#chi fu mulan

[bones4thecats]

Random poll for my next piece

[thirdeyeblue]

So I was watching David Tennant’s Doctor Who video diaries from season four (bless) — just look at the way he went full Chi Fu meeting the new Davros

I am losing my mind

[houseofmouselove100]

All the Disney guests got bored of the robots and I prefer the real Mickey and his friends

So if you think about it first donald and goofy destroy the robot machine but that causes them to deconfigure

Example

Robot goofy He throws pizzas at Captain Hook

Donald the robot kicks mushu out of the club because he thinks I smoke

So Mickey and his friends do this to get rid of the robots

Minnie tells her robot version that some shows were canceled causing robot Minnie to destroy herself because she was not set to cancel.

Daisy He takes away his robot version's opportunity to talk to the guests by causing it to destroy itself

Goofy challenges his robot version to make his fall. With his shout the robot accepts and destroys himself on the ground.

Donald He teaches his robot version what the temper tantrum causes his robot to destroy

Mickey uses his cartoon trick like the water bucket trap with his robot version causing him to decompose

Everyone is happy that the real Mickey and company are returning

[mulanglitches]

Ling: Hah! 69! You know what that means? Chien Po: What? Chi Fu: That you're a child. Shang: HOW'D YOU GUESS MY IQ!?

[ben-the-hyena]

Ok why did nobody tell me there is a Mulan comic taking place right after the first movie that gives Chi Fu a satisfying redemption arc !? I already always liked him for being a funny snobbish sexist (hey I like problematic characters ok) jerk and now you make him likable by having him go from being a misogyne who resents Mulan for everything that happened in the first movie to little by little learn to trust and respect her and even in the end like her !? As well as making him pro active actually acting for once ?! And you don't make him super good all of sudden he remains grumpy and sarcastic which indicates he is still a snob he still is working on it and can say genuinely nice things now !? All while still remaining a comic relief ?!? COMIC, WHERE HAD YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE ?!?

Some highlights

[feather-rose]

Tricky, tricky..

....

Pheobus: Damn, what the heck had gotten to Chi Fu? That scrawny, loud lizard keeps going to the bathroom, in every five minutes!( Points himself from backwards at the door, perplexed.)

Mulan just shrugged her shoulders until she headrd a cracking snort sound, here.

Shang brought a hand to cover his bursting laugh away as he looked down onto a file. Which made Pheobus drop his jaw with shock when he suddenly realized this point.

Pheobus: Man, don’t tell me..

Mulan(Gasps with surprise.):No, Shang. You didn’t..!( Then she brought up her hands to back her laughter when her husband surrounded himself with a smirk up to his face, or more like he tried to hold on to his cracking laugh.)

Shang(Admitted as he leaned over his chair with his hands up at the air.): Alright, I did. Put some pepper spices into his mug tea, the ones he’s kinda allergic to it.

Pheobus(Still shocked.): No..

Shang(Chuckled up as he nodded his head as guilty as he sounded. But couldn’t stopped himself from smilling): So beware of the men’s bathroom, it’ll probably smell like death for a few days!

(All three of them had cracked up onto an uncontrollable and crazily laughter, over at his office.)

.....

[skatoonyfan1234]

FUCK YOU, TOONGIRL18, YOU SHITHEAD!

[planet-in-my-head]

Ok, hear me out

During A Girl Worth Fighting For Chi-Fu sings:

With, of course, a mean answer from Yao.

But what if Chi-Fu really has a girl back home who's unlike any other - a woman who is soft, kind, and understanding, who just gets him, his sense of humor, his conservatism, and just him as a whole person, and, most of all, she loves him with this one, unique feeling, unlike any other.

[lobitadluna]

Mulan 1998 Chi-Fu Made with Blick Art Colored Pencils. My style fan art.

[marubien]

How would you rewrite Mulan 2?

