Episode 110: Mulan: Does it Hold up?

Andi and Lise discuss the 1998 Disney animated film Mulan to determine whether it holds up after 23 years. They discuss its representation, gender, what it might have meant to different audiences, how it may have resonated with certain people, and the story it told.

Note: the story of Mulan is derived from a centuries-old Chinese poem/ballad created during the Wei Dynasty.

1998 trailer

Shout-outs! Lise recommends the The Vault, which she watched on Netflix. It’s a heist movie (both Lise and Andi are huge fans of heist movies). In it, an engineer and his team are trying to crack an allegedly impenetrable safe beneath the Bank of Spain. Andi shouts out alcohol-free spirits! Get creative and enjoy a tasty and sober (and much lower calorie) happy hour. She’s also been bingeing the true crime podcast Park Predators, which deals with murders in national parks.

In the course of the discussion, Lise mentioned Kameron Hurley’s essay: “‘We Have Always Fought’: Challenging the ‘Women, Cattle, and Slaves’ Narrative”. The full text can be viewed at the link, and also in Hurley’s book of essays Geek Feminist Revolution, which Lise also highly recommends.