DL, on "Mulan - In a man's world "

One of the major themes in Disney's movie Mulan is a woman's place in society. Throughout the film, Mulan poses as a man in hopes of saving her father from having to participate in the war. She cuts off her hair and takes on the task of learning how to become a soldier. Through her journey, Mulan learns that she must hide her identity to avoid being executed. She outsmarts and outwits most of the men that she's with and through her intelligence; she is able to save China from the Hun dynasty. Though the movie first gives off the impression that a woman's place is not on the battlefield but in the home looking composed, there are countless scenes were Mulan is the one to save the day. She's the first one to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of climbing the pole, she uses logic to come up with a solution to a problem she was given.   Once again, she saves the day when she takes the last of the dynamite to cause an avalanche that will save the troops, however, once Shang realizes that Mulan is in fact a woman, he waste no time to leave her in the cold with no supplies. Yet again, Mulan saves the day with her creativity in finally killing Shan Yu with fireworks and only at the end is she recognized as a person. She becomes a sort of icon for women in China; she not only stood up against the traditional female social position (i.e. glorified house wife), she takes the traditional male social position and becomes a soldier. Disney made it clear that not only can women do a man's job, but she can do it just as well (or better) than him. Just because your sex is different, doesn't mean that you shouldn't be recognized for the challenging tasks that you may accomplish.