Mulan / Tropes S to Z

Mulan Trope Examples
Main series: A - C | D - F | G - L | M - R | S - Z

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S

• Sacrificial Lion: General Li is set up as a big and important character: general of the hero's army, father to Mulan's captain... and then he dies off-screen to prove just how serious things have become.
• Sarashi: Technically bandages, since Mulan was injured earlier. Inverted in that the scene where they are revealed is also the scene where Mulan is busted.
• Saved by the Awesome: The Emperor of China goes on a little too much about the mistakes Mulan made in order to save China.
  Emperor: I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan. You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated a soldier, deceived your commanding officer, dishonored the Chinese Army, destroyed my palace, and... you have saved us all.
• Scare Chord: When Shang comes upon Mulan in the medic tent and she sits up, the background music plays a trio of dramatic stabs as her bandaged torso is revealed.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: The Huns find out that a village is being guarded by means of a doll sprinkled with GPS Evidence.
• Scene of Wonder: Immediately following the number "A Girl Worth Fighting For," all the soldiers fall silent as they arrive at the decimated village. They even stop before singing the last note of the song to stare in shock and horror. This is taken even further when they come across the fallen troops that came before them.
• Scenery Censor:
  • When Ling does a backstroke to Mulan during the bathing scene, a conveniently placed water lily accompanies him.
  • When Mulan sneaks away from the guys during the bath scene, she whistles for her horse who blocks the view of her surfacing from the lake.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Shang lets Mulan live, despite the rules of executing her for passing as a man to get into the army, as part of his I Owe You My Life debt to her earlier. Later, he comes very close to manhandling Chi-Fu for insulting her after she saves the Emperor and defeats Shan-Yu. When the Emperor approaches, Shang steps forward, saying I Can Explain and preparing to take any punishment. He's visibly relieved that instead of ordering Mulan executed, the Emperor rewards her with his respect and pendant. 
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Mulan joins the army to fight the Huns. The Huns have hundreds or thousands of horse warriors. Her company has... 12 guys. Not during training. They have 100 guys during training. But during the march and the final battle, they have 12. Animators at their laziest.
• Serious Business: Honor is a huge deal in ancient China.
• "Setting Off" Song: "A Girl Worth Fighting For" is sung while Shang's company head out to meet up with the Imperial Army.
• Sexy Silhouette: Mulan is seen as a silhouette behind a dressing screen when she's being undressed by the cosmetologist before being shoved into a tub.
• Shadow Discretion Shot: Inverted intentionally as Mushu is trying to be intimidating, but he's not.
• Shield Surf: Mushu sleds during an avalanche with a shield he picked up somewhere.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • The emperor of China subtly does this.
    The Emperor: [Clears throat] The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.
    Li Shang: Sir?
    The Emperor: [Leans in] You don't meet a girl like that every dynasty.
  • Likewise, Mulan's grandmother ships her granddaughter and Shang the minute she finds out about him. She does not possess the emperor's subtlety.
    Fa Mulan: [to Shang] Would you like to stay for dinner?
    Grandmother Fa: Would you like to stay forever?
• Shirtless Scene: Shang takes off his shirt for the first training session. It gets Mulan's attention, whereas Yao snarks at him.
• Shoulder-Sized Dragon: Mushu is a rare Eastern dragon example. He insists that he is "travel-sized for your convenience!"
• Shoulders-Up Nudity:
  • During the "You'll Bring Honor To Us All" sequence, Mulan is put into a tub to be washed and only has her bare shoulders above the water, that are shaking due to the water being cold. Her wet hair also happens to fall down to her chest.
  • During the bathing scene, Mulan is shown undressing behind the foliage that conveniently only goes up to her shoulders. When she's in the water, she keeps her shoulders above the water while the guys often have it up to their waist. When dozens of naked soldier run past Mulan, they're also only seen from the waist up.
• Shout-Out:
