Fairy Tale Fix - 6: She’s Just A Better Person Than We Are

Episode Date: December 8, 2020

In this very special episode of Fairy Tale Fix, Abbie covers the Ballad of Mulan and then Abbie and Kelsey discuss the 1998 Disney film versus the 2020 Disney film.

Nailed it. Nailed it. Nailed that shit. It was so good. Sorry, I'm feeling very musical today. I like it. I'm enjoying this energy that you're bringing to the table today. So today, supposedly Mul Mulan is free. Or not free, but...

You still have to have a Disney Plus subscription. But today is the day that you can finally access the movie without paying for premium. Yeah. So by the time this episode comes out, you'll be able to watch this movie if you already have a Disney Plus subscription. So Disney is still getting some of your money, but not a lot of it. I watched Mulan, the Disney version, last night just to catch up. Since today we're going to be talking about Mulan. I was drinking scotch while I was doing it.

So it's really fun. And taking notes. And I just forgot also. I mean, it's been ages since I've seen it and it was just, it's such a fun movie. Oh my gosh. I loved every second of it. So it's basically like drunk messaging Abby about Mulan.

It was the best. Okay. So this first message, Abby said something last night. She said, make a man out of you is the best Disney song. And I feel like that is an incredibly bold statement. I know.

It's a hot take. The best Disney song. So I asked a ton of people behind your back. Oh, my God. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me.

Tell me. And I now have a definitive answer for what the best disney song is okay what is it by the way i really want all of our listeners to tweet at us or message us on instagram or comment or do whatever let us know what you think the best disney song is because that is a bold statement and i mean it's a great song it. And she's not necessarily wrong, but I asked like a bunch of people. Oh my God. I'm so excited. Lay it on me.

I want you to guess. Okay. Give me your top three guesses to what you think the best Disney song of all time is. Okay. Can I use my opinion or should I guess what other people think the best Disney songs are? Let's do both. Okay. Both.

All right. All right. the best Disney songs are. Let's do both. Okay, both. All right. So in my opinion, mine are I'll make a man out of you because I sing that song to myself all the time and I fucking love it. And Shang is really hot and shirtless in the song. I posit that. And it's a good montage. It's a great montage song. When I watched it last night. so that moment where Shang takes his shirt off before the song starts, Mulan's face is like every girl's face ever. Like her eyes are wide and then she's like, oh my God. Hello, 90s children's sexual awakening. Yes. Oh my God. If that's your thing, I guess.'s sexual awakening. Yes. Oh, my God.

If that's your thing, I guess. It was absolutely my thing. But oh, goodness. Lee Shang set the standard for me and what I find hot. Okay, okay. So make a man out of you. Make a man out of you. Be Prepared, obviously, is one of the other all-time best Disney songs.

It is the ultimate villainous monologue song. It is perfect. There are green flames. There is lions. There's a lion. There are hyenas. There's Whoopi Goldberg. There's Jeremy Irons.

It's perfect. I will say I personally think Disney villain song should almost be in a different category, though. I want a hundred. OK, can we make that a different category? I think villain songs because they're almost all so perfect that they can't be the best Disney song because it's a villain song, but they can be the best Disney villain song. I feel like it's a different category. OK, well, then this list is a little different if I can't use a villain song. Yeah, OK.

OK, so I'll make a man out of you. Pick a different one. I'm going to pick a different one. Zero to Hero is a fucking bop. Ah, yes. And it's such a fun take on a Greek myth story to have a gospel choir singing about it. It's, again, great montage song and works really well just within the overall narrative of Hercules and I feel like it's just eminently singable I don't know man it's it's

also it's got to be between almost there from the princess and the frog and I also okay I might be one of the only people that's still a sucker for Oliver and Company. Oh my God, are you going to say what I think you're going to say? Fucking Billy Joel? No! Oh, no? This is a totally subjective list of songs that Abby really vibes with. And so I really like Perfect. What's the one you're thinking of?

I like Perfect Isn't Easy. Gosh, I don't even remember that song. It's a song that Georgette sings before she collapses on her pillow um oh she is so oh my god i love it me too that is such an underrated disney film it's such a great movie um but let's let's go ahead let's go ahead and say bark bark bark i like that she says bark bark she's so fucking funny but i think it's I'll Make a Man Out of You almost there as like a classic I want song from a main character and Zero to Hero because wow. Okay, that's my top three. That's my top three. So what do you think everybody what do you think everybody else is?

Like what do you think the general top three is i'm gonna say people would say the bare necessities only one person said only one person said the bump that surprises me because that is also a great song you know who it was my mother that is her favorite disney film she loves the jungle book loves the jungle book oh my um a. Oh, yeah. That was definitely up there. Probably Be Our Guest. Yep. That was up there. And Colors of the Wind are my guesses. Also only one person. Really? Yeah. Okay. It was Caroline. Of course it was Caroline. Or Circle of Life, I guess. Okay. Are you ready? Tell tell me i have the definitive answer what's the definitive answer i want a drum roll or something the best disney song is

subjective it's fucking different for everybody of course it is the definitive answer is they're all so good you can't just pick one that'd be crazy i know that's true as i'm going through this list i keep going like oh that was a great one too oh that was a great one too oh this one is also super good i actually made you a playlist on spotify you did and i actually made a villain disney song on spotify oh kelsey let's stop recording and go listen to that right now i know right i'm gonna i'm gonna share that with everybody later yes post it like on our facebook page and our website absolutely we should just get like a fairy tale fix spotify account like We should just get like a fairy tale fix Spotify. A cow? Yeah.

So my top three. Yes, tell me yours. Because everybody has a different song. I mean, that's just music in general. But you guys, I think we can all agree Disney songs are so good. It's almost like they hire professionals. I know. I have to make one substitution fast people okay i need to

swap almost there with how far i'll go oh okay because i'll allow it i also love that one i just love that you acknowledged um the princess and the frog because that is like my favorite disney movie i think of all time i love it so much. But that's because I love jazz. I love jazz music. And that also has one of the best villainous songs. Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah. Felicia has, Felicia, Dr. Felicia has an amazing song.

It's an amazing song. Hot take. I kind of think the best Disney song of all time. I don't, this might not be a personal one. I kind of think the best Disney song of all time. I don't, this might not be a personal one. I kind of think it's Friend Like Me. Because Robin Williams just. Oh. He does all the character voices.

It's funny. It's catchy. And I'm just really sad that Robin Williams died. Yeah. So that has like a huge place in my heart. I love Friend Like Me me that is a great song and that's not even on spotify which made me really it's not no not the robin williams version oh just the will smith version yeah which i don't like so i added neo's version because i really

love his because he makes it jazz i don't know neo's version oh it's so good like neo neo does such a good job he's so sexy when he sings even the music video is good i guess i just can't wait to be king it is like my personal favorite disney song i say that so much they're all so good they're so good and my last one is i Won't Say I'm in Love from Hercules. Because I ruined my VHS tape rewinding that song and playing it over and over when I was 10. Of course. For however old I was when that came out. Oh, my God.

