#mulan is a queer story

[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.

[sparklemaia]

From my Top Surgery Recovery Sketchbook!

I had to wear this post-op compression binder for a month and this is how I made myself feel better about it, because obviously Mulan rules 🤘

I have a substack! Subscribing (free!) puts comics and sketches right in your email inbox directly from me! (There's also a $5/mo option if you want Secret Bonus Comics)

[chaoticallycrazy53]

My mom's favourite Disney movie is Mulan. She loved it so much that she had the blue-ray dvd's for the original and the sequel a little while after.

When I was a kid she would play that movie so much that by the time I was six I knew every line pretty accurately. I loved the songs so much I'd sing them out of nowhere.

I still do it sometimes.

I remember one song always confused me as a kid and I now realize i was just a idiot. So it's the song where the guys are talking about there idea of the perfect "girl worth fighting for", but when heard the song I thought they were singing, "A GIRL IN FIGHTING FORM" and I would always got confused cuz the women they would describe didn't sound anything like that. It would piss little me off cuz to me their (and my) perfect woman is Mulan but she can't show off her feminine fighting form or she'll die.

[thebisexualwreckoning]

i think the funniest story i have about my adhd memory is that once right after the mulan life action was released id gone on youtube to find out what actual Chinese people were saying about it and I found this one video on every single cultural inaccuracy in the movie and at the end of it they advertised their book and I was like that sounds interesting and ill read when it comes out and 3 years later I find the book through completely unrelated means and immediately flash back to when xiran made a whole ass youtube channel because they hated the movie so much and wanted to drag it through the dirt. and I knew. i knew I had to read that book simply for the level of pettiness that they displayed that day. so I got an ebook and now 6 months from that incident later I'm finally buying my physical copy.

So at least the fucking live action mulan movie did something right.

Ps: go read Iron widow by Xiran jay zhao for queer people being angry and taking down the government!

[up-in-flames-writing]

I wasn't sure if I wanted to make this post, but it feels nowadays like no matter what I say, people will find something wrong with it. I can't say anything about transmasculinity without someone with 'TERFs dni' in their bio foaming at the mouth about it.

Cause it ain't just the radfems & the TERFs, half of the damn queer community is like this as well.

And my main point here is that I fucking despise being a transmasc writer. People fucking despise transmasc creators in general!

I remember watching a cishet 'feminist' reviewing a book by a transman, & acting like he was just a stupid little girl who didn't understand feminism, cause he wrote a book about how men are mistreated, & he wrote it as a transman! & I'm sorry that not all of us can be as damn articulate as your feminism priestesses of the 1900s, but even if we were you'd still find a fucking fault in it!

Cause I love writing stories were a girl becomes a warrior & finds out he's actually a man, & he's better this way than he ever was before, & I was once that little girl who was signed up for martial arts classes & got so much euphoria from beating up all the little boys, but I was already a little boy at that time, I just didn't know it!

Oh, but that's not feminist. It ain't 'female empowerment'. Seeing Mulan as trans in your headcanon isn't feminism, & writing about little girls becoming strong men is misogynist, even if that little girl was never a little girl to begin with!

And I'm just so fucking tired, y'all. One type of 'feminist' hates me for being trans, & the other for being a man, & no matter what I do I just get harassed over & over.

& I'll probably bring this curse over to this blog now. Until now, people have been sending harassment to my dead main blog. Well, they won't be able to do that soon. It'll be this blog, or my kinda dead RP blog.

& when I say I'm terrified, I mean it. Cause I was a terrified little girl growing up, bullied for being autistic & weird & queer & faggy & masculine. & now I'm terrified once again, cause I keep being harassed for being autistic, weird, queer, faggy, masculine, & for refusing to shut up about it. & I want this blog to stay a safe place.

But this is my writing blog. I am a writer. I write stories where little girls become strong men, & I wish someone would call that 'trans empowerment'. & what's empowering in staying hidden?

This is my writing blog, & I deserve to speak up against the bullshit I have to face as a transman & a writer. & the truth is: people fucking despise transmasc writers.

[onedeadkitty]

Mizus Gender

He/him they/them she/her pronouns for Mizu

I know the writers of the show wrote blue eye samurai with Mizu as a woman disguised as a man in a way similar ish to Mulan but uh

They accidentally made it deeper than that ??

If you removed like 2 lines of dialogue in episode 5 you could even make an argument for trans masc Mizu. Or at the least gender queer.

Being transgender is not a concept in this time period. But trust. People have always wanted to be other genders, probably for the entirety of human history. And how someone would go about being trans in a world with no true understanding of the concept, might be similar to what Mizu IS DOING RIGHT NOW.

Living as a man. PERMANENTLY. Not temporarily to achieve some near goal like Mulan and the many other stories with this concept. Mizu has lived as a man nearly their entire life and no intention to ever live as a woman in the future.

Mizu admires their freshly binded chest in the mirror as a teen.

When alone Mizu refers to himself as a man.

When alone with Ringo, (someone who knows the secret) Ringo also refers to Mizu as a man.

Mizu threatens to straight kill Ringo at the the very use of the word “girl”.

When, and ONLY when seeing 2 MEN kiss does he think of Taigen.

Not to mention madame Kajis indelicate insinuation of gay sex to Mizu, something I believe wasn’t for no reason. OR Madams iconic line “you are more man than ANY come through my door” (I’m convinced she has an idea of Mizus true sex but doesn’t care to accuse or call them out for it)

They HAD lived as a woman in the past. Only for about a year, and they did it to get married for her mothers sake. To save her from a life of prostitution. She was able to be happy, because it IS POSSIBLE to be happy while not presenting how you like. It’s a strain and some can never be happy doing so but it’s possible and people do it all the time to make their lives easier or to keep the peace with family or for many other reasons.

Episode 5 gave HUGE VIBES of going back into the closet when living with your parents or just visiting. And Mizu looked SO uncomfortable and awkward in woman’s clothing and doing “wife things” (partly cause they have never done that before) and maybe it was my own projecting but I felt so uncomfortable FOR Mizu.

These things don’t necessarily mean being a transgender man specifically. Gender is actually really complicated and has ALOT to do with what society deems it.

Mizu is a masculine person. Being what Japan wants women to be isn’t in line with what Mizu is. A violent, practical, stoic, cold, masculine, confident and capable warrior.

dressing up as a woman with the makeup ONLY to try and make her husband happy. She didn’t WANT to. “To soften her husbands heart, the bride… danced” performed femininity FOR HIM. Only for Mikio to betray her for, in his eyes, being more masculine than him, by beating him in a physical fight.

Mizu is both the ronin and the bride. Mizu will be whatever they need to in order to achieve their owed deaths. They HAVE to be a man to get their revenge but that doesn’t mean Mizu WANTS to be a woman. (To be fair who WOULD in that time but I digress) and it doesn’t mean they WANT to be a man. They WANT their revenge. Everything is secondary to that.

Mizu is so different from other characters…

I grew up in a kinda misogynistic place and my mom really didn’t let me “do boy stuff” or dress masculine in any sense until my late teens. I my self don’t know if I can even call myself Trans. But I’m masculine, I like looking like a man and dressing as one but I don’t WANT to be a man necessarily. But I don’t WANT to be a woman. I feel like we as a society put to much distinction between the two and the people who don’t fit either side get left out at times.

Mizu is such a relatable character to me, like no other characters complicated feelings about their own sex and gender have ever come close.

They are for those who don’t have a strong sense of their own gender. Especially those who are biologically female and hesitant to lean into their sex because of the societal baggage.

Once people realize that how you dress, how you act, and what you do in reality have nothing to do with your bio sex and everything with what society has forced people to do based on factors out of our control is the day we can finally stop having these conversations.

Do what you want, gender is fake.

But Mizu is forever 🫶

[aysathenotsogreat]

hbomberguy posted a video and i have opinions about it

i never made the active choice to stop watching James Somerton's content but when i stopped having a job that'd let me listen to videos for hours straight, I slowly became interested in other creators. i remember finding a couple of his videos contradictory in their analysis and do remember being annoyed by the "white women/teenager girls" comments a lot. oh yeah and that TELOS PICTURES ALWAYS REEKED OF A SCAM. Hearing James describe himself as a business major first in the pitch video weirded me the hell out. I feel like not enough people are talking about this particular part of the story but the man crowdfunded $60k USD and has produced nothing but stock image posters in return after years.

this man saw his community as nothing but to steal from and profit off of and clearly sees himself above those voices he robs. the point in the video that broke me was right in the beginning in the james half was the Mulan section. the tactic of erasing Jes Tom's words and passing it off as a personal observation of the community instantly reminded me of all the times James has confidently talked on the experiences of trans, nb and all queer people of color throughout his career and the fucking similarity of the language. that moment made me pause and scream. it instantly put into scale that this wasn't just one of the first video essays he'd ever made, it was EVERYTHING.

I want to pretend the queer media I see is made from a place of genuine care of the community, all of us do. but we as a collective need to stop catering to the consumption of content sludge. we need to be more critical and more aware. any time james mispronounced a character or place's name, i would always brush it off as a bad voice take kept in because of the videos' length that wasn't fixed in production. no, that was because james didn't care enough to learn the principle facts of the topics he was covering. (him spelling "shonan" in that AoT script made lose it). he wanted our ad revenue and your patreon money and by stealing the work of actually talented queer people, he basically won.

hbomberguy, lovely chaos bisexual, did a service to our community by making sure millenial and zoomer queers will never let this mf try to grift his way into the entertainment industry again. i have more to say about this video, especially illuminaughii bc she's an especially abusive and toxic person who i also watched a fuck ton at my old job. i certainly need be a bit better about where i get my info from, especially if i'm going to be repeating it to someone else. in the age of tiktok and the speed of misinfo there being insane, i just beg us young queers to think a bit more critically before we post.

[scholar-of-yemdresh]

The TERF brigade in the BES fandom makes my skin itch. God forbid you interpret Mizu as transmasc. Like having a different interpretation of the character is somehow taking anything away from cis women. Musty asses already castigated any HCing Mulan as transmasc are you not tired of harassing asian transmascs by now???

Anyway instead of getting cis "people" in your mentions crying about the "evil [white*] transes taking away wombmyn stories". Protect your peace and stan a book series that's got a transmasc asian(fantasy Korean not Japanese) swordsman as one of the main characters, his name is Keun-ju and he's so pookie ☺.