  • The families Chi-Fu calls to claim their conscription notices are the names of Disney employees who worked on the movie — the Hsiao family, after screenwriter Rita Hsiao; the Wen family, after Mulan's voice actor, Ming-Na Wen; the Lok family, after conceptual and background artist Sai Ping Lok; and the Chang and Yi families, after character designer Chen-Yi Chang. Whoever Mushu knew whose name Mulan uses as an alter-ego is also named after Sai Ping Lok.
  • When Mushu goes to secure the fireworks for the final plan:
    Servant: Who are you?
    [Mushu spreads decorative wings from a balloon hidden behind his back that make him look like a bat]
    Mushu: [In a low, growly voice] Your worst nightmare.
  • The doll the Huns use to find the village, and again when Shang's company find the razed remains of said village, is the same as a doll found in similar circumstances in Nausicaa.
  • This line when Mushu is waking up Mulan:
    Mushu: Now, let's see your war face.
  • Two of the ancestors look remarkably like the American Gothic Couple.
• Show, Don't Tell:
  • When Mulan figures out the arrow test, she doesn't say a word. Instead, she studies the weights before looping them together to make a climbing brace. Cue her climbing all night, and the soldiers cheering her on at dawn.
  • During the village scene, everyone is mostly quiet, with tiny bits of dialogue. Mulan is completely silent when she finds the little girl's doll and hugs it to her chest. Likewise, Shang creates a shrine to his father without saying a word.
• Shown Their Work:
  • Shan-Yu doesn't even question that "the soldier from the mountains" would be a woman when Mulan reveals herself to him. In Hun society, women were equal with men in many ways, including eligibility to join the army and hunting. It didn't matter that she was a woman; to him, she was just another soldier.
  • The scene where the main characters disguise themselves as concubines is treated with nonchalance by the Huns, the only comment made is how ugly they are. The ancient Chinese emperors frequently had concubines at the palace in addition to their married wife, and it was not uncommon for concubines to bear heirs to the throne.
  • The move Mulan uses to disarm Shan Yu with her fan is an actual kung fu move.
  • Fa Zhou is seen practicing a form of tai chi called Mulan Quan - which is named after the original Mulan legend.
  • Crickets are indeed considered a symbol of good luck in China.
  • Magnolias serve as a running motif in the movie. Mulan's name translates as "magnolia".
• Shrine to the Fallen:
  • Mushu comes from the Fa family shrine to aid Mulan in her quest. One of her ancestors lost his head somehow.
  • Shang's sword, his father's helmet, and the little girl's doll are left at the village by the Tung Shao Pass.
• Silly Animal Sound: After losing all his feathers, Hayabusa clucks like a chicken.
• Skewed Priorities: Inverted when Mulan returns home; as an Apology Gift to her father for running away and taking his place in the army, she presents him Shan Yu's sword and the Emperor's Crest, showing she restored honor to the Fa family. Fa Zhou tosses them away and embraces her tightly; he says he cares more about her, his only beloved daughter than about honor.
• Skinny Dipping: Mulan's bath in the middle of the night turns into this when other soldiers drop by. She is both embarrassed and afraid of blowing her cover.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Had the soldier in the beginning not stood up to Shan Yu and lit the warning beacon, the Huns' entry to China wouldn't have been noticed, Mulan and company wouldn't be around to defend the country, and the Emperor would've likely been killed.
• The Smurfette Principle: Mulan, herself, is the only woman in the Chinese army. Her mother and grandmother feature prominently at the start but don't make more appearances until the end, whens she goes home. Subverted in that the film does have Cri-Kee, whose gender is never made explicitly clear (he is officially male), which has lead some viewers to believe there are two female characters.
• Snow Means Death: There's snow on the ground of the massacred village. It also starts snowing after Shang creates a memorial for his father.
• So Much for Stealth: When Mushu sets off a rocket, the noise and smoke from the explosion alerts the Huns that they're being followed.
  Shang: You just gave away our position!
• So Proud of You:
  • The Emperor tells Shang this when he brings the sword of Shan Yu. He later announces that Mulan has saved all of China, although he shames her for things such as destroying half his palace (when it was really Shan-Yu) beforehand.
