heavy), not to mention she is infantry, so her riding skills may have been noted but not utilized. All she needed was a little time to get used to carrying packs.
* She performed excellently at non-strength stuff like practising katas and jumping. But to add on specifically to the horsemanship thing, not how Mulan discovers the trick to going on top before everyone could? Rather than relying sole on her arms, she used the entirety of her legs and even wrapped it around in a modified bodily posture for riding. The strength horsemanship would have given to her legs was essential for her making it to the top of the pole and getting the arrows before everyone else could. If she was a normal Chinese peasant, even with the shown month or so of training, she would not have done the pole climbing exercise so fast enough to be the first one to do so. Also she particularly is shown to do quite well in leg based stuff like jogging, even beating other men which is probably as a result of riding horses for a longtime. Without all the hard household chores and especially farm work (which would have involved horse training), she would never have lasted so long in bootcamp despite initially being so far behind than than all soldiers in most exercises. If she were a normal contemporary Chinese girl, her body would be broken from the first day of training (even taking into account how difficult easier household chores like keeping the building warm was during this time period) and she'd probably be discovered sooner and put to death. It was indeed a good thing she was rich enough to live in a farm property but so poor that she had to do a lot of the work only men would do because thats how she got the physical athleticism to pass bootcamp. Also regarding her using her legs: women have most strength in their legs (as opposed to men, who have it in their upper body), due to different muscle mass distribution. So the fact that she's actually a woman, actually helped her succeeding in the task.
* Pretty subtle but since we're going with the fact that Mulan means "wood flower," which this troper only found out now, the analogies that Fa Zhou and the Emperor, her father and a father-figure respectively, give are awesome BookEnds. Near the beginning, after the disaster with the matchmaker, Fa Zhou compares his daughter to a late blooming flower. Towards the end, the Emperor implies to Shang that she's the "most rare and beautiful" of flowers because she "blooms in adversity". Bonus points because she hits her stride from the mountain attack up north -- where the movie goes out of its way to point out that it was still snowing and by rights the battle with the Huns was not easily won (it took cunning and risk to pull it off), so technically she blooms in the dead of winter.
* It's been pointed out in several places that Mulan could have gone home after washing out of boot camp, but chose to stay because of her pride and sense of personal honor. That's true, but it's also quite likely that with his "son" unsuitable and the troops still close to town, Fa Zhou probably would have been compelled to join up. Of course, ''he'' could have been dismissed too, but either 1. boot camp would have been bad for his health or 2. Shang would never actually dismiss the great Fa Zhou and ask him to serve in an advisory capacity due to his physical disability, which still means he's going to face the Hun army unless Mulan finds a way to stay in.
* The Emperor is shocked, then rather amused when Mulan hugs him. Besides being a father figure to China, we find out in the sequel that he has three daughters roughly Mulan's age. Normally, no, you are not allowed to hug the Emperor, but seeing as he's a doting father and "has heard a great deal about" Mulan, maybe that includes the story about her father, he cuts her a little slack. By [[KneelBeforeFrodo bowing to her]], he also very publicly forgives her "crime" of pretending to be the Fa family's nonexistent son (because otherwise her deception was technically ''treason against the crown'' and the ObstructiveBureaucrat could've had her and her entire family executed -- the movie glosses over this detail in favor of making Chi Fu a straight-up misogynist jerk, whereas in "reality" it was her lying that probably would've been the bigger issue).
* One thing that has circulated around the various pages are questions regarding the small size of Shang's unit which, upon close examination, is barely platoon strength (by modern force organization standards). His father, a General, leads a much larger unit of Mounted Infantry [[note]]Infantry that only uses their horses for travel, but fight on foot[[/note]]. Basically, Shang, a captain, is leading a support contingent of this larger force. What's the evidence? Watch the training sequence and notice how the trainees are basically getting lots of practice in with cannons and bows, but very little with close combat (beyond some basic hand-to-hand training and calisthenics). During the mountain battle, Shang orders everyone to save the cannons, as well as ordering everyone to get out of range of the arrows, which is something regular line infantry NEVER do when attacked (they usually close the distance or seek cover). Support units are trained to fall back and avoid direct contact where possible, but once they get set up, the party begins. In short, and in modern terms, the unit that Mulan is part of is basically a Mortar Detachment of Shang Sr.'s Mounted Infantry Brigade... all of which is going up against a [[OhCrap Hun army of ten thousand strong...]]
* Shang's decision to have Yao try to kill Shan-Yu. In real life, the Huns and other similar groups were literally held together by the will of their leaders. When those leaders died, the people usually fell into infighting to decide who should succeed him. Thus, even though the Chinese would have been wiped out in that battle, it's possible China would have been saved anyways because the Huns would be fighting each other.
* During the climax, Mulan and the others use disguises to take out the Hun soldiers, who've left Shan-Yu alone to threaten the Emperor. Once the Huns are beaten, Shang -- who'd been hiding further back until now -- rushes in to face Shan-Yu directly. While Mulan is still the one who defeats Shan-Yu in the end, it makes perfect sense to have Shang be the one ''intended'' to fight Shan-Yu on two levels: firstly, Shang is the one and only professional soldier present, whereas all the others are conscripts, so he has the best chance of fighting Shan-Yu and getting out alive even if he can't properly defeat him, and once the Emperor is safe they (either all the major characters or ''the entire population of the capital city'') can easily stop him just by sheer weight of numbers even if some of them die in the process; secondly, it looks better for Shang to be the one to save the Emperor -- he's the decorated soldier, son of a famous general, leader of the forces who wiped out the Hunnic horde, ''and'' is a strong masculine figure, fitting in to Ancient China's gender roles as demonstrated in the film.
* Mulan being prepared in a rush to see the matchmaker wasn't just an EstablishingCharacterMoment to show how she would be a terrible bride; it would also set up her ability to disguise Ling, Yao and Chien-Po with minutes to spare. What's more she rushed through the steps so that they only did their the hair, makeup and clothes rather than the waist-tightening.

* The Huns falling for the Concubine disguises seem silly especially since they look like male drag queens and even "ugly concubines" to quote one of the Huns. At first a classic example of "PlayedForLaughs". However the Huns were knocked out unconscious and buried under snow after the avalanche in what is obviously very cold weather and they still had to march to the capital and feign under disguise to capture the emperor. Cold weather is known to not only distort people's state of mind but even cause hallucinations and other weird effects and that just cold weather thats not exactly low enough to cause snow to fall and freeze water but simply cold enough to wear a jacket in a November night as you visit a friend's house. Even the warm levels of cold temperature can cause effects to your mind when you stay outside too long. Now when you couple its probably 32 Fahrenheit and the fact they were UNDER the SNOW for whats implied to be several hours, it makes sense they'd mistaken Mulan's disguises for the trio Chinese soldiers. Being forced to sprint to the city and than remain in disguises to kidnap the emperor probably spent up some of their energy and dehydrated them to add to the fact. So they probably literally saw the concubines as "ugly women"!
* One line in the opening song says that a girl can bring honour to her family by "striking a good match". This could be a very subtle StealthPun that doubles as foreshadowing. Shan Yu is eventually killed by a rocket, which requires a ''different'' kind of match to be struck in order to work.

* It might seem odd that Shang, after putting up a pretty good fight, is subdued rather quickly by Shan Yu. Most assume that this is due to Shan Yu's height and more experience, but there could be a reason. Shang was wounded by an arrow in the mountain battle, and it has been a whole day, clearly not enough time for the wound to heal. So Shang's injury meant he was not at the best of his abilities, and whatever adrenaline rush he briefly got quickly faded out, and meant Shan Yu barely had to do any fighting at all.
* There is an actual justification why Shan Yu is one of the Disney Villains without a VillainSong. He's a BloodKnight Hun general, so he's more interested in a good fight and slaughter rather than wasting time on pointless musical numbers. This is supported by the fact that his massacre of the village literally stops the musical part of the film in its tracks. In fact, there's ''no songs at all'' until the end credits, pretty much telling the soilders, and the audience, that war isn't some cartoon musical: WarIsHell.

* Shan Yu basically says this is what in wants, partially so that he can draw China's army into a field battle and destroy them (further enforced by how he burns at least one village likely with this intent), which is exactly what ends up happening with General Lee. Does this mean that huge army could have infiltrated China with no one being the wiser if they had wanted to?
* Similarly, is hearing the Matchmaker's song at 21 where you suddenly understand "Scarier than the undertaker [[DomesticAbuse we]] [[TheBluebeard are]] [[MaritalRapeLicense meeting]] our matchmaker". On another note, to the women who wanted to find a husband, this was the woman who held their entire future in her hands. If they made a good impression then they would get a good husband but if they did poorly then they would get a bad husband if she even matched them up at all.
* Mulan admits to herself that she partially went off as to prove to herself that she was worth something; had she passed the matchmaker's test, yes she'd still be horrified but she might not have left.
* Considering the patriarchal-to-the-point-of-misogynistic nature of Chinese culture at the time, if Mulan's father ''had'' gone to war, the matchmaker would have been the only choice for survival she would have had...
* Mushu scares the firework men from the tower and they jump off... at least six stories...

* Shang finds out "Ping" is Mulan, freaks out, spares her life--and then leaves her alone to find her way back home, in the snow, ''during a war.'' She still had her clothes and horse and stuff but she's alone and a long way from home. The soldiers had not much with them in the first place; their primary objective was speed, so they took little in terms of extra clothing. And Mulan's armor was damaged when she was struck by Shan-Yu; even if she had been left with it (it didn't look like she was, as she had had to change out of it when she was treated), she would have still succumbed to cold quite quickly, given that it was winter. Result: had she not spotted some of the Huns were still alive later on, she could likely have frozen to death where the unit left her. And that's before we get to the issue of her ''one'' basket of dumplings, and total lack of fodder.
* If Mulan hadn't heard the Huns, even if she was getting herself ready to go home, there ''is'' the possibility that she would have been found/crossed paths with them. Even if he was so close to the city and his objective, Shan Yu would have noticed how strange it was and ''would have probably realized right there that Mulan was the soldier from the mountains''.
* Thanks to one little Youtuber on [[http://youtu.be/ZSS5dEeMX64 ''I'll Make A Man Out Of You'']], we now realize that the movie would've ended quite sooner if he took a peek in her shirt at 0:52...

* The sudden attack on Shang's army from above by Hun archers perched on the mountains adds an element of horror for Shang because it's nearly a repetition of the way his father likely died. The Huns probably ambushed the General's army in the same manner, used arrows to both thin the ranks and force the Chinese to expend their cannons, and then Shan Yu and his cavalry would have swept in to mop up the survivors.
* When Mulan took the last cannon from Yao to aim at the mountain rather than at Shan Yu, Shang isn't just screaming for "Ping" to come back because she's defying orders. He didn't know what the foot soldier was planning. As Shang saw it, Ping was doing a SuicideMission to take out Shan Yu at a closer range and spare her comrades before they'd go down fighting. No wonder he's screaming "Stop!" and charging after Ping.
* Mushu had a point when he saw that Mulan aimed the cannon at the mountain: "He was three feet in front of you!" Shan Yu stops because of the cannon's fiery trail, and turns to see where it lands. In those seconds Mulan could have slashed at his horse or got up to mount a defense, rather than standing there with a smirk. As a result, she gets slashed, which outs her later. NiceJobBreakingItHero, Mulan.
* When Mulan returns home after being disgraced by the matchmaker, she prays to the Great Stone Dragon, and sits under the statue, very depressed, while her surroundings are soaked and it’s the middle of a thunderstorm. [[DrivenToSuicide Was she hoping she’d die?]]

** Not only that, a few headscratcher entries reveals other reasons why Mushu is like this. First, his form before waking up is that of an ''incense burner'', which explains his affinity for fire. Secondly, Eastern Dragons that are associated with fire relatively rare compared to their more popular peers who are associated with ''water''. Being a rarity among his fellow dragons would've no doubt inflated his already huge ego.

* At 9 years old, [[strike: "Be a Man"]] "I'll Make a Man Out Of You" was just another catchy Disney song. At 21, it suddenly hit me that the chorus is a reference to Sun Tzu's ''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}''. Let's compare:
*** We must be swift as the coursing river\\
With all the force of a great typhoon\\
With all the strength of a raging fire\\
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
*** "Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest.\\
In raiding and plundering be like fire, in immovability like a mountain.\\
Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."
*** Also, "tranquil as forest, but on fire within" is a reference to the black side of the yin yang. Very clever lyrics, indeed. -Radio/TheShadow

