Mulan's costumes are bright, dramatic, and (mostly) historically accurate. Designer Bina Daigeler and a Chinese fashion expert explain the historical inspiration behind the film's outfits.
A: Whether it's animation or live-action, both have very low accuracy for Chinese culture. Who is Mulan? Mulan is a fictional female soldier in Chinese poetry, written between 439 and 581. According to the time when Mulan's poem was written, what was China like at that time?
The matchmaker depicted in Disney's Mulan is not historically accurate. The role of the matchmaker was actually to broker marriages between families, not to find partners for individuals.
Scholarly consensus is that Mulan is a fictional character, probably developed in Northern China in response to the greater independence women enjoyed there, whose legend was then revised in succeeding eras to reflect the values and challenges of the times.
First banned by Manchurian Qing dynasty rulers looking to solidify their power over a larger ethnic group, Hanfu continued to be sidelined during Mao Zedong's era. Traditional Chinese clothing was seen to be a symbol of imperial times and, therefore, against Communist ideals.
It is important to note that while there are similarities between the clothing and makeup of Mulan and geisha, Mulan's outfit is actually inspired by traditional Chinese clothing called hanfu [2]. Hanfu is a style of clothing from the Han period in China's history.
Scholars are fairly certain Mulan was never a real person and the first written record we have of it comes from the Tang Dynasty, though the story itself is much older. This is as close to the 'real' story as you'll get. The poem itself is pretty short.
French scholar Joseph de Guignes proposed that the Huns were descended from the Xiongnu, but this theory remains under intense debate. This is further supported by Shan Yu's name, as a "Shanyu" or "Chanyu" was what the Xiongnu leaders were called, much like a Mongol leader would be "Khan."
They are the Rouran, not the Mongols (exclusively). In those times, especially the nomadic confederations like the Huns, were multi-ethnic. Meaning, that there were Mongol, Turkic and even Iranic-speaking tribes among them - even Han-Chinese.
Shan Yu was inspired by the real-life Attila the Hun. Though while Shan Yu died by the hands of fireworks, Attila died by choking on his own blood the night he was to be wed to his future wife, Ildico. Coincidently the name of the computer system that was used to animate the Hun army charge was called Attila.
Disney's classic 'Mulan' flopped in China because audiences didn't think the heroine looked Chinese enough. Although Mulan is the only Disney Princess of East Asian descent, the original Mulan cartoon was a massive flop in China.
Finally, Mulan's true identity is discovered much earlier in the film, soon after the army's initial encounter with the enemy, whereas her comrades remain ignorant throughout their entire 12 years at war until after Mulan has returned home.
"Using it as a silly sidekick didn't play very well with the traditional Chinese audience." But perhaps the most significant reason why the new Mulan film features a phoenix instead is due to the symbolism of the mythical bird for Chinese women in particular — or at least according to Caro's vision.
Mulan (disguised as Ping) was injured while in a battle in the mountains from when she got slashed with a sword by Shan Yu (the villain) and then while she was recovering from her injuries, her bandages on her chest showed who she really was.
RELATED: Mulan: The Actual Legend Behind Disney's Warrior Princess, Explained. Mulan presents chi as a mystical energy that males are pre-dispositioned to possess. Chi can be used by warriors to augment their physical abilities. For whatever reason, Mulan possesses an extraordinary amount of chi.
In Hungary, a legend developed based on medieval chronicles that the Hungarians, and the Székely ethnic group in particular, are descended from the Huns. However, mainstream scholarship dismisses a close connection between the Hungarians and Huns.
Shan Yu's black eyes may be a procedure known as scleral tattooing, in which tattoo ink is injected into the whites of the eye. This procedure is traditionally done in certain cultures and is still sometimes practiced today.
The Hunnic empire fell apart in the 5th century and what was left of them as an ethnicity blended in the surrounding culture, leaving very little trace (we don't have any descendent of the Hun's language), Europeans continued to call the region "Hungary" and tended to call all invaders from the east "Huns" after that.
Joan of Arc seems outwardly similar to Fa Mulan, as they both donned male guise to assist them in joining/serving in their respective royal armies at times when their homelands were threatened, however, the latter preceded the former by nearly a thousand years (albeit only as an epic poem) and thus shares no direct ...
Sean Bailey, Disney's president of film production, recently responded that “Although Mulan was filmed almost entirely in New Zealand, in order to accurately depict the unique geography and landscape of China for this period drama, the producers chose to film some scenery in 20 locations throughout the country, ...
Why it was Cancelled. It was cancelled due to the extremely negative reception of Mulan II. John Lasseter called off all future direct to DVD films after being appointed as head of Disney in 2006. The production was left unfinished.
Why the scene didn't work in China. According to Reed, Chinese audiences openly mocked the haircut scene when the animated Mulan played overseas. Historically, Mulan cutting her hair wouldn't have made her look more masculine, because throughout China's past, men kept their hair long.
The two meanings attributed to the color red made it the perfect choice for Mulan's warrior tunic, according to Caro. “It's the color of fire but it also represents joy. And what an amazing inspiration for our hero, Mulan. The Imperial Army wears red, for all of those reasons.
Hua Mulan (Chinese: 花木蘭) is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history. Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character.
