Narrative:
The Disney animated movie (Mulan) is inspired by a medieval Chinese legend, which is about a young woman who joins the army to save her father's life. The legend has countless variations, although the earliest is called "Mulan Shi" or "Mulan Poem", written between 386 AD and 533 AD. The Disney version differs from the myth, while not paying attention to the accuracies of the legend, they go in the direction of looking for self-worth, feminism, and romance. This creates many historical inaccuracies which makes the Asian culture interchangeable "others". Mulan is described as a three in one feature film: comedy, action movie, and musical. Narratives such as Mulan suggest that people of another race other than whites are less entitled to a life of leisure and privilege. Non-white heroin's tend to settle more often for modest aspirations where Mulan is an example of stereotyping against race and gender. When Disney animated films are in the works there is almost always a strong relationship between the father and daughter. A scene from the film when Mulan returns home her father tells her that she is the greatest gift and honor because she is his daughter (1:19:36). Cultural beauty is a standard of women in China which was stereotyped fair skin "Paler than the moon" (48:05). Mulan wipes off the pale makeup on her face representing that she does not want a part in the gender roles that are put on her by society. An example of the stereotyping is when the emperor of China asks Mulan to serve China alongside him, she respectively declines and responds by telling him she needs to do her traditional duties. (Ward). DreamWorks animation studio was influenced by Disney fairytales. Revisionist interpretations of female humanism tells the narrative of non-empowered girl power but a lesson in changing their authentic given fate. The story line shows how the woman embrace themselves and their femininity humanist where men are still dominating and earning more than the woman. Woman are there to be sexual beings. Shrek is one of the fairytale "freaks" narratives where humans no longer want around. Shrek is a spin on medieval folklore narrative, where humans are living with "beasts." Shrek is depicted as masculine and strong, yet isolated because he is not allowed to walk around in society while Fiona has two sides the human and the ogre side. In the movie Shrek, Lord Farquaad imprisons people are not normal and tries to stick with order, tradition, and beauty as a higher class of people. In the beginning sequence of the feature it shows Shrek pulling out the page of a perfect princess story. This shows his masculinity. He believes at this point that powerful, real women do not exist in fairytales. His point of view shifts throughout the narrative as Shrek falls in love with the strength and true identity of Fiona.
Mulan was produced by Walt Disney Animation in 1998. This monumental animated film was a pivotal turning point in showing a woman's femininity as well as strength. Mulan never sees herself fitting into the perfect woman ideology, she is determined to reach her goals that she set out to do. Shrek was produced by DreamWorks Animation in 2001, shows Fiona also not possessing the idea princess image as she searches for herself in a world in which she must hide her true identity from society. Mulan and Shrek animated films were from opposite animation studios and they both portray women not needing help from the masculine man and can still have a strong female lead
storyline.
Femininity of female characters:
Since the first feature animated film Snow White and the seven dwarfs in 1937, women have been portrayed with tiny waists, oversized breasts, and either seductive or princess like. The stipulation has always been for the female character to be saved by the masculine man. This is caused, for years, the issue of how young girls should act or behave it characterizes women and young adult girls to act in a frail manner. Prior films used "Manipulating"- means when a female character uses their body to get things that they need and want from men. It was not until Mulan was made that she portrayed an independent female who challenges femininity. In old world Chinese culture women were considered worthless if they did not marry as well as speak out of turn or not follow the men's orders. Chi Fu – an officer of the town in the animated feature does not believe women can amount to men. "You will do well to teach your daughter to hold her tongue in a man's presence". (18:11). Mulan's exploration of gender fluid and femininity received success while stereotyping in a man's role. Although gender is a main role in Mulan's life, they have not molded who she is, but rather stretches the boundaries of both femininity and masculinity. In the feature it does not depict Mulan's strength, but all of her heroic deeds portrayed as a man instead. It is not until the end of the feature, where us as viewers, that we witness her taking her role in society again. Mulan is one of Disney's features which embrace feminism and gender. Through the animated film of Mulan, the writers were able to show that a woman can still be feminine and have the strength to fight the Hun. As a role model for young girls in today's society she is very positive. An interesting turn of events happen when the Disney animators reverse the roles when the soldier me use "feminine skills" and "Manipulating" to help get things they need to save the emperor (1:22:16). Feminism is shown when she is outspoken and a forward thinker, which helps gain the necessary supplies to save the emperor. Today women are given more femininity and feminist views showing that they do not need a man to save them like in previous features during the beginning stages of Disney Princess featured films, such as Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty and so on. Women are less sexualized as objects to be won with big breasts, the tiny body and bashful eyes. (Hsieh)
Mulan is a strong woman, with the complexity of breaking out of stereotypical damsel princess. In society where women are considered objects to men and are chosen by their looks rather than personality or how they act. (Lan). DreamWorks Animation Studios created the feature animated film Shrek, the female character Fiona. She is tough, clever and does not play by the stereotypical female roles of passive, domesticated, and helpless damsel in distress. This character is different than societies view points on women today.