** Piggybacking on your comment, in Chinese social structure things were a bit more meritocratic. To start with how you get placed in social classes is primarily based on your academic performance. A peasant can not only rise through the classes via performing well in state sponsored tests, the aristocracy of Chinese civilization for the most part tended to be scholars who were the most educated and scholars had to maintain their reputation for intelligence as required by their social classes even after passing the test and being accepted into the equivalent of nobility. Even non-academic stuff like [=CEOs=] and politicians required showing intelligence expected with the scholar classes to even be accepted. The fact Li was already a Captain at the start of the film and his father a high ranking general (with implications that Li's family line was military) pretty much is the signal Li's family had been in the equivalent of royalty for generation. So in a sense Mulan did become a Princess by marrying someone from the (scholarly) aristocracy.
*** Also while not strictly the scholarly castes, Mulan's father was a war hero and given a parcel of land that was pretty big even by the standards of minor nobility in Europe. Going by his reputation and his assets, Zhou was probably made into the Chinese equivalent of a knight which was lesser royalty in Europe. This is especially since Mulan's maternal relatives are so obsessed with her marrying a man (even by the standards of her sexist culture) and were so upset Mulan had to do hard labor outside the kitchen. They wanted to maintain the image that they were a noble family. So while technically not a princess, not even an aristocratic daughter, Mulan had a position that would qualify as a "minor princess".

** There is some irony in this: The Chinese tradition stated that Mulan deserved death when it was discovered she was a woman even though she had just destroyed the Hun army. However, if the situation was inverted and she were at the side of the Huns, Mulan would probably receive praises and the recognition of her value.
* Mulan uses a fan, an object that is a symbol of femininity, to defeat Shan-Yu.
** Even more brilliance is the fact that the move she uses is an actual Wushu move.

** The Emperor bows to Mulan but refuses to bow to Shan-Yu. The mountain doesn't bow to a simple strong wind like Shan-Yu's demands. But Mulan impresses the Emperor through several heroic deeds, the way a mountain is gradually eroded by consistent winds.
* The entire training sequence might just seem like typical slapstick comedy, but upon further examination -- ''of course'' the men sucked at first, they were all recruited from their respective villages, and had probably never held a weapon in their lives. However, not being nobility, they would have had to be pretty fit to work in their respective occupations, which explains why they are able to complete the running exercises and why they improved so quickly.
** This also explains why Mulan has such a hard time fitting in and keeping up, eventually washing out of training because of those same running exercises; she's only used to chores around the house and farm, not hard labor.
*** Even this is fridge brilliance and explains why Mulan adapted quite quick especially in a time women would be out of shape. She may not have been used to backbreaking jobs such as mining or chopping trees, but she still had to do not only hard household chores (for a Chinese woman at the time) but also farm work. Having worked at the easier jobs at a farm, I tell you that carrying small sacks of food stock may seem like playing a leisure game of soccer but it TIRES YOU OUT quickly if you're not used to it. Even jobs that don't require strength such as feeding the rooster can be exhausting and builds up endurance. As shown her prime difficulties were with strength and the actual skillsets of war like using with rockets. In many parts of the strength such as the stretching, aerobics,martial arts sparring,, and warm up jogging (without weights), she did quite well and was even outperforming some of the less competent soldiers in the camp. A typical Chinese girl would be so used to very easy labor such as doing the dishes she would not have lasted even the less intense activity like stretching that Mulan did. She merely needed to get used to handling weapons and build up strength to carry heavy military equipment.
** Another layer of brilliance: Mulan not only keeping up but outrunning everyone at the end of "I'll Make a Man out of You" can be explained by her extremely good horsemanship. She can ride Khan bareback at a gallop, from the top of the movie. This builds up plenty of endurance but little strength (since Khan would have logically carried everything heavy), not to mention she is infantry, so her riding skills may have been noted but not utilized. All she needed was a little time to get used to carrying packs.
*** Pretty much agree but to also, she performed excellently at non-strength stuff like practising katas and jumping. But to add on specifically to the horsemanship thing, not how Mulan discovers the trick to going on top before everyone could? Rather than relying sole on her arms, she used the entirety of her legs and even wrapped it around in a modified bodily posture for riding. The strength horsemanship would have given to her legs was essential for her making it to the top of the pole and getting the arrows before everyone else could. If she was a normal Chinese peasant, even with the shown month or so of training, she would not have done the pole climbing exercise so fast enough to be the first one to do so. Also she particularly is shown to do quite well in leg based stuff like jogging, even beating other men which is probably as a result of riding horses for a longtime. Without all the hard household chores and especially farm work (which would have involved horse training), she would never have lasted so long in bootcamp despite initially being so far behind than than all soldiers in most exercises. If she were a normal contemporary Chinese girl, her body would be broken from the first day of training (even taking into account how difficult easier household chores like keeping the building warm was during this time period) and she'd probably be discovered sooner and put to death. It was indeed a good thing she was rich enough to live in a farm property but so poor that she had to do a lot of the work only men would do because thats how she got the physical athleticism to pass bootcamp. Also regarding her using her legs: women have most strength in their legs (as opposed to men, who have it in their upper body), due to different muscle mass distribution. So the fact that she's actually a woman, actually helped her succeeding in the task.

