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https://youtu.be/pUoH_u3H2PQ?si=HK-3GiRQ5Xd1fWyg
I briefly rewatched the Mulan Making of for a refresher on how they approached her character and was surprised to learn that Mulan started off as a girl who wasnt happy with her strict role in society and her arranged marriage and therefore went to war as sort of escapism, and how the crew said they couldnt stand and work with that character and made her more selfless with her love for her father & sacrifice like in the original legend...which was quite a shocker as she would have been quite perfectly in line with all the other Disney princesses that wanted more out of life (Belle, Ariel, Jasmine etc), i mean if it aint broken why fix it but i guess the filmmakers were probably tired of that pattern, it actually still could have worked but i wont complain as the movie turned out flawless. If only current Disney had the urge to break worn out character tropes...

It's interesting because I actually have felt like Mulan sort of represents the early wave of the trend that most bothers me with how Disney writes their modern heroines.

I feel like after Ariel and the soccer moms pushing back on her being a "bad role model," Disney became a little more timid with how flawed their heroines were allowed to be. Like, they can still be clumsy or maybe have self-confidence issues, but they're not allowed to make any mistakes. We can't give Jenny a role model who makes a shaky deal with a sea witch or anything.

A lot of the heroines who came after Ariel, even right after Ariel, were allowed to "rebel," but very carefully. Disney became skittish on letting there be any real friction between princess and papa. (e.g. Moana's allowed to break free of her parents, but she still gets the approval of the elders to disobey, as personified by her grandmother.) Hence, they "couldn't stand" a Mulan who went off to war intending to break free of society, that just had to be like a happy byproduct of a purely selfless directive. And Mulan has to sort of stumble upon her own revelation that she may have had partially selfish motivations in doing what she did. It also doesn't totally surprise me that in the remake, Ariel's signature "I'm sixteen years old! I'm not a child anymore!" line was dropped.

Mind you, given that Ariel wound up being somewhat singular in this regard, maybe it's not so much that there was a "trend" that came up after her so much as she was always kind of a deviation from the mold. And Mulan also came after heroines like Belle and Pocahontas, so it's not like she was the start of this wave.

PatchofBlue wrote: ↑Mon Nov 24, 2025 11:48 am I feel like after Ariel and the soccer moms pushing back on her being a "bad role model," Disney became a little more timid with how flawed their heroines were allowed to be. Like, they can still be clumsy or maybe have self-confidence issues, but they're not allowed to make any mistakes. We can't give Jenny a role model who makes a shaky deal with a sea witch or anything.

Yeah i think that is quite striking with Belle as she doesnt really have any sorts of character flaws or growth as shes quite perfect and right throughout the whole movie, made me sometimes think that shes quite boring but i learned to appreciate her. Too bad a few years later Jennys next rolemodel had to kiss a wrinkly old Wazir

PatchofBlue wrote: ↑Mon Nov 24, 2025 11:48 am Hence, they "couldn't stand" a Mulan who went off to war intending to break free of society

ok now that u drew that connection their decision makes sense, great observation Patch! But thankfully this wont take away my love for Mulan lol

PatchofBlue wrote: ↑Mon Nov 24, 2025 11:48 am It also doesn't totally surprise me that in the remake, Ariel's signature "I'm sixteen years old! I'm not a child anymore!" line was dropped.

Might be also the reason why they aged her up to 18 so shes automatically allowed to do her own decisions, but besides the fact that pre 18 year olds are technically still children, i always always hated it whenever movies give them the pov of adults like "theyre right im just a kid im so foolish and naive blah blah" (always have to think of that viral Dora remake scene i cringed so hard ) as its painfully unrealistic as no matter what age ur in (except like 70+), you always automatically percieve yourself as "normal age" and everyone else is just either too old or young. Thats what made Ariels longing for independence and her own perception of being mature in the og so realistic, but nowadays they couldnt make it more obvious some 40+ guy writes the dialouges ok enough rant lol

Speaking of the mermaid remake, its also quite funny as it couldnt be obvious enough that Ursula doesnt have any good intentions but they still tried to censor her too for her wicked morals (for the Jennys outthere that idolize the villains lol) which is why they completely removed the whole "men dont like women that speak" section from Poor unfortunate souls in the remake,...like why did they think someone would take a wicked villains morals to heart?

But dont be fooled with the rolemodels she's got, she's still she's still Jenny from the Block