Disclaimer: I do not own any fairy tales that the Princesses are in, nor do I own Disney, The Brothers Grim (original writers of these stories), or anything that has done a spinoff of these fairy tales.
Chapter Seven: Mulan
Mulan is essentially a girl who is trying to protect her father by going to war. She does not live up to what is expected of a girl in that dynasty of China. The expectations are to be perfect in everything they have to do in being a home maker. They have to speak only when spoken to, and do whatever they are ordered to do. That was common expectations among many cultures back in those times. It was the same with all men having to go to war. While the talking dragon and the cricket who can write and leaving her there to be in the snow once she was found to be female were unrealistic for various reason, the movies does show some realism.
The talking dragon and the cricket were unrealistic for clear reason that one can figure them out. The solders leaving her in the snow is unrealistic because, rather they owed her a debt of gratitude or not for saving the captains life, they would have just had her killed anyway and China would have been doomed. The family would have lost their farm because she was found out and killed. This is why they did not have her found out in the original story.
Here is the Disney story. A girl named Mulan is sitting in her room writing something on her arm. One can assume it is a list of things for her to do that day or cheat notes for a test, if they had not seen this movie before. She goes to her dog to try to get her chores done quickly, get her father some tea, and get to a place she needs to be. He father tells her that she is late and she rushes off to town only to find her frustrated mother and her laid back grandmother waiting for her. They tell her that she is late then they go through a line of events that amounts to her looking like a Chinese's bride and having her now reveled cheat sheet for her bride test washed off somewhat. They get to the exam and she fails it. It was really only partially her fault as she as the prompter grabbed her wrist and smudged ink on her upper lip, distracting Mulan as she poured the tea. The cricket got free and thought the tea was a hot bath and started to bath in the prompters tea; one thing lead to another and the already angry prompter, got even more angry and failed her after Mulan used the tea to put the fire out that was on the prompters butt.
After she failed the test, Mulan starts to question what she is meant to do. It is understandable since plenty of people, no matter what time they live in, do that. She hides her face in shame with the horse as her father turns expecting great news. Her father tries to cheer her up by comparing her to an unbloomed cherry blossom, saying that the one that blooms last is the most pretty of all. He means that she should not get discouraged over the prompter failing her and should try again. A plot twist comes around when the invasion of China by the Huns that nobody would have thought was important at the beginning of the movie comes back to bite things in the butt. The ruler's adviser is handing out scrolls to families to tell at least one male of age in the family to go to an army base to join the imperial army because they are being invaded. Her father is sick and cannot go but he has not sons, so he decided to do anyway. Mulan has a problem with it, because she loves her father and does not want him to die. She quickly forgets about her identity crisis. When she leaves in the dead of night, the family freaks out and the ancestors try to send a dragon to bring her back. The dragon does not wake up so the dragon who wakes the dead goes after her himself and tries to help her in order to get fame. They get to the camp and he tries to help her and nearly gets her sent home because of all his bad ideas. He and the cricket team up to get things rolling along when he leaves her along and she starts doing extremely well because of it. This wellness in the army proves something that the movie hinted at when they were dressing up to be a bride, that she is good at battle strategy and strategic thinking. This was hinted at though helping that one old man win what looked like a chess game. They get a fake message to go to war and she proves her strategy skills once again by causing an avalanche to kill most to the Huns army without killing the army she is in. She gets hurt saving the Captain and the doctor working on her tells the Captain of her true gender. The captain feels betrayed and leaves her in the snow instead of killing her. She latter sees the Huns army pop up from the snow and head to the royal palace, to kill the ruler.
She gets down to the palace to worn everybody but nobody listens to her because she is a woman. She thinks back to her army training and uses that to save the ruler along with the friends that she had made dressing up as women and the Captain who decides to give her another chance. They get to the Huns and the ruler, only to have the Captain get his butt handed to him and to have Mulan blow the leader of the Huns up with fireworks.
The ruler points out all her wrong doings and praises her for saving China. He goes as far as to bow to her for being his savior. She gets the enemies weapon and the ruler's medallion, comes home and gives them to her father. Her father shrugs them off and said that the greatest thing to come home was her, and then he talks about the flower again because it bloomed, and the Captain comes by just as her grandmother was saying something about not coming home with a man. The dragon gets his pedestal back and they all live happily ever after.
The original was: Mulan goes lives on a farm with her mom, dad, and little brother. Her family has to join a war. Her little brother is too young and her dad is too sick, she dresses herself as a male and goes in their place. She never gets found out and goes home a hero. Her friends that she made in war time show up to her house one day and find out that their friend is a women. The end
In a realistic version of this story, a dragon or a cricket would not have been there, she would have never come close to getting kicked out of the army, and despite her saving the Captains life, and she would have been killed for being a woman in the military. If she was not found out, it would have gone closer to the original. The ancestors would not have sent anybody because they would have been just tomb stones. He father would have disowned her for not passing the bridle exam instead of talking about flowers. She would have had a different reason to join the army. That reason being, nowhere else to go.
Next: The Thief and The Carpenter, a side chapter that expands of the world of Aladdin.
