4.49 - MULAN (1998) & Gender

Our final Disney film is 1998’s MULAN. After some reviews, we talk about the ways in which this film starts from a position of naivety, but grows into a much more adult movie: which leaves us both intrigued as to what the reboot will be like.

Next Up
Next time, for the last time, we turn to the live-action version of a Disney animation, with the 2020 MULAN.

Recent Media
SAFE (2012): Boaz Yakin, Jason Statham, Catherine Chan
NOMADLAND (2020): Chloé Zhao, Jessica Bruder, Frances McDormand

Recommendations
JURASSIC PARK (1993): Stephen Spielberg, Sam Neill, Laura Dern
MARY POPPINS RETURNS (2018): P.L. Travers, Rob Marshall, Emily Blunt
STREET FIGHTER (1994): Steven E. de Souza, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS (2011): Sarah Smith, Barry Cook, James McAvoy
MR ROBOT (2015–19): Sam Esmail, Rami Malek, Christian Slater

Footnotes
We start off (and end, actually) by talking about Disney sidekicks; this is a fun article, if only for nostalgic reasons, remembering all the films: www.buzzfeed.com/jamiespain/times-disney-sidekicks-were-terrible (While we’re on the subject of Disney sidekicks, I also quite enjoyed this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J46XJImeQbc). Rob goes all academic (oooh, get him) and talks about the Greek chorus, of which more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_chorus. Here’s the promised link to Orientalism (from which this film is, refreshingly, remarkably free): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism_(book). If like Sam — not Rob — you were a nerdy kid in the late 90s, you might remember this, around the time of MULAN: www.imdb.com/title/tt0188478 — not actually Shakespeare, but something even more academic……Here’s another reminder of one of the concepts Rob mentions towards the end of this episode: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey#:~:text=Summary%20%20%20%20Act%20%20%20,road%20back%20The%20resurrection%20Return%20wi%20...%20. Finally, as Rob says, neither of us are best placed to be authorities on the subject of Gender Studies; if you’re interested, here’s a short reading list to get you started: www.lse.ac.uk/gender/Studying-Gender-at-LSE/recommended-literature.