I'd just begin from scratch really. I tried to come up what would I keep from the existing sequel and I think that's maybe just the yin-yang necklaces. Which were a deleted idea from the first movie anyway.

Easy and lazy answer would be to go with whatever idea they had in Mulan 2's deleted scene, battle sequence, (check it out, it's super cool). It's like spy-ninja-duo of Mulan and Shang working like a badass couple. Mulan 2 concept arts (part 1, part 2) are not too bad either, and although they definitely have some usual Disney sequel cliches(eg. having the girl Mushu dragon), I'd still think I could enjoy it a bit more than what they ended up with.

Then there's Barry Cook's draft, aka the co-director of the original movie wrote synopsis for the potential sequel when he heard that Disney was considering of doing sequel to Mulan. In fact there was going to be Mulan 3 as well, apparently Mulan 2 ruined it as it was too badly received. There's hardly anything known of Barry Cook's draft details, just that soon-to-be-married Mulan and Shang are sent to north since things are happening there, and at the end there would have been an epic battle between Mulan's ancestors and Shan Yu's deceased army.

Actually I lied earlier what would be easiest and laziest. That would be just doing the visual novel The Palace of Secrets. Seriously I wouldn't change a thing.

There's many directions where one could go with the sequel really, some fanfics have done pretty amazing job exploring different options. I have made a post where I put up some fanfic recommendations, but some are like one-shots so they could hardly be sequels.

Personally, rather than a sequel movie I really really would like to see Mulan tv-series. Something like Tangled: the Series. It could have the sillier filler episodes but the main plot could be epic. Series could also make possible to explore side characters' character arc in more detail. I have played with this idea before too, with my friend @mulanxiaojie.

I'm quite satisfield how the first movie ended, but I'll list some pointers that I and I think most would like to see in a continuation story:

Mulan getting a career

Mulan and Shang getting together

Chi Fu x Matchmaker :P

And then some that are not really necessary but would be really interesting to see, just to list some of the potential sequel tv series could have:

Fa Zhou's past

Mulan's and Granma Fa's relationship

seeing the other guardians besides Mushu (and the Great Stone Dragon)

developing Gang of Three as invidual characters

exploring historical China

an actual villain (should be basic but the sequel didn't have that)

[loudestcloud]

Original date made: February 15th 2024

Song: I'll make a man out of you from Mulan

Arc: Wano (Full spoilers)

One piece edit number 30!

YouTube link

TikTok link

All edits of mine can be found under #Loudestcloud

👇🏻 Editor's comment 👇🏻

Hey hey hey!!! This was supposed to be silly haha funny but as usual, it became a longer cool thing. Also that Jack eye transition? Not planned at all, little just happened by the clips being used next to each other. My process is not linear, the first clip I used was the first cos the words are what made me make it but the second was Tama, I just go all over as I please. Alao spoilers included for even me cos i am at around 1060 so I sacrificed my eyes for this but NOT THE AUDIO so the drums are still gonna be nice and new for me. Also this somehow passed the copyright check on TikTok and that is SO silly, its literally Disney AND One piece but that's okay cos YouTube would never.

Also, it was only now when adding tags that I noticed the only Big mom clip os ger being ran over so, sorry girl, didn't mean to do you so dirty.

EDIT: I forgot to say that the first ever One piece AMV I found by myself as a kid was one to A girl worth fighting for so this brought back a lot of childhood joy. It was really bad and I mostly remember Usopp as Ling and Sanji being the part for Chi-Fu then Zoro being the reply to that, it was so grainy and poorly cut but it was fun and that's all that ever matters.

[darkmasterofcupcakes]

You don't fully realize how big of a deal it is that the Emperor is bowing to Mulan here until we see Chi Fu notice what he's doing and immediately jump down to the ground to kowtow out of respect, but the way Ling and Shang react already gives a hint that this is something amazing.