Kelsey. Ruined it. I loved that song. I would just put that before, you know, I don't think I was old enough to have a CD player or a tape player, so I would just put it in the VHS and listen to it over and over and rewind it

and manually rewind it. Guys, what's your favorite Disney song? I need to know. Or what do you think is the best Disney song and what's your argument? Yeah, please let us know I am absolutely doubling down on I'll Make a Man Out of You it is still my favorite but Kelsey's right it is subjective and they're all very very good Make a Man Out of You is great yes god it's so fun all the songs actually in Mulan while I was watching it last night were just so good we'll talk about this more as I guess as we get to that portion of the episode. But I was honestly really surprised that there weren't more songs in it. I thought that it was more musical than it was. But all of the songs are loaded toward the front half. Yep, that's true. And there's like four or five. I even think a girl worth fighting for is so good.

Yeah, that one is also really cute. There's so much talent, Disney. This podcast isn't sponsored by Disney. We're not sponsored by Disney. And I understand that Disney is also highly problematic and also in all of the ways. Probably shouldn't even have a Disney Plus account. But I also really, really enjoy their movies, which speaking of, it's time we're moving on. We're going to talk today about Mulan. Once again, I want to preface everything by reminding anyone who's listening, Kelsey and I are two American white women. So please take

everything we say in that spirit with a huge heaping grain of salt for any like hot takes we may have on something. Also, please feel free to reach out and let us know if we got something wrong or really just any thoughts that you might have at all. We're very open to that. Absolutely. I don't know a lot about Chinese culture in general, but I,

I'm here for it. Like I would love to learn that we do say something that's totally off or you want to correct us, tweeted us at fairytalefixpod, you know? Yeah, exactly. Get the conversation going. Cause that's, you or you want to correct us tweet at us at fairy tale fix pod you know yeah exactly get the conversation going because that's you know always interesting always interesting to us we're very here for it and we're also going to try not to comment on anything that is not our we're going to try to stay in our lane as well so we'll try not to do this to you

and just talk about mulan from the from our own perspective and not try to claim anything else. We are going to put a couple of links in the comment section of actual Asian Americans that had opinions about the Disney live Mulan, if you care to read them, which I thought were really interesting, but didn't really feel like it was my place to regurgitate. Yeah. And something I've heard about the 90s Disney movie was that it was really popular among Asian American children, but not in China. Yeah, I heard that too. And that was one of the things that I read that they were trying to do with this new movie is make it more appealing

to a Chinese audience. And in doing that, they lost part of what made it so appealing to Asian Americans. That's interesting. But again, that that's just those are blogs I read by a couple of different people. So yeah, and lumping a lot of people together. Exactly. So those are those are those are just the opinions of two bloggers that I read about online. So, you know, take that with a whatever giant heaping of salt you want. Oh, and also, if you're worried about spoilers, if you haven't seen the live action Mulan, we're going to talk about it today. Yes. Spoiler heavy day. We're going just spoiler alert to give you an order of operations. We're going to be doing work. I'm going to read

the original ballad. And then we're going to talk about the 90s Mulan. And then after that, we're in heavy spoiler territory for both the live action Disney remake and for a Chinese film from 2009 called Mulan Rise of the Warrior. So if you haven't seen the latter two, you're probably going to want to skip the second half of this episode. Or maybe just go watch it and then listen, because I might chime in with something about the new one. Yeah. Sorry.

I might. I might not. I don't know. You should. I watched the live action today, like right before this. So it's fresh in your mind. So I'm really excited to talk about it. Yeah.

Excellent. Super fresh. I watched the cartoon last night and the live action today. I am hyped on Mulan, guys. Feeling that hype. Ready to go. So we're going to go ahead and get into it. I didn't actually paraphrase any of this or take notes because it is so short that it felt kind of odd at a certain point to be paraphrasing something that is already that short. So I'm just going to attempt to read it.

Someone has done their best to make it flow well in English. I'm sure it's much prettier in its original language. Kelsey, this is kind of fun. So give me some predictions for what you think actually happens in the original ballad. You know, fresh off of watching the two Disney remakes, what do you think the original ballad actually contains? I was wondering if you were going to ask me this. I almost started reading the online just in case and then i stopped just in case you were going to ask me this three predictions are that she goes to war pretending to be a man like to take her father's place i'm also going to guess that she does save the emperor okay and my third prediction is that she does get offered a high position that she doesn't take okay okay i'll take them those are my predictions yeah sick sick and

again sick sick mulan weaves facing the door you don't hear the shuttle sound you only hear daughter's sighs they ask daughter who's in her heart. They ask daughter who's on her mind. No one is on daughter's heart. No one is on daughter's mind. Last night, I saw the draft posters. The Khan is calling many troops. The army list is in 12 scroll. On every scroll, there's father's name. Father has no grown-up son. Mulan has no elder brother. I want to buy a saddle and horse and serve in the army in father's place. In the east market, she buys a spirited horse. In the west market, she buys a saddle. In the south market, she buys a bridle. In the north market, she buys

a long whip. At dawn, she takes leave of father and mother. In the evening, camps on the Yellow River's bank. She doesn't hear the sound of father and mother. In the evening, camps on the Yellow River's bank. She doesn't hear the sound of father and mother calling. She only hears the Yellow River's flowing water cry. At dawn, she takes leave of the Yellow River. In the evening, she arrives at Black Mountain. She doesn't hear the sound of father and mother calling. She only hears Mount Yen's nomad horses cry. She goes 10,000 miles on the business of war. She crosses passes and mountains like flying. Northern gusts carry the rattle of army pots. Chilly light shines on iron armor.

Generals die in a hundred battles. Stout soldiers return after ten years. On her return, she sees the Son of Heaven. The Son of Heaven sits in the splendid hall. He gives out promotions in twelve ranks and prizes of a hundred thousand and more. The Khan asks her what she desires. Mulan has no use for a minister's post. I wish to ride a swift mount to take me back to my home.

When father and mother hear daughter is coming, they go outside the wall to meet her, leaning on each other. When elder sister hears younger sister is coming, she fixes her rouge facing the door. When little brother hears elder sister is coming, he wets the knife quick-quick for pig and sheep. I open the door to my east chamber. I sit on my couch in the west room. I take off my wartime gown and put on my old time clothes. Facing the window she fixes her cloud-like hair. Hanging up a mirror she dobs on yellow flower powder. She goes out the door and sees her comrades. Her comrades are all amazed and perplexed. Traveling together for 12 years, they didn't know Mulan was a girl. The he-hair's feet

go hop and skip. The she-hair's eyes are muddled and fuddled. Two hairs running side by side, close to the ground. How can they tell if I am a he or she? The end. Oh my gosh, that was, first of all, so gorgeous. But second of all, that last bit about the hair was in the live action movie. And I remember thinking that was so random. I had read the ballad before watching the live action movie. And so as soon as I saw that, I like screamed and like clutched Stephen's arm and said, they're referencing the ballad. Yeah. And she says, who can tell, you know, when you're writing that fast, you're writing that

fast. That's so perfect. I know. I love that. Me too. Because I was so confused by that moment because it was obviously something kind of important, but I didn't get it. I was like, man, am I just totally missing this?