* The Emperor is shocked, then rather amused when Mulan hugs him. Besides being a father figure to China, we find out in the sequel that he has three daughters roughly Mulan's age. Normally, no, you are not allowed to hug the Emperor, but seeing as he's a doting father and "has heard a great deal about" Mulan, maybe that includes the story about her father, he cuts her a little slack.
** By [[KneelBeforeFrodo bowing to her]], he also very publicly forgives her "crime" of pretending to be the Fa family's nonexistent son (because otherwise her deception was technically ''treason against the crown'' and the ObstructiveBureaucrat could've had her and her entire family executed -- the movie glosses over this detail in favor of making Chi Fu a straight-up misogynist jerk, whereas in "reality" it was her lying that probably would've been the bigger issue).
* This troper is Vietnamese (born and bred in Hanoi), and she doesn't know if it’s the same in Chinese culture (granted, the two cultures are extremely similar due to China's multiple attempts on Vietnam), but she has just realized something brilliant about Mulan's names. In Vietnam, we have a term for a vapid, apparently quiet and demure and well-behaved but is simply an airhead of a woman: “bình bông di động”, which basically means “moving flower-pot”. And in Mulan’s time? Being a moving flower-pot is what females are expected to do -- be quiet, obey your parents and husband, be pretty and graceful and virtuous, stay in your/your husband’s ancestral home, produce heirs to preserve the family lineage, etc. (As evident in Honor to Us All and A Girl Worth Fighting For.) Both her make-up in Honor and her false name are masks. Society dictates that she cannot marry into a good house if she’s not a flower-pot, and no matter how valiantly she fights or how clever she is, she is still just a woman, which is seen as something shameful. No matter what she does, society will insist upon labeling her as vapid and worthless without a man. But at the end of the day, Mulan’s story is a big “Screw You!” to the ideal of the flower-pot. She still fulfills her filial duties as set by Confucian values without being erased by society: she is lauded as a hero(ine) of China (preserving her family name and bringing honor to her ancestors), she marries Shang (a man of great station, whom she loves, as opposed to the traditional arranged marriages) and by this she can, to use a Vietnamese term, “keep the incense burning on the family altar,” i.e. produce children. She proves that you do not need to be a flower-pot to be a dutiful, ideal wife and daughter.

** Also, if you watch carefully, Mulan was being kicked out not only because she seemed unable to withstand the physical training, but also because she (well, it was actually Mushu, but not from Shang's point of view) resorted to trickery. He doesn't say "you are too weak", but "you are unsuited for/ the rage of war" (because an undisciplined soldier can result in many dying). He believed she lacked ''both'' strength and discipline. By passing the test, she proved him completely wrong.
** There's also the metaphor behind it all: Mulan was only able to succeed when she stopped viewing Strength and Discipline as obstacles pulling her back and started using them as tools to aid her.

** Also, filial piety is one of the greatest cultural values of China. She had endangered her own life, risking a most shameful death, to respect that value well beyond anyone would deem possible. It helps explain why Shang spared her.

* Mulan's CharacterDevelopment is possibly [[RuleOfSymbolism signified]] by the only two times in the movie we see her take a bath:
** In the beginning, [[EstablishingCharacterMoment during "Honor to us all"]], Mulan has to be pushed in (representing how she lives in a society where a woman can't act for herself), she falls into the bath rather [[TheKlutz gracelessly]], and she fusses over how cold her bath is.
** After the training montage in "I'll make a Man out of you", Mulan simply jumps into the water (representing her independence), she's much more coordinated at this point, and she savors her bath despite the river's possibly frigid temperature.