[pfhwrittes]

listen i just watched mulan 1998 because hello i'm transmasc and feeling sad and i wanted to cry over reflection for a sec you know how it goes

anyway. beautiful visions filled my head of the 141 gang singing a girl worth fighting for and listen. gaz as mulan, ghost as yao, soap as ling, price as chien-po that's all i'm saying (with graves as chi-fu because i need him to be roasted). that's all.

[mulanglitches]

Chi Fu: You’re a loose cannon, Mulan. Mulan: No, I’m not. I’m a cannon, maybe, but a loose cannon? Is that what you think of me? Shang: I think you play by your own rules. Chien Po: No, no, Mulan thinks rules were made to be broken. Chi Fu: Those are all attributes of a loose cannon. Mulan: No, I’m just a reckless renegade. Yao is a loose cannon. Yao: smashes a chair AAAARGH! YOU SHUT YOUR TRAP, MULAN! Chien Po: I’d say Yao’s more of a cop on the edge with nothing to lose. That’s an entirely different thing. Shang: Now I’m just confused. Is Mulan a loose cannon or not? Chi Fu: All right, put on a pot of coffee. We’re gonna get to the bottom of this. Mulan: groans Yao: Aw, man.

[la-principessa-nuova]

Ping

A remake of Mulan (1998) where the main character is Ping, a trans man who discovers his true gender while disguising himself as a man to take his father’s place in the war.

In this version, he and his captain, Li Shang, develop feelings for each other but resist them due to internalized homophobia and Ping not wanting to be caught.

At some point somebody bullies one of the other soldiers who is weaker about actually being a woman pretending to be a man, and in the ensuing conversation, one of the soldiers said he’s heard of people like that, which catches Ping’s attention. Another soldier gets angry about this discussion and when pressed reveals that he has a trans brother back home. This is how Ping starts to wonder if he might be a man.

Events are a little reordered in this version, as just as they start to get closer and overcome the barriers preventing their relationship, Shang discovers Ping’s secret and says Ping must leave first thing in the morning. But during the night, the person on guard duty sees the Hun Army approaching.

This is where Ping uses the rocket to cause an avalanche, and in the ensuing chaos, Ping and Shang are separated from the other troops, lost out in the cold with almost no supplies.

As they work together and save each other’s lives many times, they overcome their animosity towards each other and their relationship finally blossoms.

In the meantime, the other soldiers reported back that the Huns have been defeated. They arrive at the capital, and things seem to be back to peace times. But now faced with the pressures of society, Shang says he can’t be with Ping unless he hides who he is and lives as a woman. He does this from a perspective of not understanding the pain, rather than maliciously, but still knowingly being selfish about wanting to accept the promotion he received on returning a hero and live a very public life.

They argue, and someone overhears. Word gets out and in order to save his public image, Shang throws Ping under the bus and outs him as gay (not as trans). Ping is now ostracized and mad at Shang, so he leaves the city. But on his way home, he discovers that Shan Yu and some of his elite soldiers survived and plan on attacking the capital, so he goes back.

Nobody believes him, and Shang won’t see him. The final battle is somewhat similar to the original, but played a little more seriously.

In the end, after narrowly avoiding death, Ping and Shang run into each other’s arms and kiss. This shocks all the onlookers and Shang’s father confronts him along with Chi-Fu (who is not a comic relief character in this version and actually exerts power). His father demands that Shang blame Ping to maintain his status and Chi-Fu makes it clear that he will lose his rank and be discharged if he does not do so.

This time Shang stands with Ping and they leave the city to live a quiet life together in the countryside. Ping’s family is so relieved to have him back that they immediately accept him as is.

They have a wedding, and Shang’s father shows up and apologizes to his son saying he has realized that his son’s happiness is far more important than the family’s public image. He reveals that he has given up his rank to be captain of the local subdivision of the military (I’m not sure what the name of that sized group would be), and while they’re not technically allowed to hold rank, he would love if Shang and Ping would help with training new recruits.

I went into more detail towards the end because the beginning is more similar to the original and probably features the same or very similar songs, but also more time would be given to that section in this version as it does a lot more in this version.

[that-ari-blogger]

The Boss Music Starts Playing, Part 2/2 (Mulan)

This is a continuation of my previous post (link), because the original was too long for a single thing. So, I cut it down.

This relates to the theme of self-image really nicely. Because self-image, by definition, is how a person sees themselves. But it would be foolish to assume that how a person is seen by others doesn’t fit into this.

Shang’s self-image is centred around leading people, for example. That’s why he and Chi-Fu foil off each other, because Chi-Fu’s idea of himself is built on being in power over people. They are similar, but it is the nuances that set them apart, and that are at the root of Chi-Fu’s unmeritedly complex characterisation.

Chi-Fu is misogynistic doofus, but he’s also more nuanced than that, and honestly, he is one of the more interesting side characters in this film. He is a hypocrite, staunchly defending what he sees as masculinity while exhibiting exactly zero of the traits he places value in. He places value in rank above all else, willing to criticise those above him when he views their actions as unwise, but still following orders even when in doubt.

A lot of his characterisation is exemplified in this single line:

“Be careful Captain. The general may be your father, but I am the emperor’s counsel.

And oh, by the way, I got that job on my own.”

Here, he’s an eejit who throws his weight around. He respects the rank of Shang but takes care to position himself higher than him out of sheer spite.

But he’s also kind of correct. Like, I hate the fact that I am agreeing with this guy, but he makes a good point about the general’s nepotism here.

However, Shi-Fu is an antagonist in this film, and I don’t want to understate why he fills that role. Shi-Fu is misogynistic, unwilling to be swayed by Mulan’s displays of heroism because… well because she has boobs, and that disqualifies every point she can make. Again, he’s a misogynist.

Which brings me back to the thing about self-image and external perception, and I am going to bring back the non-binary reading. You can take the hormones, you can dress differently, you can do all kinds of things to make yourself feel more at home in your body. But all of those elements of self-image can be subverted by a single person misgendering you, or deadnaming you.

To those reading this who are not trans or non-binary, that is why we ask y’all to respect our pronouns. It’s not because we enjoy being contrarians (most of the time), it’s because referring to us in the way we see ourselves actually makes us feel better about ourselves. We’re asking you to help us in a way that objectively doesn’t cost you anything other than the effort to try.

Mulan’s feeling of self-worth comes from her sense of belonging in the army, the place where she can be one of the guys, and people respect her for that and accept her as that.

When that image is shattered, and she is left out in the snow to die or go home, it is a gut punch because that belonging lets her go.

This post was inspired by Cinema Therapy’s video on Mulan, and while I joked around in the introduction about accepting their challenge, I think their video was really good, and I wish no I’ll will towards them. But…

I think it was a missed opportunity to not talk about the scene in the valley, because it is an incredible demonstration of what honour and self-worth actually are. They are both influenced by others, yes, but in the end, they are both something you find for yourself.

Mulan could go home, she has saved her father, she has proven herself, she has achieved what she came for. But she chooses to go back to the army and be a part of that, she chooses to go back to the life that Ping let her lead. Like the trial of the arrow, this is for her.

Which leads me into the two “fight scenes”.

This is such well composed shot. Despite the utter lack of landmarks or even detail on most of the characters, you can see the scale and geography so clearly, and your eye is drawn to the stooges, then to the avalanche, then to Mulan and Shang sprinting away from it.

The three stooges carry this film, specifically in the matter of its tone. They set up the humorous, upbeat nature of the first half of the story with their antics and act as a benchmark for Mulan’s success in finding acceptance. Then they stop laughing to show the seriousness of the aftermath.

But here, the little spin that Lee’s helmet makes in the air serves to soften what would otherwise be a jarringly terrifying and gritty moment. They remind the audience what film they are watching and balance out the tone to distract from the visage of death behind them.

Anyway, Mulan’s actions in this battle and the final confrontation lean into a few readings.

First, the feminist reading. I haven’t mentioned this as much as I probably should have up to this point, but the reading is by no means any less valid or prominent as any other.

This is a feminist piece, with Mulan defeating the Hun army twice by going against the masculine stereotypes. She reclaims her agency through being a badass alongside the men, but not in the same way as them. In the finale, she uses her fan, symbolically the thing associated with womanhood in the early stage of the film, to defeat the villain. She demonstrates that she has equal ability and right to be anywhere as the dudes, and in the end, the whole of China bows to her.

I’m obviously not a woman, so I’m not exactly the expert on this, but I can point out the obvious story beats, and I can step aside for people with a more nuanced understanding of this reading to let their presence be known.

Second, the trans reading, specifically a trans masculine reading. Once again, I am not trans, I am non-binary, so I’m going to give my understanding of this read from my limited perspective, and step aside again.

So, Mulan defeats Shan-Yu twice using the things she has learned as a soldier, sword fighting and cannons. These are parts of the identity that she has built for herself as a man, and her proficiency with them shows her expertise in the field of masculinity that she lacked in area of femininity, as demonstrated by the opening number.

When I ran a draft of this post by a trans friend of mine to make sure I wasn’t being inaccurate, he asked me to point out the fact that Mulan ends up with a scar in a similar place to those left by top surgery. So, there’s that.

Finally, there is the non-binary reading of these scenes, which is where I get to go crazy with my own theories.

Mulan defeats Shan-Yu by thinking tactically, a trait not associated with either masculinity or femininity in this setting. Then, she uses both the fan and the sword, walking in both fields to accomplishing her goal, as if the concept of gender is irrelevant to her. She is neither man or woman, and both. Her gender identity cannot be defined so easily.

When Mulan is cast out from the army, that choice of whether to go back to being Mulan or try again at being Ping comes up, and her choice is a mix of the two.

“You said you’d trust Ping, why is Mulan any different?”

Mulan is Mulan, she isn’t trying to be Ping anymore, she’s trying to be herself. Now, she’s attempting to call on the clout and experience that that persona gave her, while distancing herself slightly from it.

Essentially, she isn’t entirely a guy, but she has some of the traits that are socially attributed to guys, and she is at home in the place that she carved out for herself. She is who she is, she cannot be classified. She is Mulan.

I love that the three stooges get to dress in drag for this moment, and I too lament the fact that Shang didn’t. But I also want to point out that, for all of modern media’s advances, this is the closest I have seen to a real fight sequence with characters dressed in drag. Come on Hollywood, you have the chance for the most epic sword fight ever shown, and you don't take it. Do it, you cowards.

That moment actually symbolises the breaking down of gender roles completely. Mulan walks between genders, and now these guys are free to exhibit their own masculimity in whatever way they see fit.

The moment is then played for comedy in a really cool way. It isn’t played as absurd at all. The comedy comes partly from the line “ugly concubines”, but also through the reverse of Mulan’s first scene as a dude.

The three stooges are comically really capable at pretending to be women and take to it ridiculously quickly. That is then contrasted with the fact that they don’t drop the disguises when they return to the actions they associate with masculinity, beating up people with excessive force, and even greet the emperor without changing. The stooges are confident enough in themselves and their gender that they can present this way without getting confused, and without stepping into Mulan’s theming as non-binary or trans or whatever your reading of her is.

Unconditionally, the best part of this sequence is the music, bringing back Make A Man Out of You, specifically the final chorus (also the reveal of the drag is timed to the beat of the song, which is such a cool little detail). Everything I said about the unity of people working together with different strengths and weaknesses comes back. And the lyrics pair with the different forms of gender expression going on onscreen.

“Be a man.

We must be swift as a coursing river.

Be a man.

With all the force of a great typhoon.

Be a man.

With all the strength of a raging fire.

Mysterious as the dark side of the moon"

Shang’s hypermasculine soldier, the three stooges and their varying levels of manliness through their drag, and Mulan, all working together to succeed. Dressing in drag, being a general, being trans or non-binary, are all displaying the qualities of the song. Swift of mind, force of hope, strength of competence, mystery of individuality and interiority.

The actions reference the scene with the arrow in more ways than just the one, because this isn’t exactly the final chorus, it’s the chorus in which Mulan gets the arrow. The backing music was still there in that one, and it’s still there now. The main difference is that when we heard this first, Shang’s voice was leading the chant, but now he is either not there, or has joined the herd.

Catharsis.

Speaking of which, the scene where the emperor honours Mulan is nice and all, but it is secondary to the film’s final moments, and Mulan’s reconciliation with her father.

The gifts sit in the foreground here, but also in the shadows that Zhou has to move out of to get to his daughter. They are a reminder of what Zhou is stepping away from to hug Mulan.

This is acceptance on a familial level. Mulan is happy with herself, and she has found belonging in the army. Now she returns to her father, and offers him the gifts from the emperor, but Zhou discards them like they are nothing, because to him, that’s what they are.

This scene takes place in the same location as their conversation at the start of the film.

“What beautiful blossoms we have this year, but look, this one’s late. But I’ll bet that when it blooms, it will be the most beautiful of all.”

Zhou isn’t perfect, but I’ll challenge you to find a human being who isn’t, besides Oscar Isaac of course. However, he goes through substantial character development in the film behind the scenes in a way that is directly related to the events of the story.

At the start of the film, Zhou values his family, but instinctively his need for honour takes precedent. He will offer advice, and demonstrate his desire for his daughter to find herself in time, but he will undercut himself by his willingness to die for honour and for the hierarchy.

Then he loses his daughter, and he is told to make a choi

ce. He can get his honour back and expose his daughter, or he can stay behind. One will guarantee a reward, the other is a gamble, and without hesitation, he choses the risky option, because there is a chance his daughter will live.

He then has time to reflect over the course of the movie, that’s the development behind the scenes that I mentioned. So, when Mulan returns, and he sees the adult she has grown into, honour doesn’t enter the picture for him, and he accepts her for everything that she is.

Zhou isn’t perfect, but in the end, he is a good dad, and he improves as a person because of that. That’s what matters.

So, Mulan is a story about gender. Either from a feminine lens, a masculine lens, a trans reading, or a non-binary one, this film discusses gender, and how it relates to self-image and self-acceptance. The film talks about honour, and what that truly means, and it deconstructs the form of the musical itself to achieve it's points.

In other words, the writers during the Disney Renaissance were bloody good at their jobs, who knew?

I love that the cricket is doing a Batman impression too. That's just golden.

Final Thoughts

Mulan is my movie. Not the sequel or the reboot, the 1998 original. Mulan is my movie.

It is a story about identity, and as a non-binary individual, this film shaped how I saw myself, and how I related to the world around me. It is also the direct cause of my obsession with cinematography. Mulan is my movie.

To the folks at Cinema Therapy, if by some miracle you read this, thanks. Your video was great, but it also inspired me to write this, something I am very proud of and something that helped me to articulate a few things that I have been struggling with. So, thanks for that.

Y’all stepped on my turf, walked into the labyrinth, and now the minotaur bows its head to you.

To everyone else, hello. I’m Ari, I make media analysis, so stick around if that interests you. Usually I don’t post things on Sundays, but I have a few things lined up, maybe keep an eye out for those.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading this (checks wordcount) 5000 WORD ESSAY. Dear Lord, this got long, and I haven't even mentioned the old married couple that is Mushu and the cricket, or their relationships with identity and gender. That might have to be a different post.

Thank you for sticking around.