It's called The Crimson Empire trilogy by Alex Marshall. It's a batshit heavy metal dark fantasy trilogy with pretty much every queer imaginable. Also If you can handle the gore/violence of BES then this shouldn't be an issue. The Main character(there are a lot of important characters) is a scarred up brawny bi woman who's in her late 50s/early 60s.

Oh and all those ot3 Mizu/Akemi/Taigen shippers I see you...so Keun-ju is bi and gets into a throuple with a feisty(Low key a dumbass tbh 💀) princess(who's his childhood friend and he's her bodyguard because I know yall eat up that shi) AND a cis guy who he starts out with a pseudo antagonistic/rivalry relationship.

Caveat unlike BES these three do start off the series as teens (16-17/18) but by the end they're all firmly adults.

*Totally ignoring the trans POC specifically the East asian trans people because "transness is a taint forced by white people" or some other bullshit. And it make it easier for the TERFs to pretend they're fighting the "oppressor" if they act like trans poc calling them out on their shit don't exist.

[peggy-sue-reads-a-book]

I need to yap about a different fandom for a sec so bear with me. Azriel is so incredibly trans coded it’s canonically defensible and I would scream and shout and kick my feeties to see it confirmed.

If I may, your honor:

IF Azriel were born a girl, his brothers certainly would not have let him fly.

You know who would change his name to a swaggy biblical angel? Probably a trans man.

Feyre said he was prettier than Rhysand.

Certainly all of us would like to read a Mulan type book where he runs away and trains in the camp in disguise. 👀

Cassian wrestles the shit out of him until he makes a realization.

And proceeds to tell him a story specifically about some queer lady angels?? Surely now you see it.

Which is also the story he shares with Feyre when it’s specifically important to him to teach her to fly.

The cauldron doesn’t pair him with Elain. Possibly because they can’t have children?

Again, little Az trying to protect his secret so badly but equally wanting to prove himself and then Cassian finding out and him tearing up and being like “but I just wanted to you to see me as your brother.” And Cassian being like o_________o “but I do??”

Who can draw? Surely SOMEBODY wants to draw it.

Az relearning to fly after top surgery

Awkwardly rubbing his neck and asking Rhysand for clothes to borrow to wear to the night court and Rhysand takes him shopping.

Rhysand was a derpishly nice and friendly child and didn’t understand why Azriel didn’t like him. Rhysand was all the things he never thought he could be and it hurt to have his friendship imposed upon him.

Thematically this works well with the rest of the group. Most of them have reinvented themselves or popped outta the cauldron different.

It’s also very important to me that he have a little gold septum piercing. I think it would look good on him 🤷

[c-kiddo]

obviously its all bad but the one plagiarism somerton did that i rly cant get over is taking the words of a trans!! and asian!!!!!!! writer (jes tom), who was writing personally about their thoughts on Mulan and how they very personally connected to the story, and removing any mention of race so that he (white) could say it as if it was his words. and not only that he makes it generally about queerness rather than (asian, specifically) transmasculinity . truly rancid

[xuexishijian]

The Ballad of Mulan: 木兰诗 mù lán shī

I was curious about what the original story was like, so I looked up (a version of) the original text. It was really interesting and eye-opening because (unsurprisingly?) it's nothing like the Disney movie(s). The only real similarity is the premise: a young woman with no older brother takes her elderly father's place in the war draft. Apart from that, about every other detail is different:

Mulan has siblings: an older sister and a younger brother.

The ruler of this kingdom is referred to as the Khan/Khagan (可汗) and as the Son of Heaven (天子), titles used together for the emperors of the Northern Wei Dynasty (北魏 386–535 CE).

Mulan is never discovered to be a woman during her time in the army, spending 12 years there.

The enemy is never specified explicitly, though historically this may have been the Rouran (柔然) in present-day Inner Mongolia (内蒙古). Places that Mulan passes include the Yellow River (黄河), the Black Mountain (黑山, thought to be southeast of Huhhot 呼和浩特, Inner Mongolia), and the Yan Mountain (燕山, referring to either the 阴山 Yīn mountains of Inner Mongolia or the 燕然山 Yānrán mountains of Mongolia 蒙古).

The description of her journey is much longer and more colorful than anything about the war itself, providing imagery and parallel structure that differs from the rest of the poem.

On the soldiers' return, the emperor offers Mulan a government position (尚书郎), which she turns down, asking only for a 明驼 to return her home across the 万里 that separated her from her family. I wasn't sure if this "camel" was to be taken literally; translations I found differed on whether this was a camel, a horse, or some magical version of these which traveled at incredible speed.

The soldiers only discover that Mulan is a woman when she returns home, changing back into her old clothing (旧时裳), pulling her hair back into a feminine style, and applying makeup. I found it curious just how quickly she readjusted to her old life.

The last lines of the poem were also really beautiful and spoke to me in a queer way. It says that when you see a pair of rabbits, male and female, running together, side by side, how can you tell them apart?

雄兔脚扑朔，雌兔眼迷离，双兔傍地走，安能辨我是雄雌？

These lines include a chengyu, 扑朔迷离, meaning "complicated, confusing," which originally comes from this passage, referring to the difficulty in telling apart the male and female rabbits. "The male's foot is twitching, the female's eyes are squinted, blurry," but these small differences aren't noticeable from afar or when the rabbits are in motion. Though you might eventually be able to pick out some small details regarding the sexes of the rabbits, in the end it doesn't really matter. To the hunter, for instance, these are both simply targets; their sex is inconsequential.

For Mulan, in her role in the army, it didn't matter that she wasn't a man; she completed her tasks regardless. (And not only did she complete them, she earned recognition from the emperor for her work.)

Transphobes online may waste hours picking apart the details of people's bodies that they deem gender variant, but in the end, in many cases, people simply don't care whether the rabbit has twitchy feet or squinted eyes or whatever else. A rabbit is a rabbit, and our genders are rarely, if ever, consequential enough to the task at hand to merit such scrutiny.

安能辩我是雄雌？你到底为什么要知道？

[that-ari-blogger]

The Boss Music Starts Playing, Part 1/2 (Mulan)

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.

But I haven’t really mentioned it much on this blog before. This is the place where I rant about whatever piece of media takes my fancy, but Mulan has been conspicuously absent. I nearly devoted a series of my musical analysis to this film, for example, but didn’t for a reason I will get into.

However, on May 1st, four days before this post will go live, the folks over at Cinema Therapy uploaded a video titled Psychology of a Hero: Mulan. This was part of their series of breaking down characters from various films and TV shows to give their take from the perspectives of a licensed therapist and a professional filmmaker, and the video was better than good.

Now, I am neither a therapist or a filmmaker, but I do have opinions about the film, and I will not be outdone.

These boys stepped well and truly onto my turf, and I think it’s time to make my presence known.

Light the signal fires, we’re going to war.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (Mulan)

I think it’s important to start off with how different Mulan is from every other Disney Princess. Because she technically is one, and that draws unflattering comparisons. It doesn’t matter what you do, when you are compared with Mulan, you will fall short.

Mulan is a psychologically complex character in a way that not many other Disney Princesses can boast. Ariel comes close, but in a very different way (unless you squint), but the others, while nuanced, aren’t as focused on the internalisation as Mulan.

Case and point, the “I want” song. In the Princess and the Frog, Tiana wants to open her own restaurant. That’s an external conflict, and one with measurable success criteria. Similarly, Moana wants to explore the world, again, external. Belle wants adventure and for her life to be more like the books she reads. Also external.

Mulan wants to be happy with herself.

All of these characters get secondary goals over the course of their stories. Tiana wants to get back to being human, Moana wants to save her people, Belle wants to save her father, and Mulan also wants to save her father.

But hold on to Mulan’s stated mission here, because it gets funky, and I will talk about that later.

Reflection forms a neat bait and switch with Honour to us All, because the first song of the film sets up a core conflict, and then Reflections inverts that.

I have a deep love for mirrors as symbolism in films. I think they are the easiest and most effective visual metaphor out there, and I think there is merit to my opinion. But I am fully aware that I have a bias shaped very specifically by this film.

Honour To Us All is a jaunty little song about what it means to be a woman, and it’s a song about aesthetics.

“Wait and see

When we're through

Boys will gladly go to war for you

With good fortune

And a great hairdo

You'll bring honour to us all”

All Mulan has to do is look the part, and she will fit perfectly. Combine this with the visuals of a makeover that rivals every film Anne Hathaway has ever been in, and you could almost miss that everything I have just said about this song is a lie.

“We all must serve our Emperor

Who guards us from the Huns

A man by bearing arms

A girl by bearing sons”

This song does some serious thematic setup about the gender roles of the society it is depicting. It goes into depth about what a woman must be (calm, obedient, work fast paced, etc.), but there’s also the fact that all men have to be soldiers.

Throughout the song, however, Mulan demonstrates her core strength, ingenuity. Mulan is a tactician, able to outwit people in games of strategy, as well as cheat at homework and chores. She works smarter, not harder.

Enter the Matchmaker, played by Miriam Margolys, who makes my point for me.

“You are a disgrace! You may look like a bride, but you will never bring your family honour!”

It turns out aesthetics are secondary to behaviour. The matchmaker essentially tells Mulan that her image doesn’t match her identity, and that she isn’t very good at being a woman. Which, for as much of a terrible person as the character is, is a remarkably accurate observation.

“Look at me

I will never pass for a perfect bride

Or a perfect daughter

Can it be

I'm not meant to play this part?

Now I see, that if I were truly to be myself

I would break my family's heart”

There are two main readings of this song, both of which I agree with, and I don’t think are actually that separate.

There is a hall of mirrors effect going on in the family temple. But it is made up of stones that represent the ancestors. Everywhere Mulan looks, she sees people expecting her to be something she is not, people she has brought dishonour to because of who she is.

The first is that this is a person who doesn’t fit in and can’t fulfil societal expectations. This is someone who’s in doubt about their dreams and doesn’t want to tell her family about that. This is a story about society not accepting individuality.

The second reading is that this easily the single most overtly queer song ever written, with themes of gender non-conformation. Mulan is a trans icon for good reason, but she also works as a non-binary hero as well for similar reasons.

Mulan doesn’t pass as a perfect daughter or a bride, is it possible that she was never meant to be a daughter or a bride at all? A ton of trans folk describe their experience in an extremely similar way to this, they were born the wrong gender, and now they are the person they were always meant to be.

On the same note, the last two lines will strike a chord in the heart of any queer person, trans or not, because coming out to your parents is a really difficult thing to do. Even if you have understanding parents (which, unfortunately, isn’t as common as I would like it to be), it’s still expecting people to accept a pretty core part of your identity. It’s vulnerability, and Mulan’s fear of breaking her family’s heart isn’t fear of them, but of herself. Mulan is terrified that she will hurt them by being who she is.

“Who is that girl I see

Staring straight back at me?

Why is my reflection someone I don't know?

Somehow I cannot hide

Who I am, though I've tried

When will my reflection show who I am inside?

When will my reflection show who I am inside?”

If you want a brief summary of what gender dysphoria feels like, I can’t speak for every trans or non-binary person (every experience is unique and equally valid), but at least to me, this song is pretty accurate.

On a personal note, I am non-binary, I undulate between they/them pronouns and he/they pronouns, but I am also fairly masculine presenting. This isn’t a part of myself that I find particularly fun. I like being able to sing bass, don’t get me wrong, but that pales in comparison to the fact that when I look in the mirror, it’s like I’m looking at someone else. I don’t associate my appearance with myself, which is frustratingly difficult to articulate, but more importantly, it has a rather large impact on my self-image.

My reflection doesn’t show who I am inside.

This song is why Mulan is a trans and non-binary icon. The plot itself doesn’t actually do much. It’s a story about someone following her own interests above the expectations of society, but this song reframes the entirety of the musical.

Make A Man Out Of You has some definite coding in it, but not in the way that people often associate. Yes, Mulan’s struggles to “be a man” are trans affirming, as they show someone gradually becoming more confident in her own skin.

But it’s the moment with the arrow that means the most to me.

“You're unsuited for the rage of war

So pack up, go home, you're through

How could I make a man out of you?”

This should be a victory. Mulan came to the army to protect her father, she doesn’t care about personal honour, so getting told she can leave with no questions asked should be an easy deal. Except once again, that’s not entirely accurate.

Mulan doesn’t start caring about personal honour, but she finds that drive in the army. So, the decision to complete the task on her own terms, because she wants to, is an important moment for her identity. Mulan is offered the chance to go back and be a daughter, or she can prove herself to be a man, and she chooses to stay.

However, I would argue that the non-binary reading comes in here, because Mulan doesn’t solve the problem in the way that is expected. She solves it in her own way. She succeeds in the life she chooses by playing by her own rules.

An understated element of this scene is the timescale it takes place in. Mulan is told to go home late at night, but its implied to be the evening. She then stays up all night to get the arrow.

The fact that its dawn for the shot in which she swings the two weights together implies that this isn't the first time she has done this, she has kept trying, and failing, but is powering through it to succeed.

Endurance is a key part of masculinity in this setting, at least according to the visuals of this song, and Mulan has just demonstrated that, while doing things her own way. She has utilised discipline and strength, and she has utilised her own ingenuity. Either she is just as much of a man as everyone else, she just comes at it from a different angle, or she is neither man nor woman, she is Mulan.

I think the moments in which the film goes out of its way to show Mulan’s separation from the men emphasise this reading.

“Just because I look like a man, doesn’t mean I have to smell like one.”

Notice how femininity isn’t mentioned here at all. Mulan is distancing herself from the idea of masculinity as presented in the story. To me, this comes across as someone who is neither a woman or a man, but something else, someone who falls out of the gender binary.

As a side note, the final chorus of Make a Man Out Of You plays really weirdly into the story’s idea of individuality and place, by showing the power of the cast of heroes through their synchronisation.

One of my favourite elements of the film is its visual identity, especially its character design. Because even the extras have all distinct styles and shapes, everyone in this world is unique. From the goober with the scam tattoo to the angy chef, everyone is their own person.

Even the silhouettes are different and distinct. I’ve seen arguments online as to the importance of silhouette in character design, and while I don’t think it’s essential, it’s a tool that can be used for scenes like the one in Reflection. There, the father and mother can be clearly read as each other, but their actions are also clearly identifiable as well, which helps to communicate their story through the barrier that Mulan is feeling.

This then relates to the army, and people’s strengths and weaknesses. The build up to this song does an incredible job of characterising the three stooges.

Yao is brave to a fault, with a hot temper and a defiant determination that lets him, within ten seconds, barely blink in response to an arrow being pointed at him, and then try to climb with his teeth.

Chien-Po is calm and quiet, and the team cleric, essentially. He has an ability to defuse almost any situation, including the anger of Yao, but that translates into meekness and a lack of confidence in himself.

Lee, meanwhile, is charismatic, but that has come at the cost of most other aspects of his life. He isn’t wise or strong, and his intelligence is dubious. But weirdly, he’s a natural born leader.

The montages in Make A Man Out Of You then show off their development. Yao goes from letting his emotions rule him in the flaming arrows task, to a confidence that replaces his arrogance; Chien-Po develops a faith in himself that lets him move through the balancing test with ease; and Lee leans to prioritise technique over brute force to complete the same task.

But then that final chorus comes in, and the backing music cuts out to become only the vocals singing in unison, and you realise what this song has been playing at the entire time. Individualism is great, but individuals need to bounce off of each other and balance out each other’s strengths and weaknesses. That’s something just as vital when singing a cappella as when fighting in an army.

The song is also a mirror to Honour To Us All and continues to hammer home its theme of gender and gender expression. Blokes have it a lot easier than the ladies in this culture, but that doesn’t mean they are free from expectations.