** More on the cricket: note that in war, good fortune for one side is terrible fortune for the other. Now consider what all the good fortune Cri-Kee brought to his keepers cost everyone else: the terrible traffic accident Mulan's grandmother caused with her reckless test was a terrible misfortune to all the people driving those carts and rickshaws, the matchmaker suffered a lot of AmusingInjuries and ClothingDamage for the sake of Mulan's fortuitous change of career path, and the barbaric Huns (or Xiongnu) suffered a catastrophic defeat at Mulan's hands. His "lucky" letter that brought Shang's forces to the front lines saved China, but also introduced the entire unit to the very "unlucky" [[WarIsHell horrors of war]]. That cricket is actually TheJinx -- the good fortune he brings his keepers comes at the expense of a great many others' misfortunes. Perhaps this is why Cri-Kee tearfully declares (as translated by Mushu) that he is not a lucky cricket during the scene in the mountains after Mulan's secret is discovered.

** Even better: Her birth name. Fa Mulan. Mulan means “wood orchid”. (Yes, I know it also means “magnolia”.) Orchids and magnolias cannot be put in pots. Ever. Period. Mulan is someone who is at once noble and beautiful and strong and will not be confined, just like the flowers she is named after.
** Better still: Magnolias are an example of what is known in botany as a "perfect flower" -- that is, a flower with both male and female reproductive parts. Mulan may not be physically [[WrongGeneticSex intersex]], but considering her [[SweetPollyOliver crossdressing shenanigans]] it seems so appropriate that her namesake flower is naturally a perfect balance of both male and female.

* I was listening to the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For" and there's a line where Yao tells Ping/Mulan, "Bet the local girls thought you were quite the charmer." Of course Ping is a charmer! It's Mulan, a woman who can relate to these other women. Think about it. Ping treats women the way Mulan wants to be treated: "he" doesn't have the sexist views of "his" comrades because Mulan knows what it's like to be on the receiving end of these beliefs, and "he" doesn't get caught up in the "manly ways [that] are sure to thrill her" antics the other guys pull because Mulan isn't impressed and knows that other women won't be either.
** There's also "his" slightly effeminate good looks: as noted on the CampStraight page, a lot of gals ''like'' the looks and mannerisms of a pretty boy. The women shown tittering at how cute Ping is don't actually get to meet "him" or learn much about "his" personality, but they ''do'' find it charming that "he" seems to be such a ShrinkingViolet, turning away and blushing at their flirtations.

* Chi Fu isn't just a {{Jerkass}}; he's also [[JerkassHasAPoint right]] in regards to the odds that Shang and his men face. That explains why Mulan has to break typical rules of combat to turn the tide:
** Chi Fu points out that the men aren't ready for war. When the Huns attack them, all of the soldiers are outmanned and outgunned. Shang tried his best, but he had no idea what the soldiers would face. Mulan ends up saving them with a creative solution, by using the environment as a weapon rather than brute force.
** He also says that Shang is an academy student who hasn't actually fought in a real battle. This ends up proving correct: Shan-Yu delivers a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown which nearly kills Shang. Again, Mulan changes the rules by drawing Shan-Yu's wrath so that he doesn't murder her captain, drawing him to the roof, and defeating him with a fan and fireworks as an ImprovisedWeapon.
* The Huns are depicted as inhuman if not outright demonic because the movie is framed as an in-universe legend. This could also explain Mushu.
** The latter is unlikely. DragonsAreDivine in China, with them taking up various roles in real life myths and folk tales. Being mainly the PluckyComicRelief ''isn't'' one of them and would have been seen as blasphemy. TheAtoner trying to restore his honor for failing the last time, with some occasional jokes, is the more likely what really happened.

* There is an actual justification why Shan Yu is one of the Disney Villains without a VillainSong. He's a BloodKnight Hun general, so he's more interested in a good fight and slaughter rather than wasting time on pointless musical numbers.
** This is supported by the fact that his massacre of the village literally stops the musical part of the film in its tracks. In fact, there's ''no songs at all'' until the end credits, pretty much telling the soilders, and the audience, that war isn't some cartoon musical: WarIsHell.