That's so cool. Yeah, it was a reference to the end of the original ballad. Oh my gosh. Yeah, and it's kind of, it's a really lovely, it's a really lovely poem. Lovely. And very short and bare bones on details. And honestly, it kind of reminds me a little bit of reading um it's a

totally totally different time place and medium but it reminds me of reading uh lord of the rings a little bit which is so much description is given for everything except battles like tolkien would write these like 15 pages on the the curve of a hill and give you all of the history of that hill and then it'd be like oh right and then uh some men and horses and stuff fought on the hill and they fought and died and then these people won anyway uh back into the story and that kind of reminds me of this. It's like so much description of how she gets to the army. And then there's two sentences on.

So then she fights for 12 years in the army and then she comes back. Yep. Oh, yeah. That was beautiful. That was really fun, too. I like the kind of vague gone for 12 years and also just 12 years. Yeah, that's one big difference from the 90s film of you just don't really get the scope of time. It seems like maybe she was gone for a year in the 90s movie.

Yeah, I'd say a year. The cherry blossoms were just blooming as she left and then they were blooming again as she came home. That seems like about a year to me. But yeah, 12 years is the original ballot of how long Mulan was campaigning. For some reason, I had seven in my head. I love that bit about the hair. Me too. I also like just kind of it includes like she does have, she's got some other siblings. Yeah, I read that in the plays, she sometimes has siblings and sometimes she doesn't.

And I was wondering, so in the cartoon, she has that dog that she calls Little Brother. Yeah. I wondered if that was their homage to one of the play versions. I think that that was a small homage to the play version. I did love that she had a little sister in the live action one. Me too. I thought that was really sweet. That was really cute. And they had an adorable relationship.

I like that they showed that like, Mulan is funny. She's a quick wit. She's funny and she's also kind of a little shit. Yeah, she's funny. But I mean, that's such a big sister thing, like saying, oh, you have a spider in your hair. I know.

Hold still so I can squish it. It was super cute. Before we get into more into more discussion, though, I want to give a little bit of background on the original ballad just kind of to kind of provide a little context. Oh, by the way, I think all of your predictions were right. I think so too because i because you predicted she takes her father's place in the army is still true the emperor tries to give her a cool job and she says no did she save the emperor i think on that count you were wrong because she does not specifically save the emperor yeah it's kind of vague on what she did yeah she

just acquits herself well in battle and so she and a bunch of other soldiers get an audience with the emperor at the end of the ballad. But she doesn't specifically save him from anyone. Yeah. Okay. So you get two points. Okay. A couple of brief notes on the origins of this folktale. I think both of us thought that Mulan might have been a real person when we were settling into first doing our initial research on this, but it doesn't appear that way. I think that's still a debate. Mulan could be legend, but she could have existed too. Like it's so old. It's kind of hard to tell. That no one knows? Yeah. This poem is apparently from the fifth or sixth century CE. Also, just to have something so old in such a culture where women really aren't seen as equals or fighters, as far as I know, that's just so cool that that exists. Yeah, that this that this story exists. Well, because it's also I think it's important to

note that gender roles were still split very, I mean, we're obviously still split very traditionally along like who was in charge of the home and who was expected to go to war if necessary. Chinese culture, as I understand it, is much more focused on family and your duty to family sort of outweighs all other considerations. And so the original ballad is about filial duty more than it is about finding yourself because i think the 90s version of the movie is very it's it's about it's about mulan's duty to her family but it also has a lot of undertones of her figuring out her place in the world when in the original ballad mulan knows her place in her world her place is to protect her family. And her duty is to her family in whatever form that takes. Like she turns down becoming probably one of the only powerful women in China to go home

to continue to care for her parents. That's also how it felt more in the live action to me overall. It was more about honor. Which is another thing that i think that they tried to alter to appeal more to a chinese audience so that's the ballot movies do you just watch the 90s version yeah i just watched it last night after it's been a while i mean i've watched it a million times but it was so much fun re-watching it because how good is that movie? I mean, honestly, Mulan is one of my favorite of the Disney animated canon. It wasn't always my favorite Disney movie. I think I enjoyed it more last night than I have ever. I think just because it's so funny.

Yeah. Like there's so many funny parts to that. Oh, my God. And I watched it again a few weeks ago. And it's not that I forgot that Eddie Murphy was in it. It's not one of my stronger memories of it. But then I started watching it and I'm like, oh, that's right. Mooshu.

Uh-huh. Oh, Mooshu's so good. This is so fun. Also, I love that George Takei was the first ancestor. Yes! Oh, my God. I was watching and I was like, that sounds that George Takei was the first ancestor. Yes! Oh my god. I was watching and I was like, that sounds like George Takei. I had to look it up and it was. I love how it starts.

How scary Sean Yeun is. He's got a cool look too. He's got like bottom fangs and no whites in his eyes. Yeah, black sclera. He's also kind of hot. He's got really broad shoulders. There's a lot of sexual whites in his eyes. Yeah, black sclera. He's also kind of hot. He's got really broad shoulders. There's a lot of sexual awakening in that movie. Weirdly hot.

Yeah, scary. Definitely like the epitome of scary hot, I think. He's scary hot. He's very scary spice. I also really enjoy that that's how the movie opens. That beginning scene with Mulan in the 90s film, I feel like she's really got her shit together. I mean, she's taking care of business.

She's taking notes. She made that little chicken feed thing and put it around the dog. So she's working smarter, not harder. I was really impressed. I mean, anyone would be lucky. And then she comes up and takes care of her dad's medical shit.

She's like, oh, and you gotta take three cups of tea a day. I thought she was pretty on top of it too when I was watching it again i'm like i don't know i don't know why i thought that she was just kind of a mess before because also the grandma has to be like my favorite character in that movie hands too really i know she's not in it that much but she's's so funny. She's like, how much help can like we should we should pray to the ancestors for help. How much help can they be? They're dead. And then she puts all her faith in a cricket. Yep.

She like closes her eyes to go across the street. Oh, my God. Yes, it was amazing. I loved also like this is this is definitely like skipping to the end. was amazing i loved um also like this is this is definitely like skipping to the end but i love that she at the very end of the movie when she when shang is all like i would love to stay for dinner would you like to stay forever that's gotta be like the best line in almost the whole movie probably it's so good it's so good so i love the 80s montage music where she decides to go to war for her father. It's like the...

It's so catchy and it's so dramatic. And I love the whole she's leaving to go to war montage. In one of the blog articles I read about how this movie became such an Asian American thing and less of a Chinese thing is that haircutting scene is apparently super pivotal in China and in medieval China, especially like nobody cut their hair. Everybody wore it long. The idea that Mulan would be cutting it to make herself look more like a boy isn't something that translated well. In fact, that having your hair shorn was actually a sign of shame. So it just didn't play well with Chinese audiences. But

it worked really well for Asian American kids who were growing up in sort of a more Western idea of what femininity and masculinity were. And so that haircutting scene, because that scene is iconic. It is. I kept wondering why she didn't cut her hair in the live action. were but and so that hair cutting scene like because that that scene is iconic it is i kept wondering why she didn't cut her hair in the live action so this is answering my question that's part of why is that they were trying to keep it more traditionally chinese culturally i don't know i kind of missed the the hair cutting scene where she swings the sword in front of her face and you get that like you don't actually see her face until until she's standing there as a full soldier in that montage cutting your hair off is kind of a big deal for western women anyway it's almost

like a safety blanket i think a lot of women feel like that's what makes them pretty is their hair yeah like having long shiny hair is so culturally ingrained in us that that's a big part of looking like a woman yeah exactly abby have you cut your hair off into a pixie cut recently. Yes, I did. And everybody, except for me, hopefully, so many people kept asking Abby if her husband would like it. Yeah. And that was like the first question out of their mouths. I got, you didn't, you didn't. So rest assured.

Well, the same thing happened to me after I got married. I had long hair like down to my belly button and I didn't even get a pixie cut. I just wanted to cut. Yeah, you weren't even get it. You weren't getting anything really this extreme. And everybody was like, oh, how's Adam gonna feel about that? You're gonna regret it. And it was so annoying. I absolutely hated when people were like, oh, what does Adam think of your hair? And I'm like, who the fuck cares what Adam thinks? Why are you asking me what I think? So that's why I definitely felt that. Yeah. And that's why that that's I think why that that scene really resonated,

I think, with a lot of women, it seemed so liberating of the idea that you could just cut it off. I mean, at the same time, it was also reaffirming that shorter hair means you're a boy. But that's a whole other thing. There's a lot of interesting, I don't know if I would call it transphobia in the 90s version, but definitely a little bit. Yeah, especially transphobia in the sense that like there could be no blending of your gender identity that you were either all woman or all man. And if you did had any traits that sort of were in the middle of those two things, then it was transgressive and made you weird or queer or. Every time I felt that way, I wrote a note about it. So we'll probably talk.

I'll probably bring it up again. I mean, it's a note about it. So we'll probably talk. I'll probably bring it up again. I mean, it's a 90s movie. So there's going to be some there's going to be some stuff like that. Interesting gender role stereotyping nonsense. I think I know what you're getting at. But let's move on. Adam and I kept cracking up that she took her hair down to be more true to herself, which was a great scene and a really it was very symbolic of her being coming herself yeah of but adam and i were cracking up and we're

like can't like fighting shouldn't maybe you should have left your hair up isn't that like getting in the way yeah there's a reason why all the soldiers kind of go for the top knot the top knot or even the main bad guy had his hair and like kind of he was half up half down because he had glorious and his hair was good he had some good hair he was just gorgeous all around there were a lot of gorgeous people on the other team i want to make just a quick note of how much i love gong lee i love gong lee i have loved gong lee for a long long long long long time she played the witch in the live action movie my first page of notes on the live action movie look at look a little something like this gong lee gong lee's

outfit gong lee's hands gong lee's hair oh my god she's wearing those dresses how they're like half armor half dresses like she just looks like a god if this weren't mulan i would have guessed that that was mulan years later and there were two different storylines that would have been so cool i mean and honestly if gunley had gotten her way that's exactly what would have happened since we're kind of going to start melding these together i first of all i want to ask you abby how did how did you like the live action movie what were what was your overall opinion on it overall I I really enjoyed it I thought it was I thought it was fun I enjoyed watching it the dialogue was a little heavy and a little cheesy

but also like I kept reminding myself this is a movie for kids they made this movie for kids most Disney movies have kind of like ham-handed cheesy dialogue at one point or another. I think it just seems sillier coming out of live action actors' mouths and not cartoon characters. Actually, you know, that was different about the cartoon and the live action was they said things in the live action. I'm like, you didn't have to say that. We just know like when the mom says like, you know, he's not going to come back in the in the Disney cartoon version. They just make it obvious. And they have tense the shadow and the music and it's raining and the goes up to the husband.

And you can see your shadow push him away and she leaves and she's crying like they don't have to say. Yeah, they what's going on. True. Actually, that's a really good point because I feel like they were they were a lot more subtle in the animated version with some of these topics is much more show not tell i remember in the live action version when mulan you know she's riding her horse down to enlist in the army and the phoenix is flying overhead and she literally goes the phoenix and i'm like now it's right there it's we can see it like you didn't have to see it okay no we get it i thought some of that was weird at the writing could have been

a little better also because some of some of it worked really well like i like how they did the matchmaker scene for the live action version i thought that they kind of kept it true to the spirit of the original one while still doing some fresh new stuff like her trying to protect her sister by like hiding the spider into the teapot and yeah like that was that was really adorable I loved the live action. That's probably my favorite live action Disney adaptation ever of all time because it was similar enough, but they weren't trying to recreate the story in a cringy way.

Like you said, there was some of that writing was a little awkward and it was like, you didn't have to say that. But you could have just acted it, but that's fine too. Yeah, but was i loved it i thought it was so much fun like i enjoyed watching that a lot and i it was just it was so beautiful i mean it was a

pretty film i don't know how people were feeling underwhelmed by it is what i yeah i was surprised too because i was like okay this is gorgeous from from like top to bottom this is such a great looking film choreographed so well the writing is cheesy but the acting is selling it I'm buying it all of these people are really cute I like how they characterized Mulan so in nine I feel like 90s Disney Mulan versus live action. 90s Mulan was so shy seeming. She seemed so much more timid and like not as much as a troublemaker. I don't know. I feel like the live action Mulan, the younger one, was a lot more like troublemaker.

Yeah. Sassy. Loud. Just kind of playing pranks. Yeah. I loved her. I thought she was hilarious. How did you feel about the gong li

witch edition i fucking loved it i thought that was so cool okay i love that she takes place of shanyu's falcon so i looked this up yesterday i was i was thinking about shanyu's um falcon last night because damn shanyu just makes an entrance and I was thinking because I was a little drunk. I was like, Sean, you a Disney princess. He has a sidekick animal.

No. Yeah. I'm sorry. Too many other Disney villains have sidekick animals like Maleficent has her Raven. Oh, yeah,

you're right. I love sight. I love evil. Oh, and Ursula has her eels and the hot of a hawk i keep saying hawk but in okay it's a falcon in the live action it's a hawk she's she i thought i thought that was a falcon maybe it is a falcon anyway i digress it's definitely a falcon

in the cartoon and i actually looked up and it has a name. And I wrote in my notes, dude, the falcon has a name and it's Hayabusa. Okay. Hayabusa. I mean, he doesn't say it anytime, but I love that the falcon had a name. And I love that she ended up being the falcon and they kind of personified that character in the live action. I thought that was so cool. And also just the whole introduction in the live action to Chi as that was so cool. And also just the whole introduction in the live action to Chi

as being like giving it a magic element. You liked that? How? I loved that. I thought that was so cool. That made it a whole different movie. I loved it so much. I thought it was the coolest.

And also very Star Wars. They gave Mulan the Star Wars treatment. Steve and I actually were talking about that too of how how the chi kind of sounded a lot like the force. And they used it a lot like the force. I mean, Mulan couldn't make lightning or anything, but she could hurl a spear at someone without just by kicking it. I think she also uses the chi when she tricks them into hurling that cannon at the snow to make an avalanche. Because she puts her hand on the ground. And I don't know if she's just feeling to see if it worked.

The witch. I just called her the witch. I didn't know if she had a name. She did. I saw it in subtitles a lot. But I think they only said it like once or twice. It's Gong Li. That's the actress's name.

And I'm sure I'm pronouncing it wrong. Okay. A quick Gong Li anecdote. While we're talking about like sexual awakenings, Gong Li in Memoirs of a Geisha, did you ever watch that movie? Gong Li's hair

was a complete character all by itself and a huge sexual awakening for me. She was so beautiful and her hair was so gorgeous look up gong li and wow i need to watch memoirs of the yes you do it is very good but i also want to talk about mushu i kind of wish that we could have seen the great stone dragon the great stone dragon i know god

that would have been great so i was a little mad at mushu while watching that as an adult because i was like god you deprived us of the great dragon also i was a little mad at the live action for doing a fucking phoenix and not a great i know i mean i don't really know the symbolism of a phoenix in Chinese culture. Every time I see phoenix right now, it makes me think of Harry Potter. Right. So it took me a little while to get used to it and be okay with it because I was kind of annoyed that it wasn't the Christ. I know because that's what I wanted. Okay, if we're not going to actually get thematically and tone-wise, Mushu doesn't fit in here.

It still could have been a cool dragon. Yeah, why was it a phoenix and not a dragon when dragons are so amazing? I feel like someone can answer that for us. I think someone can. If you're Chinese or you're more knowledgeable

in Chinese culture. Why a phoenix and not a dragon? Lay it on us. Tell us. I want to know. Although I do and I did end up

really loving the phoenix. Mulan is the luckiest Disney princess. She's got three amazing animal sidekicks she's got a super fucking loyal horse mushu who is i mean a dragon and then she has the little cricket who the cricket is so huge and i about died when i saw that they personified the cricket character in the live action. They made him a character. I know. I loved that too. He even talks about how he's lucky. And I was just like,

oh my God, creaky. The kids in the live action, in the Disney cartoon, they all seem like grown men. And in the live action, they're all like early 20s. I know. They all look like fresh faced little boys. Oh, so that actually brought up a huge refrigerator question for me. It's what my parents call it when you know, you go see a movie, and you enjoy the movie and you take it in and it isn't until you're at home reaching into the refrigerator for a snack that you think wait, what? So a refrigerator, that's what they call it. So that's what that's what I call it now, too. So a big refrigerator question that I had, like because I didn't it didn't occur to me until like the day after I'd seen the movie that I was like, wait a minute. If Mulan had to enlist in the army with all of these other boys from her village, how come nobody recognizes her?

Presumably they're all going to the same camp that's a really good question right like not really none of the none of the boys from her village that's how they worked it out for the story like i'm not mad about it it's how it's just how it goes but also like huh maybe they i mean maybe they just had enough boys from other villages that they never ran into each other. Maybe. Could have been. Or maybe they got sent to a different muster point. Or they already had military training and they could just head straight into the actual standing army part already. I have no idea. I'm sure. That's probably it. That last that last one yeah they went to a

different part because they were more uh yeah they already had some battle experience or something i don't know i'm just they had enough i'm just like they already had enough xp going back to sort of the mushu thing as well like i did miss him in this movie but i thought that they did a really good job of finding other ways to lighten the mood yeah like all the jokes with in the camp like the boys still kind of doing the girl worth fighting for thing where i don't care what she looks like i just care what she looks like honestly the other thing that i found kind of equally charming and cringy about this movie was the spoken song lyrics they did that a lot yeah did i kind of liked that though i thought it was fun especially when it was comedy like that it definitely kind of took me out of that the mood the whole mood of the live action because it didn't fit perfectly but it was enough like nostalgia that you were kind of okay with it

you know like it was just exactly like, and that's why like, it didn't, it didn't bug me. I also like the other homage they made to the animated film that I really liked was you could hear the score to the original movie playing in the background of some scenes like the matchmaker scene had the honor bring honor to us all music in the background. I know I was so annoyed that they didn't do that with the... I know. That was the one part they didn't do it. And it's my favorite song. It was like they easily could have inserted the theme into this music that was playing while she was going up the mountain. That had been really easy to insert. I don't know why they didn't. But...

Do you have any like other thoughts about sort of like the camp or like the training montage? It definitely wasn't make a man out of you perfect song but they got the the mood right like her getting better and going up the mountain and working really hard i loved the actors they chose as like her friends because that's one of my favorite parts in the the 90s film is i love their friendship is so pure and so cute because they all kind of start off on the wrong foot. But you can tell that they really want her to win at the end. Like at the end of the montage, they're all rooting for her to like make it up that pole. So their relationship arc is so good, in my opinion.

And I love that they kind of follow the same thing. Like they still had the character Yao that was like the mean, gruff one. I love that line in the live action where she's describing her perfect woman. She's like, you're not describing me. And she's like, oh, she's courageous and brave. And he's like, you're not describing me. You're describing me. And it was just so like adorable.

And I love their friendship. And they stuck it out. Even when they find out she's a woman, they still all back her up. And they're like, I believe in law. I know that was so sweet. Got her back. I also loved that a lot. Yeah, I really thought that they nailed that and then nailed the camaraderie of her becoming of her becoming one of them.

Something I would have liked to see more, though, was I would have liked to see her struggle a little more with the training, the way that you see the animated Mulan. In the beginning, Mulan is so shitty at it in the animated version that she almost gets sent home. And it's her determination to not get sent home that drives her to be better. In the live action, she's like already really talented.

Yeah, like she already has all of this martial training. She's already good at a lot of this. So it undercuts the her heading up the mountain moment. I don't think that there's ever a question that she won't. Also, just imagine that task of going uphill. My shoulders were hurting while I was watching that. Aching, aching, just looking at it. I thought that was such a good way to give that impossible task in the live action though.

Yeah. With the weights on your hands. I agree. I think they found a neat way to sort of have a similar mechanic. It would be really awkward to be climbing the pole in a live action thing. Since we're still in the camp and they did this really well in the live action too, I thought. I never want to see a naked man again. I love that line because, girl, I feel you there. And I love that they had that tiny scene of the guy losing his towel or something in the live action. She's just like, oh, God.

Because she's a young girl who's probably never seen a naked man just and just like this the because i agree it is horrifying even if you're into that sort of thing like later it's still horrifying even if it's on the hot uh not shang stand-in what do you think of him oh yeah i thought it made more sense that she would end up kind of having some sort of romantic interest with you know somebody more her own age and more her rank too not the not her commanding officer yeah exactly which is kind of a weird power dynamic i also feel like they really could have left out the whole romantic interest i thought so too i mean because also like that's could have left out the whole romantic interest. I thought so too. I mean, because also like, that's not what's in the original ballad either. She

doesn't return home with a husband. She returns home a hero. And then it would be also more inclusive to people that are gay or bisexual or asexual. Yeah, absolutely. It didn't really add much to the story. Because also, in the animated version. Little eye rolling. They're outside of the fact that she clearly thinks he's pretty sexy. And also like, I mean, I'm sorry. Anyone who's into men also thinks that. Even if you're not into men. And probably even if you're not that into men. Lee Shang could turn you.

You probably still think it a little. It's just on a pure aesthetic level. He's a very attractive cartoon man. They don't even really do the romance very much until like what the last five minutes of the movie. And it's all worth it for that great grandma line. Would you like to stay forever? Oh no.

I like the other line where he walks by and she's like, oh, sign me up for the next war. Grandma, I love her. She's so fucking good. Moving on to like when they actually had to go join the war. And I think my favorite moment in the live action was after it turns out that she does have this great ability and they've started moving out on the road and she's been training it more. Do you remember the scene where the general says that he'd like to introduce Mulan to his daughter? Yeah, and he's like, I'd love to see the look on your father's face.

And she just smiles. And I was just thinking that in a perfect lesbian world, he still would introduce her to his daughter. Yeah. At the end. Oh my gosh. Yes. Oh yeah.

Mulan's going to get herself a bride. I also want to see the look on her dad's face. She comes home a decorated war hero with a wife. I would have loved that. Why not? Oh, yeah. And honestly, I think that is a good fix for that movie. The romance with one of her comrades wasn't doing anything for me. What would have been awesome at the end is Mulan becomes a war hero. And then at the end, when the general does come by to meet her father, I was like, because I was thinking like, did you bring your daughter? Yes. Is she in here? That's right. That would be amazing. I love that idea.

I loved that battle sequence from start to finish when they actually engage the Rorans. Also, what is she on that's yellow? Is that like sulfur? I think so. It's cracking. And I kept getting really scared that she was going to fall into it. It made me really nervous. I think it was definitely, I think it was sulfur. But I loved their interactions. The witch being like, oh, like, you're a girl. Like, damn, you're using your chi. I love that, too, of her recognizing something in this other person and telling her why she wasn't able to use her chi as effectively. That changed Mulan's whole perspective. And that's what made her decide to come out and be honest. Like, she didn't get found out. Yeah. She came out. I mean,

exactly. Yeah. She came out swinging. she came out swinging and she we were talking about how like have those top knots for a reason but when she's riding her horse through the sulfur and shuffling off armor and don't you need that you could have kept that on but you look great though but you do look amazing and and then i like how then she goes into battle and she's able to manipulate all of the objects and she's just this moving chi whirlwind cutting people down. But that I also like that they didn't forget that part of the point of Mulan's story is that she's also really clever. Yeah, she grabs all the helmets to make them think that there's more people firing arrows at them. And she uses magic to launch a bunch of arrows at them.

But the idea itself was like a really smart tactical move on her part. And then I like that that's also part of the avalanche scene because the whole point of the avalanche scene in the 90s movie was also like, again, Mulan just being smarter than everybody else. He just has a good mind for tactics. How could you miss him? He was three feet in front of you. What did you think of Mulan's gender reveal in the live action versus the ballad? Oh, yeah.

Versus them just finding out and being like, oh, live action was definitely the best because she came out and decided to be true and was like, you know what? You might kill me, but I was a woman the whole time, motherfuckers. Motherfuckers. It's a lot less empowering in the animated yeah

they just found out because she got wounded not because she told the truth not that it was bad in the animated version but yeah I like I like that they did it a little differently I like that it that a lot of this live-action movie has to do with the themes of loyalty and honesty and bravery. And who knows, maybe if animated Mulan had fought another woman in the live action, she was probably looking at her and being like, that's what I'm going to become. And then they explicitly have that scene later. On the mountain where she's like, join paths with me. Fuck yeah, do that.

Which also would have been my fix because hell yeah. I kind of just want another movie that's like this, where she does become a witch, and there's more witches, and they keep getting witches, and then they overthrow everyone. And then it's just a community of witches. I've got like a slightly different fix that we'll talk about more towards the end

after we've talked about what happens to Gong Li's character. But I like this moment of her doing the whole, join me me villainous speech with her falcon claws god she's so cool with her bone crown so gong li's outfit oh yeah that was so cool so good but i also like that in this moment mulan says no mulan stays true and then rushes off to warren the emperor she risks everything and she doesn't the animated version too risks everything because she's so brave and true it is really

uplifting it's a really great story in the animated and live action for this like man maybe I do like the live action more I really like how all her friends stand up for her in that moment. Because in the animated version, she says, you would have believed Ping. Why is Mulan any different? But I like in the live action that her friends are like, you would have believed Hua Zhang.

Why is Mulan any different? And I like that they're the ones that say that and they all start chiming in, I believe Mulan. I know. And it Mulan. I know. And it's awesome. I literally messed it up a little bit. I love that friendship arc so much. I know. I loved in the animated version that moment when they all drop the battering ram and Mulan is running up into the palace.

And they're like, we're just going to go with her plan. My least favorite part in the animated movie of all time. And I really really hate this later what was it it hits me when mulan is off and she's trying to tell anybody who will listen that the emperor is in trouble and she looks at ushu and she goes no one will listen and musha says huh oh i sorry. Did you say something? And Mulan's like, Mushu? And Mushu's like, I'm sorry, but you're a girl again. Remember? I get this is from a different time and also a different culture. But this hit me even as a girl growing up in the 90s. Even her friend isn't listening to her anymore. Yeah, because she's a girl again. Yeah. Like, oh, you're a girl again. Now I'm not listening to you, even though I know the whole situation.

I've been with you the whole time. But you're a girl again just because you're not pretending to be a boy. I'm like, oh, I don't know. I hate Mushu in that moment, actually. Yeah, what the fuck, dude? Also, aren't you supposed to be helping her? Why aren't you telling people you're a dragon? I would totally believe a tiny dragon.

I would love to have a tiny dragon. I don't know. Maybe he is being sarcastic. But it's still like an annoying thing to do in that moment. Yeah, because in that moment, I would be petty and I would be like, you know what? I fucking told you. You didn't listen. Bye, bitch.

I don't fucking care if you die now. Fine. Figure it out yourself. Bye. Clearly. She's just a better person than we are. I think that's pretty clear. We're at the climax of the whole thing.

And I thought that the live action handled this sequence great. I really enjoyed how they had the major set piece was in the still being built scaffolding of the new palace. I don't know if I like that the witch sacrifices herself. I do like the symbolism of that if she sees this woman who can make it, who has clearly been backed up. But I don't like that she dies. I guess I would have wanted justice for her. It seemed unnecessary. Like she didn't have to be like, yeah, watch your girl is leading the army and she's right there. I thought you wanted to succeed. You could have been a little less obvious. I did think it was nice. I thought you wanted her to succeed. You could have been a little less obvious. I did think it was nice. I like that she chose to help Mulan. She was excited to see that a woman was doing what she wanted. And being affirmed. Yeah, being affirmed, embracing her chi. You know,

that was a good moment for her. But yeah, I felt it was a little unnecessary that she died. Yeah, I think that she still could have helped her. I wasn't expecting her to like join Mulan's village or anything at the end of the movie. But I was kind of thinking that it would be sort of like she helps her and then sort of disappears into the shadows and just like, okay, I've assisted you and now you're on your own. She could mentor her like maybe like Mulan has like secret meetings with the witch like out in the woods in her house and she trains her and she or whatever. She just didn't have to die. In the live action,

none of the other friends die, which I totally thought they would. Like they have that one scene where you think Cricket is dead. Yeah. Oh, man. I'm glad that he wasn't. I feel like they did kind of

have to kill somebody just to have a realistic balance of life and death and war. I don't know. Because maybe she's done so many bad things maybe she wouldn't have been able to redeem herself i don't know i was really bummed about that too but it was really sweet and then like we head into the major end game which i don't want to belabor too much outside of the fact it looked really cool fighting in the scaffolding and uh the oh and then fighting on the um oh that uh i don't know construction

words but you know like the the beam that's holding all of those wooden things and then she and bori connor on either end yes so watching the animated version last night i was like man i really hope this happens in the live action so mulan defeats shanyu by shooting off a firework or a cannon that goes into a whole tower full of them. And then he blows up. And I was like, man, in my version of the live action, when that happens, Fallout Boys light him up. Someone starts playing. Light him up. Light him up.

He's on fire. He's on fire. It was also pretty cool in the live action. but i was a little sad she didn't have an audience it wasn't everybody there to see it because the animated version is so epic a bunch of fireworks and there's all these people around think that like that's such a that's such a great moment at the end when the emperor gives her his medal and everybody bows to her and we didn't like really get that moment in the live action i although i will say what absolutely just got me was the mulan from the 90s version introducing her at court introducing the new Mulan. I lost my mind. Oh, yeah, that's right.

She makes an appearance. Yeah, Ming-Na Wen was the 90s Mulan, the original voice actress. And so she's that lady that precedes Mulan into the emperor's court and introduces her. And I just, oh, it got me. That was so sweet. I know, it's so sweet.

I love her so much. She did such a good job as the original Mulan. So it was like so beautiful. I bet, it's so sweet. I love her so much. She did such a good job as the original Mulan. So it was like so beautiful. I bet it meant a lot to her too. I've been following her on Instagram for a couple of years. She mostly just posts pictures of her daughter. But she had to keep this cameo under wraps for until like a week after the movie premiered. She couldn't mention it anywhere.

So she finally like posted a bunch of photos of her costume and her makeup and talking about how much it meant to her and talking about how much Mulan meant to her like the original 90s story um her daughter also got to be on set with her and got made up in like medieval Chinese imperial makeup and it was just it was so cute and she was so excited to be there and was so proud of the movie and so proud of like her 90s movie. I mean, that's so cool because I also didn't know who the original voice actress of Mulan was until recently. But I love that it was a Chinese actress. Well, Chinese American actress. Yeah. But I mean, I think that's still so cool because it's always disappointing when it's a white person playing someone else.

I think it's important for people to recognize paying, hiring, helping people of color in these, you know, whitewashed jobs, especially voice acting, because it doesn't matter what color you are or like what race you are when you're voice acting but what is important is hiring and like supporting people of color absolutely in that work because they don't get hired everything in hollywood is so whitewashed and people are like upset that a white, you know, actress gets hired to play something that should have been Chinese or. Right. Like Scarlett Johansson getting hired to play a Japanese character in Ghost in the Shell. And people don't understand why people get so upset that a white person was hired to play a Japanese person. It's because Japanese people, you're exploiting that culture and that story. And taking away roles from Japanese actors who don't get them as often.

Because there just aren't a lot of roles written for people of color explicitly. And then the few roles that are casting a white person in that role is just such a slap in the face. Thank you. You said that much better than I did. I had a really hard time like, articulating my thoughts on that. No, I like what you said too, because I think that mine is pithy and like a throwaway line, but I think you're all getting it much more at like the heart of it's really upsetting. And not just for movies like this that are that are sort of culturally specific. It's obviously very important when you're making a movie about Chinese people to include Chinese people when you're making that movie. That's that's kind of

that that should be a duh factor. But it wasn't always but it wasn't always but also it's important in any movie to make sure that you're casting representatively both in front of the camera and that you're filling the behind the camera work with women, LGBT people, people of color, like just that you've got in addition to men, I don't like want to discount their value or whatever. But also, you know, it's just important that like, you've got the full spectrum of human perspective, both behind the camera and in front of it. This is a whole rant, but you know, and these rants need to happen. And yes and yes obviously we are two white women ranting about it which also says a lot we need to rant about it more like as white women we should be

ranting about this more and visibly i think it's an important topic and i want to talk about it and i just want to because i see a lot of people on your snowflakes because you care if what race an actor is and that's not the point so So I saw this from my friend on Facebook. They wrote about Mulan seeing Chinese actors and actresses. It might have been underwhelming to many of you, but to see actors that I grew up with in a place where it's mostly, you know, white people or Mexican people, where there wasn't anyone that looked like them, know white people or mexican people where there wasn't anyone that looked like them the movie was overwhelming they said that my heart was fluttering the whole time and to see dua mua the only mong actor in a mainstream film was heartwarming and i hope you all take a moment

to appreciate the magnitude of what a film like this means to folks like me and look beyond today's politics are they kind of saying that as a response to just so many people just complaining about how of what a film like this means to folks like me and look beyond today's politics. Are they kind of saying that as a response to just so many people just complaining about how they didn't like how underwhelming the movie is? Which that makes that makes so much sense to me just as someone who for a while there was a real dearth of movies that were a female letter had a mostly female cast. And so when I see people ragging on Black Ariel or just any female-centric, female-led Ghostbusters comes to mind. Oh, yeah. That even if people didn't like it, or even if it is, I guess, an underwhelming remake,

even if that's your opinion, I can't help but hear that you don't like women when people complain about these female led remakes. And so I can kind of see how seeing similar things about Mulan would be really hurtful to someone of Asian ancestry in this country of people just want like just bitching about this movie that's that's entirely filled with Asian actors. And that would be really hurtful. So just something to keep in mind when you're talking about these movies. They may not be the best movies ever. They do matter in a way that is highly symbolic, and they matter a lot more to some members of your community than they might to you. And so you should just be really gentle. It's important to remember that not every movie is made for you. Yes.

Yeah. Maybe it's not for you. Maybe you're not the audience. Maybe they're trying to teach you something. And if you didn't like it, you know, tell us why. Tweet at us at FairytaleFixPod. Yeah, if you think we are absolutely full of shit, we are interested to hear why. Yeah, tell us. Email us.

Yeah, shoot us an email and then, hey, we'll talk about it later. It's info at FairytaleFixPod.com. Seriously. We'll bring it up sometime. We'll talk more. Tell us your thoughts and feelings on animated versus live action. I'll do this really quickly, But I just have to tell all of you about this shit. I'm going to do it very briefly. Because I also don't want to spoil it too much in case anybody's actually interested in watching it. So the other movie that I watched in

preparation for this was the live action Chinese movie called Mulan Rise of a Warrior. It is available to watch on Funimation, which is it's like the anime streaming app. But they also do a few feature length movies as well. I highly recommend checking this out. I will say that it is not a feel good family movie that you will want to show your kids. It's not like a happy... Does Mulan die? No, she doesn't die. But it sticks very much to the framework of the original ballad. Okay, okay. With a lot of details added. You know how the ballad barely mentions the war?

This movie barely mentions any of the other parts of the ballad and focuses exclusively on the war. other parts of the ballad and focuses exclusively on the war this is a war movie in fact it is very dark and it is all about sacrifice duty honor death and and just the horrors of war wholesome friendships there's some friendships but they end in tragedy it's it's all like it's all very upsetting stuff and it's really gory it's very sad and difficult and the acting is so good and very intense. I absolutely loved this movie. They also like kind of gave the Rorans their due a little bit. We actually spend a lot of time in the Roran camp learning about how that dynamic is playing out. You've got the Danu who is the leader of the Roran people,

and he's uniting all of these tribes. You've got his much more warmongery, bloodthirsty son. You've got his daughter. She just wants peace. She just wants to be able to feed her people. They live in like a pretty desert-y, barren wasteland, essentially. It's why they keep raiding the Chinese, because they live in a much more fertile area and have a lot more. And so that's why they keep raiding, which I think is important context. That is important context. On just the war. This movie fixed one of my questions already straight out the gate is that when Mulan gets to enlist, one of her childhood friends from her village is like, Mulan, what the fuck are you doing here? So she actually does get recognized by a boy from her village, and he agrees to keep her secret, which I really enjoyed. They call her Mulan the entire time, which makes me wonder

if there aren't really gendered names in the same way. I don't know nearly enough about Mandarin naming conventions to know, but they call her Hua Mulan the entire movie. That's how everybody knows her. There's no like second name. They barely mention that Mulan is a woman in this entire movie. Like that is not the point of the movie. It's loyalty, duty, and sacrifice. And the horrors of war is what this movie is about.

Yeah, it is. It is really interesting. She also has some martial training in this one, which is similar to the live action Disney movie. So she's already pretty good at a lot of this stuff. Her gender nearly gets discovered at one point, but then one of the other soldiers decides to help her hide. And then also she begins advancing up ranks in the Chinese army until she actually becomes a general. I like the idea of somebody knowing, but helping her out anyway. Yeah, like she has her childhood friend who knows and she has this

other guy who knows. Because it would make sense that somebody would find out. Yeah, like at some point, that is a diversion from the original ballad because they don't find out until 12 years. Until 12 years later when she puts on a dress and they're like, oh, you were a girl this whole time. I don't want to give too much away because it is a really good movie. It is almost two hours long. So it's a very long, long movie. And none of it is about any of the stuff that gets focused on in either of the Disney movies. They don't do like she tries to hide her gender stuff too much. They don't belabor that she leaves her father. The first five minutes of the movie

are her father gets conscripted. She takes his armor. She rides south. She enlists and bam, okay, now we're in this movie. And then there's like two more hours of horrifying war movie. Just to just to illustrate like how dark and intense this movie gets, if this is anything anybody else wants to watch someday, there is a scene where the Rorans have captured a portion of Mulan's men, and they have her and the rest of her army trapped in a canyon where they're all starving and they have no water. They're trying to get her to surrender. And so they parade these men out in front of her. They're like torturing them in front of her and all of her troops, instead of going out to ride to the rescue,'re like torturing them in front of her and all of her troops,

instead of going out to ride to the rescue, because that would just get the rest of her men killed. They sing this song, this soldiers marching song about about missing home. I'm getting choked up just thinking about it. And Kelsey's gonna make fun of me. Oh, no. But I still love you. They sing the song about duty and their and loving their homeland and missing their wives and children then the men who have been captured also start singing the song back in like this moment of solidarity and comfort and then the rorans kill them all you know as they're singing this song it's awful they start at the back of the line and just start killing people while they're singing the song to each other from across the across the line but it is such like a

horrifying beautiful moment and this movie is full of moments like that of like that is so fucked up i really enjoyed this movie it's a what the fuck fairy tale that is it is a what the fuck fairy tale. That is it is a what the fuck folktale retelling for the ages. It is so good. And I actually have no edits for it. I think it's I think it's incredible and so, so fucking sad. And with such a bittersweet ending, it just hurt my heart in the best possible way. It's Mulan Rise of a Warrior. It's on Funimation.

Go watch it and then and then write me a lot of emails about all of your feelings no i kind of want to watch it i probably will i think you should it and also like the reason why i'm not telling more of the twists and turns is a like a time concern and then also because there are so many twists and turns because they took that section of the ballad about fighting for 12 years and ran with it somewhere totally different that's fun i like that though and then she comes home at the end the exact same way well i love that too because and it's it's an actual chinese film written by chinese people so that's interesting it's cool that they went that

way with it and it shows where the culture is and what's important and not so much the who is the girl I see. Which I mean, which is why like Mulan resonates so hard with with us. But but this movie is very much about duty. I have a hard time sitting through any movie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not a huge movie person. I'm like, oh, if I have to sit down for an hour and a half. An hour and a half is okay. But now movies are like two, two and a half to three hours.

And that's just a little much for me. Also, I can't just like sit and watch a movie. I like to do something else. And that really bothers Adam. He gets really mad at me. Because you're not paying attention. I'm paying attention. I'm just doing something else

too like I can multitask no and it's good because if you're multitasking and you're working on something else you don't talk the whole time oh yeah I also talk because that's something else you do never fucking watch a movie with me ever I'm the worst I have to pee a thousand times don't watch a movie that you care about with Kelsey if it it's a movie that you're like, I really want to sit down and watch this with great focus. I'll do that if I have to. Yeah, but you're not happy about it. That was good with live action. Mulan was good because I was taking notes.

Yes, you had an activity. Yeah, I need something. You have to have something to do while you're watching the movie. Movies are hard. Thank you so much for listening to fairy tale fix if you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a review you can find us on apple stitcher spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts you can also find us on twitter and instagram at fairy tale fix pod please email us your favorite fairy tales folklore nursery rhymes, and other such things at info at fairytalefixpod.com.

And Gong Li's character didn't die as a falcon and became a mentor to Mulan and taught her to be a really cool fucking witch. Yeah. And they lived happily ever after. And she also married the general's daughter. The end. Happily ever after happily ever after i'm gonna leave it the end the end