Fiona breaks the mold of the helpless princess locked away waiting for her heroic active prince to come save her. Fiona is considered a modern feminist character. She is a strong, powerful, confident woman who is not afraid to show the world who she is and is proud to show her abilities without saved by a hero. When Fiona is rescued by Shrek, she leaves her female stereotype behind and acts as her own hero (49:15). Fiona shows this when
taking on a crowd of desperate men and battling them all while Shrek is a bystander and watching what is happening. Beauty has always stood for a woman's femininity and power, while Fiona's ugliness is presented as revolutionary. She gives up being the beautiful and desired stereotype from society to become her new true self in a new modern feminist way of a truly happy powerful independent woman. In this animated film
the female identity is not based on marriage being the only goal in life. This separates the gender socialization, where women start to believe that they are sexual objects and were only created for men's entertainment and pleasure. The feature is considered a progressive, and a powerful feminist message to all women.
Both Films are attempting to revolutionize feminism in the female characters they are portraying to young children. Mulan is one of the first Walt Disney Animated features that although is not accurate to the legend shows a young woman who will do anything to find herself worth and how she overcame the obstacles of being a man to protect and save her father from war. This animated feature not only shows a brave determined woman, but how a strong independent woman can be productive without the help of a man. In the animated film Shrek, Fiona changes what a princess should look like and act. This gives children a different viewpoint, in which they can be themselves and a man will still love them for who they actually are. (Don't change because of a man). These two featured films have pioneered a new generation of how animators view female characters, and how women can look up to these heroin's as role models and new powerful feminists (Dundes).
Animation Style:
Mulan and Shrek are both American made films. In Mulan by Walt Disney Animation,
the unique flowers and trees helped push the storytelling through a stylistic approach. During the 1990's, the Disney renaissance- which made a chain of films with three-dimensional heroin's (Walt Disney Animation), the visual storytelling goes beyond the textual limitations which makes the visuals more appealing and complete. Mulan's animation style appears to be simpler and more on the cartoon side, although when it comes to the landscapes it creates more of eye-catching scenes which make for more stylized camera movements speedier and smoother. Halfway through the feature, there is an avalanche which makes good use of the semi-negative space. (1:06:50). The use of the two-dimensional style of hand drawing which makes it artistically appealing. The style follows Walt's process where the animators need to understand the character needs which need to be animated from the inside out and to have a deep clear understanding of their emotions and movements made by the character. Disney animation studios have always been a leader in technological breakthroughs as well as different innovative approaches to pre-existing mythologies. Multi-perspective panoramas for cell animation is a traditional technique used in two-dimensional cell animation making a single background giving a three- dimensional environment. Computer technology made big advancements such as morphing which helped create a smoother transition between scenes being filmed. Disney animation had created a new tool which allowed an easy and efficient way to freely move people separately. The term is called "Attila" – the main section with this tool is when designing and creating the feature of Mulan. When applying complex textures, the use of texture mapping allowed to help further the labor process and to conform with the cell animation to the hand drawings creating dimension. DreamWorks animation studios have the same integrity of design that can be achieved, but the more important factor is that the stylistic look and the artistic style correlate with the era, with the importance of finding the underlying design style theme. "We wanted to make a fairytale come to life… as if you opened a storybook and stepped into that world", – director Andrew Adamson. Shrek has had a major computer animation breakthrough with the creation of realistic humans and human-like creatures such as donkey, the big bad wolf and the three little pigs, which they effectively express dialogue and emotions. (Tai). This is achieved through complex facial animation system developed by both DreamWorks and PDI. Shaders allow animators to effectively add layers of bone, muscle fat, skin, and clothing. Shaper also helped in the advancements in the style approach by making changes to the characters bodies for when there is a layer change from the inside of the body it corresponds to the outside appearance changes. This stylized approach helps make the process faster and a labor-saving method. The method also helps labor later on in the process for when there are multiple scenes and multiple character sequences (Glioux). DreamWorks animation also relies on key framing which helps with many different programs such as Maya, Photoshop, and soft image to enhance the overall animation style they are achieving. Walt Disney Animation and DreamWorks Animation both collectively make progressive advancements in computer animation and new techniques. Although the styles might eventually cross the same paths in some areas the technology produced in each studio relies on what advancements they need to portray in the new feature they are creating.
