The Politics: The Ideal Woman

The film Mulan has its merits for playing with gender boundaries and opening up a space for young girls who do not necessarily fit into the classical fairytale princess motif that Disney has used for decades. However, Mulan exists in a society that does not value anything she has to say until she is dressed in disguise as a man. In the lyrics to ‘A Girl Worth Fighting For’ the conventional accepted behaviours of a woman are explicitly outlined, listen to the song below and read along with the lyrics and consider the validity of my commentary.

(image courtesy of mydreamis on deviantart.com)

A Girl Worth Fighting For

: in essence a damsel in distress that values masculinity and is domestic and docile

For a long time we've been marching off to battle
In a thundering herd we feel a lot like cattle
Like the pounding beat,
Our aching feet aren't easy to ignore,

Hey! Think of instead, a girl worth fighting for!

Huh?

That's what I said, a girl worth fighting for!

I want her paler than the moon, racial values of beauty
With eyes that shine like stars

My girl will marvel at my strength,
Adore my battle scars

I couldn't care less what she'll wear,
Or what she looks like,
It all depends on what she cooks like: a woman’s value linked to domestic ability
Beef,
Pork,
Chicken,
Mmmm

'Bet the local girls thought you are quite the charmer
And I'll bet the ladies love a man in armour

You can guess what we have missed the most,
Since we've been off to war

What do we want?
A girl worth fighting for!

My girl will think I have no faults,
And I'm a major find

Uh,
How about a girl who's got a brain,
Who always speaks her mind?

Nah! As Mulan tries to write herself into the song as ‘a girl worth fighting for’ she is denied because female autonomy is not valued

My manly ways and turn of phrase,
Are sure to thrill her!

He thinks he's such a lady killer

I've got a girl at home,
Who's not like any other

Yeah, the only girl who loves him,
Is his mother!

But when we come home in victory,
They'll line up at the door

What do we want? A girl worth fighting for!

Wish that I had... a girl worth fighting for!

A girl worth fighting... for!

As Ellen Willis says "for women, life is an ongoing good cop-bad cop routine. The good cops are marriage, motherhood, and that courtly old gentleman, chivalry." (Willis) However, there are a few elements that things song adds to the good cop routine that Willis has left of, primarily related to the domestic sphere, that is to manage the household and maintain docility. As Willis goes on to explain the above statement she relays that the exchange for women's cooperation is romantic love, sentiments shared by Disney in its promise of 'happily ever after.'

Willis, Ellen. "Feminism, Moralism, and Pornography." 1993.