Headscratchers / Mulan II

• Am I the only one who noticed that Shang got the dark/passive feminine half of the yin-yang and Mulan got the light/active male half?
  • Fridge brilliance- it was to remain them of each other and to make them understand that even opposite personalities can blend in well (especially if they just have as much in common as they differ especially where it matters).
• Why is the emperor marrying off all three daughters for one deal? No one mentions any other kids, so presumably they're all he has, so shouldn't he need one to stay behind to continue his bloodline (in this case, by having a male heir)? If the plan was supposed to be that they'd all get married in the other kingdom, then one prince and princess would travel back and continue the line, wouldn't it make more sense to just have the prince come to China rather than making one princess go through the long trip twice for no reason?
  • With the attitude of this movie being to frantically hammer True Love into our skulls whether we need it or not, I suspect Disney has a "four romances in this movie will make up for the lack of romance in the original" thing going on.
    • Stuff like this happened in real life so it wasn't Disney making dramatic BS. Not to mention Royal families tended to be large so 3 wasn't even considered a big bargaining chip as irl it probably more 7 or more especially in China's populace.
    • This is especially true given how young the 3 princesses are relative to the emperor’s advanced age. It’s very likely that he has older children through which his own empire’s line of succession runs.
  • As for the original question, the Mongols were probably such a big threat that the Emperor was really concerned with not just getting a solid alliance, but an alliance so deep that it lasts for entire generations, if not the entire dynasty. In European standards this act would show just how sincere a faction is about building a bond with another state or royal bloodline especially since it was the Emperor's direct descendants (and implied to be his only one). In addition travel was a lot more dangerous in this times. If bandits doesn't get you, accidents might (as shown several times in the movie). If not that than diseases. If not that, than wild animals, if not that.... You get the point. The two other daughters were potential backups even if the intent wasn't to marry them all which is Truth in Television as even in relatively short and safe travel distances for arranged marriages, even siblings who don't intend to be married were often sent along as a possible backup offer or to interact with the other court to develop relationships for future projects. As for the Prince coming to the Emperor, the reason for sending the Princess to Qin was primarily a gesture to show just how serious and sincere the Emperor was about developing a friendship with the Qin. Also the Qin seems to be the selfish type who doesn't want to make his share of sacrifice as seen in his interactions with Mulan when she offered herself for marriage. Long story short, the Emperor was desperate for help against the Mongols and was willing to do whatever it takes to seal one.
• What did Mulan think was going to happen once the princesses refused to marry the prince they were being married off to, considering the stakes? She knows that China needs to make this alliance in order to protect itself from invaders - did she forget about it, or just figured that it wouldn't matter and that things would still turn out alright, somehow?
  • She didn't forget about it-its why she offered herself in place of the princesses after Li was thought to be killed. However she's too much of a feminist and romantic to just go on through with the marriage. At the same time she also realizes the gravity of the situation hence why she didn't want to awake Li and get him involved when the trio soldiers and princesses went to town. I'm leaning towards she knew it was important but at the same time could not stand to let the girls get married so she was probably trying to figure out a third option or something before the bandit Ambush that almost got Li killed.
• One more thing about the sequel.... Was that whole issue with the alliance ever resolved? There was never a marriage to solidify that.
  • The Great Golden Dragon of Unity showed up and declared that everyone should get along and be friends. At that point, at least with the sliding scale of idealism vs. cynicism set to "Disney," the marriages are kind of a moot point as long as nobody figured out it was Mushu bullshitting everybody.