  • Shang gives Mulan a rewarding smile when she concocts a scheme using the first lesson he taught his men: how to climb a pole with just a sash. He uses his cape to join her, Chien Po, Yao, and Ling.
  • The final one comes from Mulan's father: "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter".
• Spare a Messenger: After they are done with their latest massacre, the Huns capture two Chinese scouts. Shan-Yu decides to let them go to carry a challenge back to the emperor. Then he changes his mind on letting them both leave...
  Shan-Yu: How many men does it take to deliver a message?
  Hun archer: [Draws back his bow and aims] One.
• The Spartan Way: "Let's get down to business..." Said business involves dodging flaming arrows and breaking bricks with one's face.
• Spit Shine: Mushu tries shining up Mulan's helmet to cheer her out of her Heroic BSoD. It doesn't work.
• Squirrels in My Pants: Happens during the musical number "I'll Make a Man out of You", when Ling slips a beetle down Mulan's outfit, making her dance around smacking everyone with her staff.
• Stealth Insult: When Grandmother Fa gives Mulan a lot of trinkets to give Mulan good luck at the matchmakers, she ends listing them all with "... and even you can't blow it!"
• Straight for the Commander: Invoked during the snow battle when Shang orders Yao to aim the last remaining cannon at Shan-Yu before Mulan takes the cannon to shoot at the mountain.
• Strange Minds Think Alike:
  • Both Fa Zhou and the emperor compare Mulan to "the rarest and most beautiful flower of all." (Mulan translates to wood-flower or magnolia)
  • On a more comedic note: Mushu tells Mulan to punch someone because it's the man's version of saying hello. After she reluctantly punches Yao, Chien-Po says, "Look, Yao, you've made a friend!"
• Strolling Through the Chaos: To show that Cri-Kee is a lucky cricket, Mulan's grandmother crosses a street while covering her eyes. Even Cri-Kee is scared by the ensuing chaos, but she's unharmed and describes it as proof of Cri-Kee's luck.
• Suddenly Obvious Fakery: Mulan is drawn with several slight differences when disguised as a man, to aid the plausibility of her appearance (for example, she has eyelashes only when she's not in disguise). The shot in which her imposture is exposed as she sits up in bed has her drawn with the variations for her feminine appearance, even though all that has changed since the last scene is that her secret is known.
• Supernatural Aid: Mulan's ancestors send her a guardian spirit to help her and he does, albeit not in quite the way they intended.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • The Fa ancestors predict that although Mulan's actions were of good intentions, consequences are nonetheless riding on those actions: should she be discovered and/or killed, it could bring shame to her household, her family lineage will be cut off, and they could lose their land.
  • Mulan in the original myth was an Instant Expert who mastered her training. There is none of that here: Mulan's physical activities include horseback riding and farm labor, not combat. At least the other men arrived at the training grounds earlier and have the stamina if not skill. Shang accurately pinpoints "Ping" as the worst student because he can't follow orders, cheats at complicated tasks, and fails at the rest. In fact, this leads to Shang kicking Ping out because the soldier would be The Millstone in battle, especially when Mulan collapses while holding weights during a mountain trek. Mulan has to prove that she can stay and genuinely works to earn her place — first by retrieving the arrows and then by mastering all the tasks that she previously failed.
  • Although Shang did realize how noble Mulan was for battling alongside the army to defeat the Huns and protect her crippled father, he ends up not trusting Mulan after it is revealed that she was really a woman disguised as a man. While Mulan did have good intentions, this doesn’t change the fact that she not only deceived Shang and the army about her true gender and identity since the day they met, but Mulan also brought dishonor to the Chinese Army and violated the law. Lying and deceiving people (even if you had a very good reason to) will cause people to deem you as untrustworthy.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Mulan disguises herself as "Ping" to take her father's place in the muster.
• Symbolic Distance: After Mulan makes a fool of herself at the war camp when attempting to fit in, her ostracization is symbolised through a far shot of the camp, showing her tent on the outskirts, far away from all the others. Next to a pigsty, no less.

T

• Take My Hand!: Silent version; when Mulan is pulling Shang away from the avalanche, Khan surges forward to rescue them. Mulan jumps on her horse and tries to pull up Shang. Unfortunately, the avalanche buries them both alive in the snow, and Mulan has to grab Shang's unconscious form when she sees him drifting towards the cliff.
• Taking You with Me:
  • Li Shang intends to use the last of his cannons on Shan Yu. Mulan has a better idea: causing an avalanche that will almost certainly kill her and everyone else in Li Shang's troop, but also the Hun army.
  • When Shan Yu sees the avalanche enveloping his army, he slashes at Mulan with his sword, determined to take down the soldier who caused the avalanche.
• Tempting Fate:
  • When preparing Mulan to see the matchmaker, her grandmother sings:
    Grandmother Fa: Beads of jade for beauty / You must proudly show it / Now add a cricket just for luck / And even you can't blow it!
  • Later, after narrowly escaping the lake with her disguise intact:
    Fa Mulan: I never want to see a naked man again.
    [A group of naked men run past]
• Testosterone Poisoning: Mulan's portrayal of Ping is a hilariously bad attempt at being a stereotypical manly man.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: In the mountain scene, Shan-Yu basically leads his entire army of thousands on horseback in a charge against a platoon of maybe two dozen people that he came across only by coincidence.
• Third-Act Misunderstanding: When Mulan's true gender is revealed, Shang, who carries a grudge over being deceived, isn't willing to trust her word when they really should, and her new friends have to reluctantly follow orders. However, even he is shown looking warily to either side as he approaches the palace — as soon as the crisis breaks out, the other soldiers are quick to follow Mulan's lead, and Shang is only a little behind them.
• This Cannot Be!: Fa Zhou when Grandma informs him that Mulan is gone and he sees the comb in place of his conscription notice.
• Through His Stomach: The song "A Girl Worth Fighting For" references this. Ling's ideal girl has pale skin and bright, shining eyes; Yao's will be wooed by his great strength; Chien-Po only cares if she's a good cook.
• Throwaway Country: The village that was razed to the ground to demonstrate Hun viciousness. Plus the mountainside villages in flames right before the Huns find the scouts.
• Took a Level in Badass: This is the point of the "I'll Make a Man Out of You" sequence; turn rowdy recruits into polished soldiers.
  • Mulan goes from Shang knocking her down in one punch to effectively dodging his blows and returning them.
  • Yao effortlessly navigates the arrow training field, when before he was getting shot easily.
  • Ling breaks blocks with his face rather than having them knock out his teeth.
  • And Chien Po.... does cartwheels on top of poles lodged in water rather than walking carefully and holding up the line.
• Training from Hell: The training montage involves running through a field while being shot at by Arrows on Fire.
• Training Montage: "I'll Make a Man Out of You". Justified; this is boot camp.
• Trampled Underfoot: Mulan's horse Khan does this to Mushu either because he appears to be a snake, or possibly because Mushu kept calling the horse a cow.
• Truck Driver's Gear Change: "Honor To Us All" is sung in C major, then for the last two verses, they are sung respectively in C♯ and D major.
  • "Reflection" has the introduction sung in F♯ major, and the rest of the song in A major.
  • "I'll Make a Man Out of You" starts out in E minor, and ends in F minor.
  • "True to Your Heart" begins in B♭, and ends in B.
• True Blue Femininity: When Mulan properly changes back into women's clothes to sneak inside the palace, the dress is blue. Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po disguise themselves as concubines, also with blue dresses.
• True Companions: Mulan and the other named soldiers become close friends. Even after she's unmasked, they take her seriously, and follow her lead into the final battle.
• Truth-Telling Session: Mulan, Mushu, and Cri-kee have a very cathartic one after they hit Rock Bottom. Mulan says that she wanted to prove that she could do something right after failing with the matchmaker, not just to save her father. Mushu says that her ancestors neither sent him nor like him. Cri-kee, while crying, confesses that he's not really lucky. It ends with a hug.
• Twelfth Night Adventure: Notice that the character is drawn differently when she pretends to be a man. Look at the movie poster where half of her face is reflected in a sword. Notice her nose and jaw. Disney Adventures pointed this out at the time of the movie's release, and the DVD Commentary flat-out admitted it. The Nostalgia Chick noticed that her eyelashes disappear whenever she's disguised. Looking closely, you can see that they even momentarily vanish when she draws her hair back up to reveal her identity to Shan Yu.

