Mulan, a name that has become one most households happen to know.
Disney released their animated version of their interpretation of the ballad of Mulan back in 1998, much later in 2009 a live action version was created by Starlight International Media Group (DVD release CineAsia) [Due later this year is an English adaptation of the tale, supposed to be an equivalent to the Starlight release in 2009- don’t hold me to it too much I’m not entirely sure what’s going to happen yet]. It struck me that there were many slight similarities between the tales and of course there were many differences.
Now for starters the title is different for the live action release- sounds like an obvious thing to say but remakes often use the same titles to over-write the past mistakes of previous movies. Disney cannot OWN the name Mulan for anything since it is a name of CHINESE FOLKLORE.
Some of the scenes are similar, in that some of the parts of the movies follow the same legend enough to be considered samey… Forgive me, I am tired and this is late – I will come back and edit this at some point in the future, just don’t hold me to it immediately. And of course where there are cultural divides there will be differences. Another immidiate difference that must be noted is that Disney Mulan is rated unfairly U (Universal) in the UK where with its themes it should really be rated a PG (Parental Guidence) since you essentially see death. You know it has happened and it is in a context of war, seeing a battle torn landscape etc… However Starlight Mulan is a 15 (noone under 15 should watch this legally in a cinematic release) and rightly so.
China is shown far more realistic in SM – though this could have something to do with being presented in an era of wartorn China. The nation of Wei being the strongest and post ‘romance of the three kingdoms’. Now I feel somewhat daft bringing up realism in comparison with a Disney Movie in some ways, but they present this idealised China that is all pretty and worry free… Till the Huns decided to climb the Great Wall of China which .. is an impossible feat for the time (It’s even quite tricky nowadays if you’re not careful). Disney went for iconic as they were going for an era, it all screams China to a child so… therefore it is all well and good…
Fa Mulan is a farm girl that has little in the means of worry, other than her parents trying to get her married off if she can pass with the matchmaker… and Hua Mulan is a strong woman from a ‘military family’ that is a much stronger female, she is a skilled martial artist (from being raised around them) and just before the war breaks out she is told to stop by her father. There are hints and somewhat of an allusion to the DM since there is mention of her being married off and she has to act like a woman. But… then… she still weaves on her loom and does girl things so… she wouldn’t have met as many obstacles if she was to have to get married.
Please do note as well that for DM I will use the Simplified Fa for the family name, and for the SM I will use the more Mandarin Hua to tell the difference. Also, I will just use her family name on occasion, it is more a Japanese convention to do this, but I am becoming lazy here.
Now, in both tales the father is unable to battle, and the daughter is worried about her father enough to take his place. In DM this is done beautifully with a montage after its an old war wound keeping her father home. In SM there is less deliberation, she knows her father is ill and the war isn’t going to do him any favours. She even remarks as much to her horse, which is where she meets the ‘charming’ Wentai -more about him later-.
There isn’t anything remarkable that happens from here on, she gets a few pointers in SM off a family friend who figures her out. In DM she gets Mushu, which in the interest in making this a family movie was included.
They both end up bathing in some water because they need to, however in DM is it more of an excuse for comedy and a near miss with being identified. In SM it becomes known that a woman is in the camp (which earns the death penalty – a lot of things do trust me-) But… really that could have been avoided if Hua was less uptight, but… it was a point in the plot that served somewhat of a purpose.
In both versions of the movies they are sentenced to execution. In DM it is caused because she is discovered after being wounded, having noone to confide in about the truth it was bound to happen sooner than later. In the SM version it is because someone steals something from another. All of the men have to strip down, so to avoid the humiliation she owns up to it. Either way it means death, at least she would be able to keep her dignity to the following day…
But no, there’s a raid and she escapes death with the help of the love interest. Which happens in a sense in both versions.
Both versions also have the deaths of the head generals, but in SM it is far more war torn and this ordinary (ish) woman must become a heartless killer. She does have trouble with this several times, but that only makes her human. Which in a general is an unfortunate thing in such war torn days.
Now, something that happens in both the DM and SM is the ‘Death’ of the love interest. In DM this happens in the sequel, but still Fa has to deal with it as well as Hua. Hua looses herself in alcohol and begins to care less and less about fighting. She had became a general and had lost the heart of battle that she was supposed to have. In DM Shang lives in what is a very much LoTR way. Sorry but the horse thing with the river is totally ripped from Aragorn being saved by his horse.
Though with both deaths of the love interests it is relieved that no, they weren’t dead. And in SM the sly bastard only pretended to be dead to get her back to being the ruthless killing machine she needed to be. It was because of her love for him that she split her forces to save his hide.. and the supply train got mulched, yah way to go xD In DM he simply survives.
Now, the enemy leader in DM is the ruthless Shan yu… I was going to say sorta, but no, he orders the killing of messenger scouts to encourage the survivor to run quicker etc (see why it should be PG now?). In SM it is the son of the leader of the nomadic “Ruran”s that is the cruel blood thirsty one. Their struggle is born from necessity, instead of settling down they pillage and plunder.. which… if the son wasn’t an ass would have been sorted. Hell the son kills the father to gain power.
The father can be seen as fair and somewhat kind by the deliberate dialogue between the leader and mind warp cameo Vitas (seriously, he’s in it for whatever reasons) that says he had his freedom years ago, yet the only non Oriental/Asian/Chinese member of the cast chooses to stay.
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| SERIOUSLY – He gave me the creeps, too much like a friend of mine with his long hair look O.o |
In SM there is another major battle to get rid of the leader of the enemy, however, the ever so smart woman general has a plan to be followed and low and behold the asshole main general person betrays them all. Leaving Hua’s forces in despirate need of aid etcetc. Wentai is actually the seventh son of the emperor etc, trades himself for their saftety *rolls hand* this part I’m not so sure about it being in the original legend since no one account of it actually exists as the penultimate one.
She ends up going under cover and doing all these cool things… but sod it in the end its still the same, she ends up hero of China. She does meet the Emperor and says she would like to go home after 12 years (yes that long)… though after all that, nope Hua doesn’t get the man, he ends up getting married off to the princess of the Rurans for peace. Fa does get the man, only in the sequel, but it is hinted at strongly in the first one anyway.
And so, both versions end up going home to their daddies and everything being hunky dory… both love interests also show up for brief times…
Though in the legend she is supposed to go home then months later, the men think they are finding their brother at arms, only to be shocked to find a she… It would have been more amusing that way, but definitely not as dramatic. I suppose that’s how the woman got away with it and got into Chinese history, by not making a big deal of it and not being discovered.
The music in SM is hauntingly familiar in places, the score must be similar to another movie that I can almost remember from audio alone.
In DM the music serves as montage, mood, and entertainment.
In SM the music is for montaging briefly (scenes are often chopped up by a blinding whiteout- not advisable to watch this one in the dark because of it), setting a mood in often a very chilling way, and… to denote sadness.
The only real song in the movie is as follows – copied from the subtitles of the Cine-asia 2010 release
A century of human life is like a dream
Life and death occur, heroes have no regrets.
Protect my homeland, show off my nation’s pride
What is there in life what regrets in death
There are enemy winds up north, but home fires down south
I miss my wife and children, and my home
They are across the mountains, far away.
This is sung almost twice over during the execution of men, showing the solidarity they had for one another. It is stirring the way they sing it… but… it is ultimately what the movie is all about.
The story of Mulan is not a nice one, its one bred from battle and deception… I can only say that I am glad the Chinese stepped up and made a more historic and ‘accurate’ version of the tale.
She is claimed to have genuinely existed… just no-one can pin down exactly when – I say that but for pitys sake just google the hell out of the legend of Mulan and you’ll get some insight to it.
So ends a comparison of sorts that has taken over an hour to type up. And that is with glossing over quite a strong part of the story.
Oh- and as a post script edit… I actually like both versions of the story. Not a hater, just a fan with some observations I felt like sharing. Somehow I don’t think I’ll be liking the English live action adaptation when that comes out though.
[Some thanks go to youtube for people uploading the copyrighted material and it still being on the website, the Vitas picture links back to the website I found it on]
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