What really stood out to me, though, was how much this song managed to convey in such a short time frame - at just under two minutes of actual song and even less accompanied by vocals, the impact of this song, particularly as one of the first to highlight the internal struggle that has become such a major theme in so many Disney movies, is near-impossible to understate. This ties her search for personal identity into the rest of the song - not only is she searching for personal answers, but also searching for ways to fulfill her desires to live up to the expectations set by her family and society, expectations she clearly is aware she can’t attain, as she alludes to throughout the song. Establishing her place in the world is of increasing importance, too, as parental and other pressures grow, and having to face the grand question of self-identification is a bit much. What we wind up with is an illustration of a further conflict for Mulan - how is she supposed to figure out herself and her life when she’s trying to work out what she wants in the first place? It’s an incredibly difficult question for anyone, but she’s trying to figure that out while handling outside conflicts. It’s a short almost-interlude that really ties the piece together, I think. Why is my reflection someone I don’t know
It’s illustrated in the lines below, particularly: That is another of the great takeaways from this song - that, in the middle of all these forces pushing and pulling at Mulan, trying to direct her to become something else, she’s still trying to figure out what she wants. This internal struggle takes on a third dimension: she's not even really sure who she is. We not only have a struggle between what her parents want and what she wants, we also have her feeling that she failed to do what her parents wanted from her. She's moved past trying, and now she's trying to reconcile her personal identity with what she wants- to make her family and ancestors proud of her. This is where the feeling of disappointing her parents mixes with her knowledge that she just can't be who they want her to be. We don't just see a conflict between what Mulan's family wants and who she is, she still tried so hard to be what they wanted and just couldn't do it.
When you're told your entire life that this is the way to make your parents proud and to bring your family honor, trying so hard to be that, and still failing is crushing. Still, she pushes that aside and does the best she can to fit in, just to be rejected for not being good enough. She's not used to dressing up, being feminine, demure, and submissive. She tries so hard to be the best bride she can, but that role doesn't feel natural for her. Mulan has a strong sense of responsibility to her family, and they want her to be a good bride, find a good match, and live a happy life. Keep in mind that while some of the themes we're going to talk about seem like they're old and that we've "been there, done that", Mulan came first.Īt the beginning of the song, we hear about Mulan's sadness at the realization that she's probably disappointed her parents: In many ways, I see the struggles that Mulan and Moana go through are very similar. This is a beautiful introspective song that covers a lot of themes we see frequently in more modern Disney movies, but Mulan was much earlier. This writeup is brought to you by depenultima61 Reflection
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