Summary of the film

Mulan is set in China during the Han Dynasty. The film's protagonist, Fa Mulan, is the only daughter of aged warrior Fa Zhou. She impersonates a man and takes her father's place during a general conscription to counter a fictitious Hun invasion led by Shan Yu. Along with her guardian dragon Mushu, her captain, Li Shang, a lucky cricket, "Cri-kee," and her companions, Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po, she battles the invading Hun army, eventually leading China to victory.

Context of the film and its relation to gender

It is important to note that Mulan is based on a Chinese legend in ancient China. Therefore, alternative gender roles were not acceptable and would result in death. Mulan, however, represents the “modern” woman, one who embodies traits of masculinity. The ways she tries to subvert gender roles is seen through her attempts to disguise herself as a man. This is actually extremely significant based on the historical context of the show. We have to understand this context to fully grasp the enormity and significance of her actions.

On another perspective however, Mulan may on first glance seem to be a groundbreaking film for Disney with the departure of the usual damsel in distress storyline, upon further analysis, we discovered that Mulan is not as much as a “feminist” film as thought initially. Using our content analysis, we will elaborate on the stereotypes and expectations of each gender that is still prevalent throughout the movie. The film corresponded to the second wave of feminism (abbrev: SWOF) (early 1960s to late 1990s) and themes in the movie relates themselves to those discussed during the SWOF such as sexuality, family and inequality.


Summary of the film

Our analysis is based on the movie Cars 1. The movie was so successful that a sequel was made and released in the second half of 2011.‘Cars’ is a heartwarming animated Pixar film which started off with the race car, also the main character, Lightning McQueen, in the midst of a competition which ended up as a three-way-tie. As such, a re-race was to be held in California a few days later, and while Lightning was making his way there on the road, he got sabotaged and ended up at a deserted area known as Route 66. It was the place where Lightning made great friends, fell in love, and changed as a person from a proud and conceited character who love to do one-man shows while disregarding his team-mates, to a humble and thoughtful one who eventually disregard his yearn for Number 1 during the California re-race to help a fellow injured competitor. He discovered that life isn't just about trophies and fame, as he learns about family and friendship.

Cars and its relation to gender

A reason why we decided to include the movie “Cars” in our analysis of DIsney films is because we wanted to explore the ways in which gender is ascribed to non-living, inanimate objects (in this case, cars).


Summary of the film

Snow White is an American animated film produced by Walt Disney in 1937. The story is adapted from the German fairy-tale by the Brothers Grimm. The film was first premiered in Carthay Circle Theatre on December 21, 1937 before airing nationally on February 4, 1938.
The story starts with the Queen, stepmother of Snow White, seeking the mirror’s opinion on who is the fairest in the world. Jealous of Snow White’s beauty and her budding love with the Prince, she sends a Huntsman to assassinate Snow White but the Huntsman could not bear to do so and asked her to run away deep into the forest. Having escaped and befriended the Seven Dwarfs, Snow White begins a new life in the house of Seven Dwarfs wishing that she would meet the Prince once more. The Queen finds out that Snow White survived and sets out to kill her with a poison apple. Snow White is poisoned and falls into eternity sleep. The Seven Dwarfs lay her in a glass coffin as they could not bear to bury her and the Prince eventually came along waking Snow White up with a kiss.

Context of the film and its relation to gender

The film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is based on a fairy tale that creates and reproduces the gender system with much attention placed on the perception of beauty on women. Gender roles are also elaborately played out in the film when Snow White stays in the Seven Dwarfs’ house. The clear divide between male and female characters, even amongst the animal characters, also addresses the issue of gender. This film being an animated film targeted at the young audience, has a huge impact on the socialization process in children, and exposing them to the gender divide, stereotypes and roles.