** Even worse is how Shan Yu basically says this is what in wants, partially so that he can draw China's army into a field battle and destroy them (further enforced by how he burns at least one village likely with this intent), which is exactly what ends up happening with General Lee. Does this mean that huge army could have infiltrated China with no one being the wiser if they had wanted to?
* Similarly, is hearing the Matchmaker's song at 21 where you suddenly understand "Scarier than the undertaker [[DomesticAbuse we]] [[TheBluebeard are]] [[MaritalRapeLicense meeting]] our matchmaker".
** On another note, to the women who wanted to find a husband, this was the woman who held their entire future in her hands. If they made a good impression then they would get a good husband but if they did poorly then they would get a bad husband if she even matched them up at all.
** Also, what if Mulan passed the Matchmaker's test?
*** [[InSpiteOfANail Gone to war]], because the matchmaker's decision doesn't affect Imperial recruiters, and passing initial testing won't stop Mulan from being horrified at her father's re-enlistment. If anything, it would give her [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot something more to give up by taking his place]], and [[LoveTriangle an extra conundrum for her return]].
*** Mulan admits to herself that she partially went off as to prove to herself that she was worth something; had she passed the matchmaker's test, yes she'd still be horrified but she might not have left.
*** In an earlier draft of the script Mulan did pass the matchmaker's test, things only went pear shaped after meeting her chosen husband... Shang.
** Considering the patriarchal-to-the-point-of-misogynistic nature of Chinese culture at the time, if Mulan's father ''had'' gone to war, the matchmaker would have been the only choice for survival she would have had...

** Due to the COPPA disabling the comments in the above example, here is an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMIhKX3EK3c&t=1m57s example]] pointing this out with comments enabled.

** Yeah, Mulan's avalanche most likely killed most of the men she trained with. Well, the ones who had survived the initial arrow bombardment from the Huns anyway... On the other hand, if she hadn't started the avalanche, all of Shang's forces would have been wiped out by the Huns, and they would have been free to march into the Emperor's palace unimpeded. So it's a decision she'd have regretted once she realised how few men survived, but deep down she would have known that the men were a necessary sacrifice for the good of China.
** Alternatively, they probably all died during the huge RainOfArrows that the Huns fired at them moments earlier.
** Actually, WordOfGod is they gradually decreased the amount of men in Shang's army throughout the film to have fewer people to animate and be able to focus more on the main characters, hoping it wouldn't be apparent to the audience. Notice there are dozens of men when Mulan first enters the camp, then when they go to save the Emperor there's only about seven of them. Though some of the men dying in battle probably still happened.

** This is supported by the fact that his massacre of the village literally stops the musical part of the film in its tracks.

* There is an actual justification why Shan Yu is one of the Disney Villains without a VillainSong. He's a BloodKnght Hun general, so he's more interested in a good fight and slaughter rather than wasting time on pointless musical numbers.

* [[DragonsUptheYinYang Take]] a look at Khan (Mulan's Horse) and Shang's Horse -- the feminine dark Yin and the masculine light Yang.

* More on the cricket: note that in war, good fortune for one side is terrible fortune for the other. Now consider what all the good fortune Cri-Kee brought to his keepers cost everyone else: the terrible traffic accident Mulan's grandmother caused with her reckless test was a terrible misfortune to all the people driving those carts and rickshaws, the matchmaker suffered a lot of AmusingInjuries and ClothingDamage for the sake of Mulan's fortuitous change of career path, and the barbaric Huns (or Xiongnu) suffered a catastrophic defeat at Mulan's hands. His "lucky" letter that brought Shang's forces to the front lines saved China, but also introduced the entire unit to the very "unlucky" [[WarIsHell horrors of war]]. That cricket is actually TheJinx -- the good fortune he brings his keepers comes at the expense of a great many others' misfortunes. Perhaps this is why Cri-Kee tearfully declares (as translated by Mushu) that he is not a lucky cricket during the scene in the mountains after Mulan's secret is discovered.

* Chi Fu isn't just a {{Jerkass}}; he's also right in regards to the odds that Shang and his men face. That explains why Mulan has to break typical rules of combat to turn the tide:

* When Khan first sees Mushu, he reacts by stomping on the dragon. The enemy of the Horse in the Chinese Zodiac is the Snake, which the Horse tramples as the Snake bites at its legs.

*** Pretty much agree but to also, she performed excellently at non-strength stuff like practising katas and jumping. But to add on specifically to the horsemanship thing, not how Mulan discovers the trick to going on top before everyone could? Rather than relying sole on her arms, she used the entirety of her legs and even wrapped it around in a modified bodily posture for riding. The strength horsemanship would have given to her legs was essential for her making it to the top of the pole and getting the arrows before everyone else could. If she was a normal Chinese peasant, even with the shown month or so of training, she would not have done the pole climbing exercise so fast enough to be the first one to do so. Also she particularly is shown to do quite well in leg based stuff like jogging, even beating other men which is probably as a result of riding horses for a longtime. Without all the hard household chores and especially farm work (which would have involved horse training), she would never have lasted so long in bootcamp despite initially being so far behind than than all soldiers in most exercises. If she were a normal contemporary Chinese girl, her body would be broken from the first day of training (even taking into account how difficult easier household chores like keeping the building warm was during this time period) and she'd probably be discovered sooner and put to death. It was indeed a good thing she was rich enough to live in a farm property but so poor that she had to do a lot of the work only men would do because thats how she got the physical athleticism to pass bootcamp.
** Regarding her using her legs: women have most strenght in their legs (as opposed to men, who have it in their upper body), due to different muscle distribution. So the fact that she's actually a woman, actually helped her succeeding the task.