U

• Uncle Tomfoolery: Mushu. Roger Ebert said it best: "A black dude in medieval China?" This is more a function of Eddie Murphy's standard roles than anything else.
• Undressing the Unconscious: This is how Mulan's gender is revealed to the army. Shortly after burying the Hun army with a snow avalanche, Mulan (as Ping) rescues Shang from a plummeting doom. This effort, plus a wound received in combat, causes her to lose consciousness. Mulan awakens in a camp tent mostly undressed, with Sarashi-like bandaging around the torso, done by the Chinese army medic. The first face she sees is that of captain Shang, who has learned from a medic soldier that she is a girl posing as a male conscript. Mulan's reflex to pull a Modesty Bedsheet to cover herself confirms her deception.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • Most of Shang's troops develop this for him, following his orders without question and respecting him. When Mulan sets off the avalanche, she takes the time to pull an unconscious Shang onto Khan before trying to rescue herself.
  • Khan sees the avalanche about to bury his rider. He wrestles free from Chien-Po and surges towards the avalanche to save Mulan. Then he follows her directive to head towards Shang so that she can pick him up. That is one loyal horse. 
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Mushu's blowing of the rocket and blaming it on Cri-Kee seems like a random gag... Except it gives away the position of the remains of the Chinese army. A Curb-Stomp Battle ensues (though it doesn't end as one might expect).
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee:
  • Perhaps General Li and his troops would have survived if he hadn't told Shang he was heading to the Tung Shao Pass to stop Shan Yu.
  • Mulan and the Guy Trio don't say anything onscreen about how to get into the palace, save the emperor, and defeat Shan Yu. They just enact the plan as if they had. Slightly justified, given that Mulan specifically says she's making it up on the fly.

V

• Vanilla Edition: A Limited Issue DVD of the film came out only a few months after the premiere Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection VHS tape, but this disc contained barely any bonus content. Mitigated in 2004, when Disney re-released Mulan as a 2-Disc Special Edition DVD, as a tie-in with Mulan II.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: It's as comedic as any Disney movie can get, but it still can make Shan Yu, a mass-murdering warlord, a big terrifying threat.
• Villainous Valor:
  • Most generals and soldiers would have given up and tried to return home if most of their army was wiped out and they were stranded in an enemy territory. However, Shan Yu and his elite soldiers choose to make one last attempt to claim the victory by infiltrating the capital city and capturing the Emperor. At that point, they probably know they can't take over China even if they kill the Emperor, but they still want to get the win.
  • Credit to Shan Yu, when Mulan disarms him on the roof and reveals she led him there on purpose, he tries attacking her anyway. He went out fighting, for what it's worth.
• Villain Song: Averted. Shan Yu is one of the more well-known Disney Villains to never have gotten one. One of the things the animators were going for with Shan Yu was to make him a man of few words and let his actions carry the character. Giving him a song would have derailed that.