Symbolism:
Symbolism in an animated feature gives hidden messages and in the film Mulan there are a few. Mulan cuts her hair after she decides to take her father's place in the army. (22:16) in Chinese culture women are to keep their hair long by cutting off the hair it symbolizes cutting herself from society and their expectations. Mulan takes the risk of being banished from society because of saving her father. This also goes to the extreme with the knowledge that she may not even be accepted back into society. Paper fans are a shield for women's feminine identities, which has been referenced (11:28) meeting the matchmaker and (1:22:15) when the men use fans to become feminine, fans symbolize passivity. Mulan uses the fan to her advantage when she reveals she is a woman. In Hun culture, a woman is considered equal if not higher. Cherry blossoms symbolize womanhood and the maturity of a woman. The flower also symbolizes the father-daughter relationship (1:32:54), where her father is stating that he does not care what she has done but that her coming home is one of the best things he could have asked for. (1:31:18) The sword and metal lastly symbolize the male dominance and a war trophy of unmanning the enemy. Shrek may have a different plot line than traditional fairy tales, although the symbolism stays the same. Shrek sees himself as green- the color of an ugly monster that people avoid with the understanding that he is an ogre. The onion story that he tells donkey, represents how people hide their layers of themselves because they do not want others to see or hurt them. Eventually when Shrek meets Fiona the love they share shows that love can overcome any boundary or obstacle life may put in their way. This makes them easier to relate to each other because they believe that they will finally be loved by someone which is one of the major driving forces within this feature. Although DreamWorks Animation created the feature film there are some references to Disneyland as in the way Lord Farquaads castle possesses the ominous nightmare of the castle or the toy figures singing a one off of it's a small world. Both featured films show hidden symbolism that is underlying a deeper storyline in which the average viewer when first watching might miss. Symbolism in an animated feature is important to the storytelling in a whole which deepens the viewer into the relationship of the characters (Roberts).
Backgrounds:
The feature Mulan makes use of cells within the film to try and keep the authenticity of the film. The detail in the use of the semi- negative space is used quite frequently throughout. The use in showing the upper class Chinese aristocracy is depicted with Mulan's role and surroundings and objects around her in her home such as the cemetery where she is able to speak with her ancestors. Walt Disney Animation started to move away from the 2D spectrum and start to work with making 3D dimensional figures and backgrounds. Throughout the film there was a large display of three – dimensional computer animated props which helped blend with the hand drawn and painted background elements. The two-dimensional characters in the film and backgrounds were also eventually used to make billboards for the upcoming movie debut into three- dimensional scenes. Shrek is a film that is being celebrated as a landmark at DreamWorks Animation studio. The feature shows some of the most realistic animations when it comes to animating humans. PDI showed that with digital animation it is no longer restricted to tiny background characters in the crowd or the static, sterile surroundings. The backgrounds surrounding Fiona are more sunset related so when the sun hits her face it is in more of a flattering way. As for Shrek, the backgrounds tend to be more of a bright light. The backgrounds in the film seem to be alive and have a lot more movement, and earthier elements than other films during this time. Creating realistic, believable settings in an organic natural environment while also being in high quality makes Shrek the "Holy Grail of CG animation". Some of the backgrounds are matte painted onto a disc, shaped geometry in order to fill in the blanks in between characters that have been rendered already in the computer. Both films have extensive backgrounds to the films utilizing all elements of their designs to the fullest. Shrek's use of the elements in design are as realistic as possible from the way the landscapes and character humanization. Mulan focuses more on the fairytale feeling as, well as making the characters and some of the landscapes look more cartoon like. The background technology also differs where Shrek is using computer renderings completely, Mulan is working with two-dimensional hand drawings, hand paintings, cells, and computer animation. Both Films portray a style in animated backgrounds that tell unique and complex storytelling and the backgrounds helps distinguish studios and the stories they tell their viewers.