“Tranquil as a forest, but on fire within.

Heed my every order, and you are sure to win.”

Guys have to be strong and warlike; they have to be obedient; they have to be willing to die. But also, there is the idea of “boys don’t cry” here. A guy must appear stoic, like nothing in the world can alter him, but he should be burning with rage inside. Bottle up your emotions until they explode. That doesn’t exactly strike me as the healthiest of expectations for anyone.

Essentially, Make A Man Out Of You is storytelling through song, which is the core mechanic of musicals.

Speaking of which, I didn’t end up doing a series on Mulan because calling it a musical is a little bit inaccurate. Mulan is defying its form by abruptly and abrasively ceasing to be a musical at the fifty-minute mark. In a film that is an hour and twenty minutes long.

Mulan’s final song is A Girl Worth Fighting For, which is a great song, but is an abysmal finale song, and that is the point. The tone shift is meant to be a gut punch, and it is meant to change the trajectory of the story.

This may seem like an obvious statement for a discussion of a musical, but the sound design of this film is phenomenal. Although the key to this isn’t the key numbers, it’s the quiet things. The ambience at the camp, the fact that the cricket becomes a typewriter for a scene, the musical flourish that is Mulan stealing the armour and how that incorporates her lite motif, and it’s the fact that the sound design of this movie knows when to shut up.

One minute. The dialogue cuts off for one minute exactly, kinda. Not a lot of time, but it feels like an eternity.

The song abruptly shuts down and the audience is witnessed to complete and utter silence as they take in the devastation. Then the wind starts to blow as they progress further into the disaster before a musical sting emphasises the horror of the moment.

Although the order in which that happens is interesting. The song has been playing with a stable loop of keys to ground itself. Then that abruptly cuts off as it is gearing up to a bombastic finish, but the camera is looking at Mulan and the three stooges.

You get a fun moment, then you see the shock on their faces, then you see the devastation. The emotion could be anything, but that fraction of a second crystalises it into dread, rather than loss, and that's the emotion that the rest of the scene builds on.

The colour palette even shifts, matching the smoke and the fire, but also implying the crimson of blood.

“Search for survivors.”

Shang gives an order in an attempt to break the silence. It’s an attempt to break the mood both a diegetic and non-diegetic sense. Shang is trying to find a purpose against the bleakness and trying to create noise again, but then the atmosphere consumes him, and he is gone.

Another musical sting hits as Mulan finds the doll, and the personal tragedy of a child whose name cannot be known becomes excruciating.

Then we see the battlefield, and besides the obvious, there are a few things that should be stated.

One, this instantly stops Chi-Fu and Shang from bickering. There is a slight moment of trust that develops between them, as, for all his faults (and there are many of those), Chi-Fu instantly empathises with Shang’s emotions, and becomes a comforting force.

Two, the battle didn’t happen in the village, if it did, there would have been a sign of soldiers within its walls. The battle took place down the hill, there was no reason for the village to be destroyed. This is the first time we actually see the scope of the villainy of the Hun army.

Up until now, Shan Yu has just been intimidating. He orders the death of a messenger, but that’s just one guy, and this is a war story. That just sets him up as villain with an easy “kick the dog” moment, but it’s not grand scale.

Here, it becomes that. This is a display of power, in that the Hun army destroyed the imperial army, but its also a display of abject cruelty, and its a statement of personality.

Shan Yu isn't Disney's most compelling villain. He doesn't get much character to work with beyond "angry man with a dope sword". What he does get, however, is a quiet sense of humour, and this scene right here.

Once again, the battle didn’t take place here, Shan Yu made a choice to destroy a village and, presumably, kill some villagers while he was at it.

To misquote the true expert of evil.

“The difference between a villain and a supervillain is presentation.”

I had trouble posting this as a single thing, so here is a link to part 2: (Link)

[linkbofficial]

it's pride month

here's my favorite queer characters, Canon or otherwise (I was gonna put pictures but guess who didn't know you could only put 10

* Velma Dinkley [Scooby-Doo franchise]- lesbian (shown in recent canon and confirmed on Instagram by a showrunner for Mystery Inc)

* Fred Jones [Scooby-Doo franchise]- bisexual (headcanon)

* Daphne Blake [Scooby-Doo franchise]- demi-biromantic (headcanon)

* Shaggy Rogers [Scooby-Doo franchise]- genderfluid bisexual (headcanon)

* Luz Noceda [The Owl House]- bisexual (canon) genderqueer (heavily implied/popular headcanon)

* Amity Blight [The Owl House]- lesbian (shown in canon)

* Eda Clawthorne [The Owl House]- bisexual (symbolized in canon with her chest having a bi sticker)

* Raine Whispers [The Owl House]- nonbinary sapphic (shown in canon, addressed as they, dating Eda)

* Hunter [The Owl House]- bisexual (confirmed on Twitter?)