* Towards the end of the movie, [[spoiler: Mulan's secret is revealed. Before Shang almost kills her, she says "I did it to save my father."]] What makes this line so meaningful to Shang is that [[spoiler: he recently lost his ''own'' father in battle]]. This might have been an intentional low blow to help gain sympathy from Shang.
** Also, [[spoiler: filial piety]] is one of the greatest cultural values of China. She had endangered her own life, risking a most shameful death, to respect that value well beyond anyone would deem possible. It helps explain why Shang [[spoiler: spared her]].

** Let's hope that by ruining her chances with the Matchmaker, Mulan didn't ruin the chances for the other girls with her that day. The Matchmaker was probably really pissed off with Mulan at the end of the session, what if that affected her evaluation of the other girls or if she even decided to not evaluate them at all? What if the girls were so startled and scared about what happened to Mulan with the Matchmaker that it would affect their performance with the Matchmaker out of fear of the Matchmaker or fear of failure? Mulan would had been better off in the end, but the other girls would most likely not have the same chances/opportunities as Mulan had.

** Let's hope that by ruining her chances with the Matchmaker, Mulan didn't ruin the chances for the other girls with her that day. The Matchmaker was probably really pissed off with Mulan at the end of the session, what if that affected her evaluation of the other girls or if she even decided to not evaluate them at all? Mulan would had been better off in the end, but the other girls would most likely not have the same chances/opportunities as Mulan had.

* It's very easy to dismiss the subplot involving Cri-Kee in ''Mulan'' as simple RuleOfFunny. Everyone believed he was lucky when he truly wasn't, thus explaining why so much went wrong when people depended on him for luck -- case in point, Mulan's session with the matchmaker. However, unless Grandma was really lucky on her own, there's no way she could have made it across that road without Cri-Kee's luck. But if Cri-Kee really IS lucky, then why did he cause so much trouble with the matchmaker? Sure, he may have just been trying to escape, or hated being taken advantage of, or he was just a little troublemaker, or because he believed himself to be so unlucky that the thought of him being there to help Mulan terrified him... but then the answer comes: if Mulan had passed the matchmaker's assessment, she would have become "a perfect porcelain doll", married some rich man the matchmaker or her parents chose for her... and then ''all of China would have fallen to the Huns'', and she would never have proven she could bring honor by her own individual merit instead of through marriage (not to mention find a fine man all on her own, thank you). Therefore, even though it didn't feel like that to her at the time, being humiliated before the matchmaker was the ''luckiest'' thing that could ever have happened, for her or for China.

* At 9 years old, [[strike: "Be a Man"]] "I'll Make a Man Out Of You" was just another catchy Disney song. At 21, it suddenly hit me that the chorus is a reference to Sun Tzu's ''Literature/TheArtOfWar''. Let's compare:

** Piggybacking on your comment, in Chinese social structure things were a bit more meritocratic. To start with how you get placed in social classes is primarily based on your academic performance. A peasant can not only rise through the classes via performing well in state sponsored tests, the aristocracy of Chinese civilization for the most part tended to be scholars who were the most educated and scholars had to maintain their reputation for intelligence as required by their social classes even after passing the test and being accepted into the equivalent of nobility. Even non-academic stuff like CEOs and politicians required showing intelligence expected with the scholar classes to even be accepted. The fact Li was already a Captain at the start of the film and his father a high ranking general (with implications that Li's family line was military) pretty much is the signal Li's family had been in the equivalent of royalty for generation. So in a sense Mulan did become a Princess by marrying someone from the (scholarly) aristocracy.

* At 9 years old, [[strike: "Be a Man"]] "I'll Make a Man Out Of You" was just another catchy Disney song. At 21, it suddenly hit me that the chorus is a reference to Sun Tzu's TheArtOfWar. Let's compare: