Mulan Joins the Army (1939 film)


Mulan Joins the Army is a 1939 Chinese historical war film. It is one of several film adaptations of the Hua Mulan legend, which have included two silent versions: Hua Mulan Joins the Army by Tianyi Film Company, and a less successful Mulan Joins the Army produced by China Sun Motion Picture Company.
The film was directed by Bu Wancang and stars Chen Yunshang as the title character, a young woman who disguises herself as a man in order to take her father's place in the army. The success of the movie was evident by the record-breaking running time of 83 days. The screenplay was by Ouyang Yuqian. The film was produced in Shanghai by the Hwa Cheng Studio, a subsidiary of the Xinhua Film Company.

History of the Tale of Mulan

The story of Mulan first made its appearance in China some time between the 4th and 6th centuries. Beginning as a probably non-Han Chinese folk ballad, the story of Mulan became a part of classic Chinese literature. The earliest written account of Mulan is commonly believed to be an anonymous folk ballad called “Mulan shi”. Believed to have been made during the Northern Dynasties, the story of Mulan was collected in a collection of lyrics, folk songs, and poems titled Yuefu shiji in the thirteenth century. There are specific parts of the story that are present in its many retellings: a young woman takes the place of her elderly father in war, disguises as a man and serves her country, and returns home with honor and glory to resume her life as a woman.

Cast

Hua Mulan, the heroine, is a young maiden who lives with her elderly father during the Northern Wei dynasty. When China is invaded by evil nomads, her father is called into service by the Emperor. In a scene of filial piety, Mulan dons her father's old armor and takes his place in the army.
During training, the "feminine" Mulan is teased and harassed by other draftees whom she promptly beats one by one to the ground. Admonishing them to unite instead of harassing one another, she reminds them that the true enemy are the nomads invading their country. Also during training, she meets Liu Yuandu who becomes her loyal friend. The two feel a natural attraction, even if Liu is unsure why. These scenes therefore provide some comic relief and romantic intrigue.
Eventually Mulan is sent to the front line where she meets with the army's weak commanders who flirt with the idea of cooperating with the nomads rather than fighting with them. In particular, the advisor to the general pushes for collaboration. Feeling disgusted, Mulan dresses as a nomad and spies on the enemy when she learns that an attack is imminent. Returning to her home camp, her warnings are ignored by the general to disastrous results. When the attack finally happens, the General is killed, but not before putting Mulan in charge. Mulan regroups the Chinese forces and defeats the nomads, but not before Mulan herself kills the General's erstwhile advisor.
Returning to the Imperial capital, Mulan is offered a position in the Emperor's court. She turns the position down, asking only to return to her home. Returning to her feminine persona, she marries Liu Yuandu. After her heroic achievements and brave service to the State, Mulan is expected to return to her life of a woman while Liu symbolically restores the conventional male role.

Production history

Film production in late 1930s Shanghai was a tricky business. With most of the established talent having fled to Hong Kong and the interior after the Japanese invasion in 1937, one of the remaining production companies, the Xinhua Film Company, hoped to relaunch a "Hollywood of the East." The first step was the release of the costume epic, Diao Chan directed by Bu Wancang. The film proved to be an enormous success, a success that Xinhua's chief Zhang Shankun wished to replicate it with a second costume epic.
By 1939, nearly all of Shanghai's big stars such as Jin Yan or Zhao Dan had fled to Chongqing. Zhang attempted to recruit Hu Die in Hong Kong for his studio's newest venture but failed. While in Hong Kong, however, he managed to sign with the playwright Ouyang Yuqian to pen his film, and Cantonese actress Chen Yunshang to star.
Zhang very much focused on making the actress a fresh face for Shanghai, and publicity for Chen began before the studio even saw the script.
Ouyang's script was based on the traditional story of Hua Mulan, a story that most of the Shanghai audience would have already been familiar with. At the same time Ouyang infused the film with subtle nationalist undertones. Impressed with the script, Zhang and Xinhua invested heavily in both production and publicity of the film. To promote Chen Yunshang, the actress who portrayed Mulan, the studio drew an image of her as a Westernized persona in real life and on-screen.

Reception

Mulan Joins the Army was made during the Japanese occupation of China and the so-called "Solitary Island" period of Chinese cinema. Given the film's subtle patriotism, it proved extremely popular with domestic audiences. Premiering in Shanghai's newest theater, the Astor in February 1939, in time for the Chinese New Year, Mulan Joins the Army ended up being a critical success. It was moreover, a major commercial success, playing to full theaters in Shanghai, as well as making its lead, Chen Yunshang, into a bona-fide star.
Today the film is seen as an obvious appeal to the Shanghai audience's own wartime sensibilities. The weak Chinese generals, the outside nomad invaders all would have reminded the audience of the country's woes at that time, namely the Second Sino-Japanese War. As one scholar posits, the film was seen as a call to arms, with the Chinese hero rising up to defeat foreign attackers striking a particularly resonant chord. The director used various cinematic techniques and angles to implore the public to reflect on the current political situation, drawing the parallel with reality at the time. The real-life public figures, such as Chiang Kaishek and Weng Jingwei, inspired the portrayal of some characters in the movie.

Themes

The themes of warfare and feminism revealed in the movie. In 1939 when the movie came to the theater, China was suffering from the Second Sino-Japanese War. This film significantly glorified warfare and focused on the fame and recognition of soldiers received from serving the nation. During the time when China needed to inspire citizens to rise up to defend the nation from foreign aggression, the film helped inspire Chinese people to enlist and liberate their country from Japanese occupation. In Mulan Joins the Army “rich in double-meanings” dialogue was one of the primary tools to convey the political message. And, The author underlines the idea of a citizen’s duty not only to one’s family but to the country as well, by describing Mulan’s life after her heroic acts.
When most of the men in China enlisted in the army to defeat the Japanese, women started to step into the workforce to sustain the economy. With the political allegory, the director describes an issue that is mentioned multiple times in a movie that of Chinese men not being able to protect their motherland. Also from the 1920s and 1930s, the concept of “New Woman” emerged in the media. The image of “modern Mulans” had sparked off debates over gender, modernity, and the changing relationships in early 20th century China. Bu Wancang brings up the topic of hetero and homosexuality of the “mischievous tomboy” character despite the conservative views of the public. The theme of New Woman encouraged the aspirations of women to pursue equal education, employment, and political representation as men.

Analysis of Mulan

The fact that namely Mulan (木兰）in literary Chinese traditionally means a gentle, pure, fragrant, and delicate flowering plant.
Mulan represents the ideal Confucian principles: a filial and devoted daughter to her father and a chaste female soldier that would choose to die rather than exposing her female identity to disgrace her family. Mulan also represents women's willingness to fight against the enemy during wartime. Among the many ways in which Chinese dramatists sought to galvanize the support of the people to fight against the invading Japanese, perhaps none was more effective and appealing than the cultivation and exaltation of female resistance symbols. In the film, instead of the conventional representation of women, Bu Wancang portrays Mulan as a courageous warrior who is more masculine than any of her comrades.