See how the original idea for ‘Mulan’ is different from the classic Disney animation released in 1998
Romance is one of the favorite genres of animations belonging to the Disney Princess franchise and, normally, it appears mixed with other genres such as comedy and fantasy, bringing narrative and stylistic elements that make the dream of ‘happily ever after’ even more interesting. be followed on the screens.
So much so, that the romantic comedy subgenre has become one of the studio’s favorites, being seen in plots such as ‘Tangled’, a 2010 film, where the protagonists’ love emerges amidst clumsy situations that amuse the viewer and serve to further strengthen plus the feeling of José Bezerra and Rapunzel.
What few can imagine is that an animation starring a Disney princess whose genres for her film are fantasy, adventure, drama, war and action, could follow similar steps to the story starring the studio’s princess with the longest locks…
The princess in question is Mulanprotagonist of the self-titled film that hit theaters in 1998, as an adaptation of the ancient Chinese poem entitled “The Ballad of Hua Mulan”, where a young woman risks her own life to save her father’s by enlisting in the Chinese army disguised as a man , and fight in the war against the Huns.
The epic and heroic tone of the animation would originally be left aside, since, as explained in the book ‘The Art of Mulan’ (via ScreenRant), the idea was for ‘Mulan’ to follow the same narrative structure as ‘Tootsie’, a film by romantic comedy released in 1982, where an actor disguises himself as a woman to win a role in a drama, but his secret becomes a problem when he starts to fall in love with a co-star.
Thus, when the development of Mulan began in the late 1980s, the screenwriters defined the character as a misfit girl who had her hand promised to Li Shang, whom she had never met and, for this reason, decided to run away from her marriage. arranged after breaking a stone tablet where his father would have forged his destiny in his family’s temple, thus taking the reins of his own future.
However, the writer Chris Sanderswho joined the project in 1993 as Head of Story, disliked the romantic comedic tone given to the story and requested that the plot be reworked to become more faithful to the original Chinese legend, transforming the motif of Mulan’s escape into sisterly love, as she runs away to save her own father who could no longer face the battlefield due to old age and health problems.
It is worth noting that, if Sanders had not requested the change, it is possible that Mulan would not even become a princess of the Disney. This is because the character became the first to earn the title of princess for performing a heroic feat, as she does not come from royalty and did not marry any prince, gaining space in the select group due to her legacy of helping China win. the war against the Huns.
Source: Recreio
