Mulan and Tamryn Iyer

Hua Mulan was a girl from a conservative family & traditional country. The movie starts off with how she has to be the perfect wife (watch the song: Honor to us all).
She fails… dismally at this and then goes into introspection…(watch the song : Reflection).
There is now a darkness that comes in, the bad guys are in China. And each family has to send in their son aka their pride. Side note, daughters aren’t seen to be strong and courageous … sons are the real deal. Mulan runs and says she will represent her father.. Becos family means the most to her. For speaking out of place, the father shuns her & this is when she is deeply heartbroken . (Of course with me, my folks mean the world and back….)

This is where it gets interesting. She cuts of her hair (hair, for an Asian female is her pride and attachment): So , she detached & put on her armor and ran off in disguise. When her parents discovered her doing , they were disappointed but eventually, supported her efforts 👏🏽

While being in the camp, she meets people who are there & goes through training. (Watch: I’ll make a man out of you). In this, you’ll find lots of reference to men being strong and women being weak and in the kitchen… (eg did they send me daughters.. when I asked … for sons).

Through all the practice, courage and determination, Mulan starts to NAIL her routines and fights the battle.
For me, this means something cos everything is about balance , about the good and the Bad.
The trials and the defeats. The successes and the triumphs . Aka the Yingyang … ☯️

Captain Li Shang finds out that Mulan is indeed … a female. The deceit is the most heartbreaking thing. But, she had to do, what she had to do.

Where as everyone thinks the kingdom is safe , it isn’t … and nobody believes Mulan. She finally gets her three goofy (yet strong) friends to help her and EVENTUALLY, Shang believes her and helps save the Emperor.

The Emperor says “you don’t meet a girl like that every dynasty” to Shang. Being in power he knew her potential and her strength.

Mulan, being the female she is . Always had a crush on Shang… cos he was hot and strong.

Mulan returns home to her father and presents him the sword. He says to her that the greatest honor is having her as his daughter. Nothing in the world can be more precious than a compliment from your father 🙏🏽And of course. I feel the same with Pa.

Shang goes to Mulan’s home and she offers him to stay for dinner. Grandma offers him to stay forever.
Mulan’s heart is happy. She has found her person❤️Each one of us exists to find our other on this Earth too.

Today, females have so much opportunities to leave home , follow their dreams & succeed. Along with that, so many are oppressed and constantly working towards perfect “wife” material … not many are training to be “husbands” … this movie came out 20 years ago. Pretty progressive for the time….

And this is why I love it so much. Great deal of knowledge we can retain and it’s laden with nuggets of life lessons.

Honestly, if you’ve read this far, I literally owe you your favorite beverage 🤪😘