* Willow Park [The Owl House]- pansexual (confirmed in the same tweet as Hunter? it was either a live or on Twitter idr)

* Lilith Clawthorne [The Owl House]- aroace (confirmed on twitter)

* Dipper Pines [Gravity Falls]- trans demi bisexual (headcanon)

* Mabel Pines [Gravity Falls]- demigirl bisexual (headcanon)

* Wendy Corduroy [Gravity Falls]- bisexual (implied confirmation by Alex on Twitter, otherwise very popular headcanon)

* Ford Pines [Gravity Falls]- trans aroace (headcanon)

* Link [The Legend of Zelda]- nonbinary demiromantic (headcanon)

* Princess Zelda [The Legend of Zelda]- genderfluid demi-biromantic asexual (headcanon and a mouthful of one at that)

* Queen Elena [Elena of Avalor]- genderqueer aroace lesbian (headcanon)

* Naomi Turner [Elena of Avalor]- genderqueer bisexual (headcanon)

* Mateo de Alva [Elena of Avalor]- queer, both in gender and orientation (headcanon)

* Gabe Nuñez [Elena of Avalor]- genderqueer aroace (headcanon)

* King Roland & Queen Miranda [Sofia the First]- bi4bi (headcanon)

* Cedric the Sorcerer [Sofia the First]- trans gay man (headcanon)

* Charlie Morningstar [Hazbin Hotel]- bisexual (canon)

* Vaggie [Hazbin Hotel]- lesbian (canon)

* Alfred & Co [The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog]- biromantic (headcanons)

* Jesse [Minecraft: Story Mode]- genderfluid bisexual (headcanon)

* Lukas [Minecraft: Story Mode]- transmasc bisexual (headcanon)

* Petra [Minecraft: Story Mode]- lesbian (headcanon)

* Axel [Minecraft: Story Mode]- agender gay (headcanon)

* Olivia [Minecraft: Story Mode]- transfem aroace (headcanon)

* All Romanceable Palians [Palia]- bi or pansexual (canon through game play, character can be either or and they will all accept your romantic advances)

* Mulan [Once Upon a Time]- lesbian (canon)

* Regina [Once Upon a Time]- lesbian (headcanon)

* Emma Swan [Once Upon a Time]- bisexual (headcanon)

* Hiro Hamada [Big Hero 6]- enby aroace (headcanon but it mightve been confirmed don't quote me)

* GoGo [Big Hero 6]- bisexual (headcanon)

* Honey Lemon [Big Hero 6]- pansexual (headcanon)

* Wasabi [Big Hero 6]- enby bisexual (headcanon)

* Fred [Big Hero 6]- genderfluid gay (headcanon)

[yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere]

so, alright, here are the movies/MEDIA that make me go *oh shit I'm so bi, omg bisexual panic*

so, alright, here are the MOVIES that make me go *oh shit I'm so bi, omg bisexual panic* (it can be very bi-vibes movies or simply movies that make me feel how very deeply i love being bi, or the ones i just enjoy rewatching-not necessarily with bi/queer representation!) : Red, White & Royal Blue 2023 , The Mummy 1999, The Little Mermaid 2023, The Little Mermaid 1989, Anne Of Green Gables 1985, Anne Of Green Gables:The Sequel 1987, Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story 2000, The Road to El Dorado 2000, Mulan 1998, The Cutting Edge 1992, Ten Inch Hero 2007, Rebel Without A Cause 1955, The Fallout 2021, Better Off Dead 1985, Anastasia 1997, The Idea of You 2024, Rise Of The Guardians 2012, 10 Things I Hate About You 1999, Do Revenge 2022, Charlie’s Angels 2019, Bottoms 2023, Cadet Kelly 2002, Lemonade Mouth 2011, The Little Vampire 2017, John Tucker Must Die 2006, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies 2016, The Princess and The Frog 2009, The Addams Family 1991, Addams Family Values 1993, Treasure Planet 2002, Atlantis: The Lost Empire 2001, The Favourite 2018, Challengers 2024, Upgraded 2024, Fallen 2016, The Half Of It 2020, Feel The Beat 2020, My Old Ass 2024, (+ will probably keep adding to this soon-ish)

+ edit TV SHOWS that my bi heart loves: One Tree Hill(OTH), Shadow and Bone, Roswell 90s(OG), White Collar, Reign, Mary & George, Heartstopper, Wild Cards, Living for the Dead, Warrior Nun, XO Kitty, Wednesday, Maxton Hall : The World Between Us (2024), Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous(JWCC) & Jurassic World Chaos Theory (JWCT) , Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Dawson's Creek, Vampire Academy 2022, Fallen 2024, Willow, Dickinson, Heartbreak High, Teen Titans, Legacies, TheAddamsFamily(1964-1966), Love Victor, Lockwood&Co, Queer As Folk, The L Word, Shadowhunters, Ginny & Georgia, Get Even (2020), Geek Girl (2024),

+ edit BOOKS/ BOOK SERIES that my bi heart absolutely LOVES:

Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer, Shatter Me Series by Tahereh Mafi, The Folk Of The Air Series by Holly Black, The Diviners Series by Libba Bray, The Devouring Gray Duology by C.L. Herman, GRISHAVERSE books (Six of Crows!!, Shadow and Bone, King of Scars-3 mini series) by Leigh Bardugo , This Woven Kingdom Series by Tahereh Mafi , Fallen Series by Lauren Kate, Elixir Series by Hilary Duff, The Cemetery Of Forgotten Books Series by C. R. Zafón, The Keys To The Kingdom Series by Garth Nix, Infinity Cycle Series by Adam Silvera, Anne Of Green Gables Series by L. M. Montgomery, Bloodlines Series & Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead, An Ember In The Ashes Series by Sabaa Tahir, The Selection Series by Kiera Cass + STANDALONES Lauren Kate-Unforgiven (standalone book in my opinion), Eoin Colfer- Airman, David Nicholls- One Day, Gayle Forman-Just One- Day & Year & Night (mini series), Vanessa Len-Only a Monster (mini series here too), Adam Silvera- History Is All You Left Me, Adam Silvera- They Both Die At The End , Adam Silvera- The First To Die At The End, Becky Albertalli-Imogen,Obviously, Mason Deaver- I Wish You All The Best(+short novella here!), Casey McQuiston-Red, White & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston- The Pairing, Casey McQuiston-I Kissed Shara Wheeler, Casey McQuiston-One Last Stop, Aaron H Aceves-This Is Why They Hate Us, Wen-yi Lee- The Dark We Know, Mason Deaver-The Feeling Of Falling In Love, Sophie Gonzales-The Law Of Inertia, H.E.Edgmon-The Witch King & The Fae Keeper (duology!) , H.E.Edgmon-Godly Heathens & Merciless Saviors (mini series here!) , Carlos Ruiz Zafón- The Midnight Palace, Isabel Abedi- Whisper Haunted House, Francis Scott Fitzgerald- The Love Of Last Tycoon, Leo Tolstoy- Anna Karenina, S. E. Hinton- The Outsiders, Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera-Here's to Us & What If It's Us (duology), Page Powars- The Borrow a Boyfriend Club,(will keep adding here probably!)

BOOKS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BISEXUAL HISTORY & ACTIVISM:https://www.tumblr.com/ruimtetijd/686000390089621504/list-of-books-about-bi-history-and-activism-from

+ about THE MUSIC:

love you all, we need MORE bisexuality in media!!

+some links:

[technicallymaximumkitty]

it's movie night at the hotel

who is choosing what?

charlie: the breakfast club or mulan

*during the breakfast club she would be like "omg it's just like us right?" and mulan because she loves disney movies*

vaggie: my neighbor totoro or edward scissorhands

*my neighbor totoro is her comfort movie (she told me herself) and edward sissorhands because she can find solace in his story*

angel dust: robin hood men in tights or heathers

*robin hood men in tights was as ranuchy as he could be with charlies rules and heathers because it's a musical his speed*

alastor: bambi or annie

*bambi so he could laugh at bambi's mom death and just that, and annie because of his trademark song*

husk: clue or some like it hot

*clue is a funky little murder mystery that he can't help see the other hotel members being and some like it hot because it's technically set in prohibition era, plus queer rep*

niffty: twlight (all of them) or uncut minecraft youtube streams

*twlight because vaggie shut down her pleads for 50 shades of grey or minecraft because she is unhinged, that video would be like 20 hours all uncut*

sir pentious: muppets treasure island or treasure planet

*he dosent care that he basically picked the same movie twice, he loves the story. he thinks muppets are cool and treasure planet is a steampunk dream*

Lucifer: legally blonde the musical or duck academy

*legally blonde because he knows his daughter loves musicals and duck academy because it's a movie with ducks, ok documentary but still*

rules set by charlie (who broke what?)

*nothing above pg-13

*no one dies

*no film is used to bully another patron

[lea-sbian]

Okay, so, I don’t know how but I’m not seeing a lot of discussion about gender and gender identity when talking about Blue Eyed samurai. Like, the main character, Mizu, is shown to have an AFAB body early on in the show, and the immediate thought is “oh, they probably hide this just due to the historical situation, like mulan. She’s just hiding the truth of her womanhood so she can have more freedom” but then as the show goes on there are scenes and themes that heavily hint to mizu not seeing themselves as just a woman or a man (btw big spoilers for Blue Eyed Samurai here)

Like, in the puppet show that’s used as a framing device throughout episode 5, mizu is represented as both the ronin, a man who swore revenge on an entire clan (mirroring mizu’s own revenge plot), and also the bride, who turns into an onryō at the end of the story, mirroring mizus own journey of revenge after being mistreated.

Plus there’s the brothel scene, this is where me and my sister kind of realized “oh yeah, this bitch queer coded, and also definitely probably trans.” While being showed the different ways people enjoy the brothel, Mizu seems completely uninterested in anything that doesn’t get them further to their goal, except when they see a man having a threesome with a man and a woman, AND while watching this man be intimate with another man in the brothel, mizu immediately thinks of their ‘enemies to lovers’ boyfriend Taigen. This could be another indication of how Mizu doesn’t feel like either, or like both genders or could even be an indication of them being a trans masculine character.

And there’s just so many themes of social acceptance based on how they are born, how people perceive them once they truly know Mizu, and their fear of telling people who they truly are. And I know there’s a lot of media where people out main characters due to cultural taboos (like mizus mixed race identity) that isn’t necessarily about being trans, but at the same time there are soooo many moments where gender plays such an important role for these characters, which makes sense given the context and time period but I can’t help but feel the way Mizu represents themselves is more than just a survival tactic.

Even Ringo continues to use he/him pronouns for Mizu throughout the show despite finding out about Mizus ‘secret’ pretty early on (although this could also just be to not give away their secret). And the only other characters that know about their sex either tries to force them into a woman’s gender role in society (such as their mother and husband) or use it to mock them (like Fowler in the final episode).

I dunno man. Either way though I’m simping fuckin HARD for this character.