MULAN
Main Piece:
A lot more melancholy than Disney made it – no talking cricket and dragon and shit. Was basically more realistic – cause it was real – I think.
In song form / a long poem / more rhymes + metaphors you wouldn’t get in a movie such as metaphor, beat, and rhythm.
Pushed very heavily in China because the government used it as a way to push their agenda – women equality.
Basic Premise: In the beginning a father/son has to be recruited for the war – and it was assumed as it was back then if you go to war you would die – so it was this woman who went instead for the male figure and it was a sacrifice. She fights for them in the war and comes back home safe – happy ending.
Background Information:
Why do they know this piece?
Because of school. Also his father talked about it a little bit growing up – he was a lot into history – and his sister really enjoyed the story as well.
Where/Who did they learn it from?
School mainly, some from father.
What does it mean for them?
I guess it’s just like when I was younger…now it’s different but back then it made me realize that damn, sometimes women can be like men – but I think that’s because back then, how I was raised, I thought guys was stronger and girls was weaker….so maybe that’s why the story really stuck out for me back then….but as I got older that story kind of faded for me.
Context of Performance:
Sitting inside friend’s room just talking.
Thoughts:
It was interesting to me to hear how the story of Mulan, the original story of it, is much more melancholy (and in a way darker) than say, the Disney version (much like the Grimm Tales).
I also find it incredibly interesting that the story’s message of gender/sex equality was used by the Chinese government as a propellant/medium to advocate gender/sex equality to the public – and I was also interested in how my friend was deeply affect by this in his childhood – and that through this story he was able to view his sister in a different, more equal way – that these stories do have power to change us into perhaps better versions of ourselves, or at least open our eyes a bit wider.
For another version/annotations of Mulan: