Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Mulan - Discuss the representation of the genders in both films
Uploaded by Hellraiser30991 on Oct 08, 2002
Both films are set in Ancient China and back then, China was a male dominant society. Although both films have different genres, they are both quiet similar in what the message is. Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, both American directed Mulan, so you know the film is in English with Chinese context. Mulan is more aimed towards a younger audience as it is a Disney film, and therefore it is in cartoon animation. CTHD is aimed more towards an older audience. The director, Ang Lee concentrates on the martial art imagery in this film and not as much around the main point I am going to concentrate on, the representation of genders in both films.
In the film Mulan, Mulan is excepted into the male dominant army when she dresses like a male to get into the army so her father doesn’t have to go.
This shows courage by Mulan, as in China females are just meant to sit back and there place is in the kitchen, Mulan is very out-going and isn’t the stereo-typical Chinese female. Mulan is a lot like the central protagonist in CTHD, Jen. They have a lot of similarities in that Jen is engaged to get married and doesn’t want to, she is very jealous of Shu Lien as she have a lot of freedom as she is not married, therefore Jen chooses Shu Lien to be her sister, this brings diversity to the story line as the main two parts are taking up by female positions. Although, some similarities between Jen and Mulan aren’t so obvious. The supernatural content in both films are obvious, but not so as a difference. Mulan has a little dragon named Mushu to accompany her on her mission, but this is mainly for the younger audience viewing as Mushu is a very comical character in the film and Jen in CTHD has a marvellous Chinese martial arts technique named Wudan. Wudan involves flying, so this is an obvious attempt of defying the laws of nature.
In a key scene in CTHD, Jen and Shu Lien are talking about the ways of the warrior; they are also talking about Jen’s proposed marriage. You can tell this is a key scene as there is no non-diagetic sound in the scene, only diagetic. Jen is also pictured in the centre of the screen, implying that she is the character of emphasis in this particular...