W

• Waking Up Elsewhere: Following Mulan being slashed just before the avalanche, she passes out and awakens in the infirmary tent, though it is unknown how much time has passed.
• War Is Glorious: Be a Man... by going to war, killing the invaders, and protecting your country. That's the idea, anyway; the reality of it is closer to War Is Hell.
• War Is Hell: The village scene emphasizes that War Is Hell and there is no glory in finding the dead, especially when they are innocents and your loved ones. It's nearly silent apart from sound effects and scant dialogue, with visual expressions conveying characters' emotions. "A Girl Worth Fighting For" talked about the men looking forward to meeting ladies after they fought...only for Mulan to find a little girl's doll, and leaving it by Shang's sword and General Li's helmet, with her silently vowing to fight for her. All Shang can do is order his small retinue to go after the Huns, knowing they may also be slaughtered. Unsurprisingly, everyone is sober, including Mushu with a Jerkass Realization on learning his Forged Letter was accidentally correct. There are no more musical sequences after this moment.
• Weak, but Skilled: Mulan can't overpower anyone, but she's fairly effective because she knows just where and when to hit.
• Weapon Tombstone: When General Li — who also happens to be Shang's father — dies, Shang buries him. In the absence of anything else that hasn't been burned or destroyed, he marks the grave with his father's helmet, placed on his own sword.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Both as a bride-to-be and as a soldier, Mulan seeks to make her father proud. This is her driving motivation thoughout the movie. Although, it should be noted that Fa Zhou already clearly loves his daughter, and Mulan is instead trying to avoid dishonoring him.
• Wham Line: During the exploration of the burned-out village, Chien Po comes to Shang with a helmet and a solemn expression. He only says, "The General" and everyone knows what happened.
• Wham Shot:
  • The destroyed village, hands down. Manages to outdo itself just moments later when Shang discovers his father's army, completely wiped out.
  • Moments after the recruits pull "Ping" and Shang up to the safe ground, Mulan keels. She then places a hand to her stomach. Blood seeps out. Shang and the others go Oh, Crap! as they realize "Ping" has been badly wounded. This later leads to Mulan being outed.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Mushu accompanies Mulan rather than facing the ancestor spirits when he destroys the statue holding the spirit that was supposed to follow her. When they return as heroes, no mention is ever made of the destruction of the other (apparently much more competent and powerful) guardian spirit.
  • What happened to the other remaining Huns following their leader's demise?
  • What happened to Hayabusa?
  • There are a few other surviving soldiers in Shang’s army who are seen helping him try to break into the palace to save the Emperor of China from Shang Yu, but don’t participate in the rescue mission Mulan leads (although this might be due to the fact that unlike the goofy Big Thin And Short trio, she doesn’t become friends with these men, so it’s likely they harbor some sexist-bias towards her).
• What the Hell, Hero?: What makes Mulan unusual from other Disney heroines is that she is very imperfect, and other characters note that she messes up a lot:
  • Her mother calls her out for arriving late on matchmaking day, the one day she needs to be on time. Fa Li starts by giving Mulan a Death Glare, telling her the bathwater would have been warm if she arrived on time and rushing her to the cosmetologists who quickly clean her up.
  • The matchmaker tells her off for setting her on fire. No one contradicts the matchmaker because that was Mulan's fault.
  • Fa Zhou angrily tells Mulan she's dishonoring him by contradicting the emperor's representative. She's immediately cowed.
  • Shang gets a slew of these; he yells at "Ping" for starting a brawl and causing a mess, even if Mulan was only following Mushu's advice. He also glares at Ping for cheating at shooting fruits with arrows — Mushu's doing but Mulan is responsible — and eventually kicks "him" out at the army for being incompetent. It is subverted when he finds out Ping is a woman and he's angry that she lied to him; she points out that he said he would trust Ping, and eventually he follows her lead to save the emperor.
• What You Are in the Dark: At the end of "I'll Make A Man Out of You," Shang kicks Mulan out of the army for incompetence. She could go home, having accomplished the mission of saving her father. Instead, due to pride and wanting to "do things right," she decides to climb for the arrow and prove that she deserves to stay. Shang is clearly impressed, especially afterwards, when she excels in the other activities she previously failed.
• Who Are You?: Mushu heads over to the fireworks area during the final battle, and is asked by the guards there, "Who are you?" He responds, "Your worst nightmare," and they flee.
• Who's on First?: When Shang is trying to find out the recruit's/Mulan's name:
  Li Shang: What's your name?
  Fa Mulan: Uh... I, I, uh...
  Chi Fu: Your commanding officer just asked you a question!
  Fa Mulan: Uh, I've got a name, ha! And it's a boy's name, too.
  Mushu: [whispering]: How about Ling?
  Fa Mulan: [looking at Ling]: His name's Ling.
  Li Shang: I didn't ask for his name. I asked for yours!
  Mushu: Try, uh, uh... ah... Chu.
  Fa Mulan: Ah Chu.
  Li Shang: Ah Chu?
  Mushu: Gesundheit; I kill myself.
  Fa Mulan: Mushu...
  Li Shang: Mushu?
  Fa Mulan: No!
  Li Shang: [losing patience] Then what is it?
  Mushu: Ping! Ping was my best friend growing up.
  Fa Mulan: It's Ping.
  Li Shang: Ping?
  Mushu: [to himself] Of course, Ping did steal my girl—
  [Mulan grabs his mouth to shut him up]
  Fa Mulan: Yes, my name is Ping.
• Wholesome Crossdresser:
  • Mulan pretends to be a man so she can save her father.
  • Mulan's three friends make "Concubines." "Ugly Concubines."
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?:
  • Defied by Shang. He teaches his men to shoot to kill, always. He would have killed Shan Yu in their fight if he had gotten the chance.
  • Defied by Shan Yu after Mulan starts the avalanche. Shan Yu slashes her, and the wound would have killed her if the army's doctor hadn't survived. If not for the avalanche and her being on the ground, he would have done much worse.
  • Played straight when Shan Yu first grabs a semiconscious Shang and starts threatening him with his sword, only to give chase to and corner Mulan on the palace roof. With the former he's in Villanous Breakdown mode after the emperor's rescued, and in the latter he's Evil Gloating upon seeing her trapped. He does stab her paper fan, but she flips the fan to steal his sword.
• Wolf Whistle: During the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For," Mushu whistles at a group of girls harvesting rice and then quickly hides, tricking the girls into thinking Mulan whistled at them. They giggle at Mulan's supposed advance, and she hides her face in embarrassment.
• The Worf Effect: Downplayed. Shang is the captain of the soldiers, but he is also an academy student who, although highly trained, hasn't exactly been in a lot of actual battles. So, when he fights Shan Yu, who is twice his body weight, he gets his butt kicked, but still manages to land a few good hits on the Hun in the process.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • Shan Yu treats Shang this way, blaming him for the great losses that the Huns have suffered.
  • Towards the climax, when Mulan reveals that it was she who destroyed the Hun army, Shan Yu isn't at all shocked and calls her "the soldier from the mountains." Then he comes at her without wasting any time with the usual "I can't hit a girl" or "I was beaten by a woman?!" stuff villains usually spout when facing a female opponent.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Huns waste no time debating the morality of "returning" the doll to the girl whose village they destroyed.
• Wuxia: Set in an indeterminate era of medieval/ancient China, in an indeterminate part, with several fantastical elements such as dragons and ancestral spirits, this movie fits this to a T, though nobody generally thinks of it as one.

Y

• Yamato Nadeshiko: Mulan, herself, plays with the trope. She has the looks, is extremely devoted to her parents, and desperately tries to fit in as a perfectly feminine and demure daughter... without much success. However, when she learns that her old and infirm father will have to go to war against the Huns, she shows the core of steel part by dressing up as a man and taking his place, not for glory or to rebel against her family but to save her dad's life and the family honor.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • After Chi Fu delivers a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Shang, who accepts it with Tranquil Fury, Mulan tells Shang that she thinks he is a great captain. Shang looks softened by this, though due to his position, he can't answer.
  • When Mushu confesses to a depressed Mulan that the ancestors didn't send him, he tells her that whereas she risked her life to save her father, he risked her life to get his guardian job back. "At least you had good intentions."
• You Are Too Late: For Shang, who didn't know that the note from his father was forged, he arrives in time to find the aftermath of the Huns' grisly slaughter. He can only create a memorial for his father, accept Mulan's compassion, and order his men to move out and stop the Huns from reaching the capital.
• You Shall Not Pass!:
  • Shang's troops, heavily outnumbered and with few cannons, face the entire Hun army at the Tung Shao Pass. They fully expect to be slaughtered, as the rest of the Chinese army was, and without Mulan using their last cannon to trap the troops in an avalanche, they would have been.
  • Shang attempts a one-man version of this against Shan Yu in the imperial palace. He succeeds as far as buying enough time for his subordinates to rescue the emperor. Shan-Yu is a second away from killing him when Mulan says I Am Your Opponent.
• You Were Trying Too Hard: It's the real answer to the arrow challenge, and climbing the pole with weights strapped around your wrists. All the soldiers initially try to ignore the weights and climb rapidly despite them, ignoring Shang's instructions to use them. Mulan figures it out eventually; she loops the weights together into a makeshift brace and uses it to hoist herself to the top slowly and gradually. You need strength as in upper-body strength and discipline as in knowing how to use the tools you have.

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