History Fridge / Mulan

** Considering that Shangs' forces were not classified as ready for combat before Mushus' message was sent to them, it's likely that Shang decided to leave camp with only the most-prepared of his forces which was enough to field a small Mortar Team by modern day standards, it's likely that the rest of their platoon not seen had probably left to return to the Camp following the village massacre to [[BringHelpBack call-in any reinforcements that was left behind for support at the Capital]]. [[LockedOutOfTheLoop As such, they aren't aware that their C.O. had actually engaged with Shan Yu following this or that Ping would collapse a mountain on the Hun invaders: ending the threat for good.]]

** When Mulan is exposed as a woman after the battle he demands her execution for high treason... Because by joining the Imperial Army as a woman and under a fake identity she had indeed committed high treason, and the punishment is death. He's in fact being ''generous'', as the actual punishment for high treason was to kill the criminal's parents, grandparents, all children and grandchildren over a certain age (if they were too young they were instead enslaved) plus their spouses, any sibling and their sposes, all cousins up to third grade, the spouse, and the parents-in-law [[ForcedToWatch while they watch]] and ''then'' execute them, but he's skipping to just have her executed.

* If Chi-Fu hadn't promised Shang that the men would never see war, and Mushu hadn't overheard, there would have been nothing stopping the Huns from marching to the capital. The Huns would have won without anyone in their path.

** Considering that Shangs' forces were not classified as ready for combat before Mushus' message was sent to them, it's likely that Shang decided to leave camp with only the most-prepared of his forces which was enough to field a small Mortar Team by modern day standards, it's likely that the rest of their platoon either left to return to the Camp following the village massacre to [[BringHelpBack call-in reinforcements that was left behind]], [[LockedOutOfTheLoop and isn't aware that their C.O. had actually engaged with Shan Yu following this and that Ping would collapse a mountain on the Hun invaders; ending the threat for good.]]

* Mushu is sent to wake up the Great Stone Dragon guardian. Instead, he accidentally shatters him. Congrats, Mushu. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero You just murdered a family friend]] (unless you buy into the theory that Mulan is, in fact, the Great Stone Dragon.)

* 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 them. Thus, even though the Chinese would have been wiped out in that battle, it's possible China would have been saved anyway because the Huns would be too busy fighting each other.

* Mulan is considered as an official Franchise/DisneyPrincess despite not being royalty by either birth or marriage. Had she ended up marrying the wrong guy at the end of the sequel, she would have ''actually'' become a princess herself! Additionally, in the first movie 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 honor... especially since it came from the emperor himself.
** Things were a bit more meritocratic in the Chinese social structure. To start with, how you got placed in social classes was primarily based on your academic performance, which meant that a peasant could not only rise through the classes via performing well in state-sponsored tests, but the aristocracy of Chinese civilization was primarily well-educated scholars - 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 positions like [=CEOs=] and politicians were required to show the intelligence expected of the scholar classes to even be considered. The fact Shang was already a Captain at the start of the film and his father was a high-ranking general (with implications that Li's family line was military) signaled that Shang's family had been in the equivalent of royalty for generations. So in a sense, Mulan did become a Princess by marrying someone from the (scholarly) aristocracy.

* 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, and the Huns, in particular, were very accepting of women hunting and going to battle. To him, [[WouldHitAGirl she was just another warrior to defeat]]!

!!FridgeLogic
* While the story almost certainly would have ended in disaster for China but for Mulan's actions, there's a good chance that her father wouldn't have been deployed as a foot soldier, which she was obviously concerned about. He's a decorated war hero, but he's clearly not in stellar physical condition. To a ReasonableAuthorityFigure like Shang's father, the answer is obvious: Keep Fa Zhou at his side in an advisory role. Of course, then he would have been slaughtered along with the main Chinese force, so the Fridge Logic loops back around and Mulan really did save his life.

[[AC:FridgeLogic]]

[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]

[[AC:FridgeHorror]]

* If Chi-Fu hadn't promised Shang that the men would never see war, and Mushu hadn't overheard, there would have been nothing stopping the Huns from marching to the capital.

* While Khan refusing to help Mushu with delivering the fake message may seem like her not wanting to help with the dragon’s scheme or simply not being fond of the dragon, Chi Fu could’ve very well noticed the horse the “fake” General was on is one of the army’s, blowing their cover.

* There is an actual justification why Shan Yu is one of the Disney Villains [[NoMusicalForTheWicked 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 are ''no songs at all'' until the end credits, pretty much telling the soldiers, and the audience, that war isn't some cartoon musical: WarIsHell.

* 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 are ''no songs at all'' until the end credits, pretty much telling the soldiers, and the audience, that war isn't some cartoon musical: WarIsHell.

** Additionally, 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.

* 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, they're in the same boat as she is.

* Why didn't the Great Stone Dragon waking up to the gong? Well, 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!