The original version of Mulan was a unique entry to the Disney animated catalogue, not only for featuring the first Asian Disney princess, but for breaking three unofficial “rules” of Disney Princess movies. Mulan was released in 1998 as part of the Disney Renaissance, in which the studio was revitalized by a string of hit animated films. Like most of the other movies of the Disney Renaissance, Mulan is based on a well known story, namely a Chinese folk tale. Though many versions of the legend exist, Disney’s adaptation is primarily based on the poem “The Song of Fa Mu Lan.”
Both the original poem Mulan is based on and the Disney movie tell the story of a village girl who took her aging father’s place in the Chinese army by disguising herself as a man. In the animated Mulan, the titular heroine became an excellent warrior under the guidance of Captain Li Shang, using her wits to make up for what she lacked in physical strength to fight against the invading Huns. Although her true identity was eventually revealed, Mulan formulated her own plan to defeat the villainous Shan Yu and save China. Mulan’s struggle against the bounds of traditional femininity and skills on the battlefield set her apart from other Disney princesses whose interests were more in line with those of antiquated gender roles.
Though Mulan’s swordplay skills already distinguish her from her fellow Disney Princesses, her debut film does not include three princess movie tropes. These tropes were so ubiquitous that they essentially became rules for being a Disney Princess in the first place. By breaking away from classic storytelling structures, Mulan set the pace for Disney to continue to break the rules in future princess movies.
Despite being officially considered a Disney Princess, Mulan is not actually royalty. Before her film’s release, all of the other princesses were either born or married into nobility. Though her father is known as a war hero, their family is not of noble blood. Even when Mulan eventually married Li Shang in Mulan II, she did not become a princess. Li Shang is the son of a high ranking general who was close with, but not related to, the Emperor of China. Instead of marriage, Mulan was truly made a princess through her heroic deeds. Additionally, Mulan has two living parents who make it until the end of the film, while all other previous princesses are not so lucky. Having at least one dead parent had been a staple of Disney character backstories ever since the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. Aurora’s parents technically lived through Sleeping Beauty, but were asleep and unable to interact with their daughter. By breaking the cliché, Mulan was able to explore themes of family duty and honor.
Mulan also avoided the trope of Disney villains falling to their deaths or otherwise being killed by their own mistakes. While filmmakers easily could have had Shan Yu meet a similar fate to leave Mulan’s hands clean, they chose to have her engage him in a sword fight before cueing her sidekick Mushu to set off the explosion that would be his undoing. Mulan killing the villain herself gave her a sense of agency that no princess had before. Despite Mulan‘s deviation from established norms, her story does follow other Disney Princess rules. She still has a talking animal sidekick, Mushu, and sings “Reflection,” in alignment with the musical skills of previous princesses. However, Mulan‘s rule breaking gave it some of its strongest moments, proving that sometimes rules are meant to be broken. It helped lay the foundation for Disney’s experimentation with the princess formula in the years to come, eventually leading to their even more radical live-action Mulan remake.
