The former Trio in Studio Ghibli Style
Disney Princesses (Live Action) ↳ 2014 - 2020
The reunion with her mother-in-law, to Mulan's pleasant surprise, went on uneventfully. She was immediately dismissed to rest and prepared to see Shang whenever he would arrive in a few days.
Their marital bedroom was still the exact same way when they left. A few scrolls stacked neatly by the bedside, a pair of matching sleeping robes and Shang's comforting woodsy scent that fading into the smell of the room.
She threw herself, indulging on the feel of soft, cold silk against her skin. It felt like heaven― well, it should be, especially if she remembered the hard, itchy bed inside that cramped tent that filled with unpleasant men's odour mixed with sweat and alcohol. Not to mention the spaciousness, she could roll… flip… stretch her arms without worrying she would smack someone or end up in inappropriate entanglement with the male residence adjacent to her. Just like she did with Shang.
Shang. The name breathed a strange air and her heart clenched when she realized his spot on their bed was now a cold empty space. The bed suddenly felt lonely and too big without him. Dared she said she preferred the hard, thin mattress they shared this past week in Shang's tent. Mulan sniggered at her pathetic thoughts. How could she even arrive on that conclusion? And since when her life was all circling around him?
But however pathetic, she could only silently admit it to herself that deep down in her heart: she wanted him.
Not the Hot Captain Li, or Li Shang, the impossibly handsome, occasionally shirtless, broody and often authoritarian man she met that first day at Wuzhong Camp.
Just Shang, the surprisingly insecure man who was trying his best to be better, to be a dutiful son to the father he loved, a loyal soldier, and to be an aspirational leader to his recruits. The man who was laughably bad at social skills, and owned very limited communicative vocabulary like the worst kind of masculine cliche. A man who was unbelievably strict and authoritarian in his manner but owned a heart as soft as a feather.
And she was wholeheartedly, unreservedly, stupidly in love with him.
🐼✨🐯
Thursday Afternoon 🌹
happy china traditional valentines day~
This is very well said!!! @mulanxiaojie @marubien @thehumanishere
Disney seems to have a long-term plan to churn out live-action versions of its most popular animations, and Mulan is the latest of its projects. The live-action version of the Chinese legend is already getting us excited, but many people don’t know that an excellent live-action Mulan movie already exists, made by a Chinese studio.
Hua Mulan (sometimes translated as Mulan: Rise of a Warrior) is a 2009 film by director Jingle Ma. It tells the story of Hua Mulan, a young woman who goes to war instead of her aging father, and rises in the army’s ranks. It won many awards in China, and stars Wei Zhao as Mulan.
Disney’s Mulan wasn’t very favorably received in China when it was released, with audiences saying it was too different from the original legend, and too Westernized. Now would be a good time for the studio to make the film as globally appealing as it can be – and Hua Mulan is a perfect example of how to do our favorite female warrior justice.
Here are some things Hua Mulan got right, that Disney would do well to learn from.
Hua Mulan follows a plot that is more loyal to the original legend of Mulan, which states that she was a warrior for the Chinese army for over a decade. In the film, she even becomes a General, and retires with the nation’s respect, even after her identity as a woman is revealed.
Seeing Mulan lead thousands of men in Hua Mulan is a rare and empowering experience. Her struggles as a woman in a position of power, and the various dilemmas that come with commanding such a large number of people, are what bring intensity and meaning to the story. Mulan itself explored the concept of honor and femininity as well, but we only got a very small glimpse at the power that the legendary Mulan is said to have actually wielded.
While Disney may not want to make a movie that ventures too far from the family friendly by portraying a Mulan who goes to war too realistically (as in, showing her killing enemies), it would be great to see her rise in the ranks and revolutionize such a male-dominated space the way she is said to have done.
Hua Mulan does an excellent job of skirting the line between grim tragedy and friendly comedy. With thousands of extras, the battle scenes are as breathtaking and inspiring as they are horrifying. There’s a scene where Mulan counts the dog tags of all the fallen soldiers, and a considerable amount of time is spent exploring her despair and responsibility as the army’s struggle becomes more desperate. The emotional rawness of the story creates a very real, very flawed, yet very lovable Mulan – and takes audiences on an exploration of heroism, perseverance, and honor.
Of course, we can’t expect Disney to go all out with blood and grit – they’re bound to bring out Mushu, after all – but Disney prides itself on epic battles and fantastic special effects, and they’ll want to serve us war scenes that are as breathtaking and realistic as possible.
However, we’re all tired of grittiness for grittiness’ sake. Despite the heaviness of the more emotional scenes of Hua Mulan, there is sweetness and humor. The friendships in the army, much like those of Disney’s version, can be laugh-out-loud funny, and the scenes of Mulan’s struggle to preserve her male appearance are equally fun to watch.
After all, audiences won’t be going to see Mulan to see war and sadness – the animated version was fun and adventurous, and although it had somber moments, it still managed to keep things just lighthearted enough for us to not get too sad. With animation, that lightheartedness is an easier task; portraying war with real actors could prove a more difficult challenge.
In Hua Mulan, Mulan and Wentai’s relationship is beautiful, but it builds over a long period of time, and strengthens through their mutual respect as they both struggle to lead an army. Their love is based on that combination of trust built over time, and shared responsibility.
Shang and Mulan have what is possibly one of the best relationships Disney has ever come up with. Among the Disney ‘princesses’, Mulan and Shang probably have the greatest chemistry and story of all, and scenes from the animated film continue to be shipping fuel. Presumably, they’ll want to replicate this relationship in the new live-action version.
However, the animated film was sadly limited to only a few glimpses of the developing relationship. It would be amazing if we could see more of the friendship between Shang and Mulan (as Ping)… and how it becomes something more. It’s rare in a ‘princess’ movie to see romance begin with sincere friendship, and it’ll be interesting to see how they deal with the confusion regarding Mulan’s gender in both a funny and profound way.
There are some scenes that could do with a makeover, especially at the very end. Mulan’s final trick to kill Shan Yu– by dressing three soldiers in drag and having them attempt to distract him – is hilarious in the animation, but would come off as strange and unrealistic in a live-action movie, and perhaps even a little offensive.
Hua Mulan’s approach to defeating the enemy is a much more powerful one. Although it equals Mulan in stealth and cleverness, it involves very realistic strategy and power dynamics, and finally involves her making a deal that saves China through negotiation, rather than war – and making a terribly painful personal sacrifice.
Disney has a penchant for epic final battle scenes, but that isn’t what happens in either Mulan or Hua Mulan. In both cases, it’s Mulan’s cleverness that saves the day. It would be great to see that cleverness translated into a realistic solution, in the same way it does in Hua Mulan.
It’s not like Disney hasn’t subverted its own canon, after all. In Maleficient, it isn’t the prince’s kiss that lifts the spell. Disney could certainly benefit from giving Mulan a more epic finale, and perhaps one that does her legendary character justice.
Tigress(cover Mu Lan)
Po is such a mood
Sneak Peek: Bride and Prejudice Ch. 26
She heard the world around her buzzed in a distance, noises and various voice melting into the background. Mulan wasn’t scared to die, she had just escaped death and didn’t have time to even care about it anymore. But she was scared for her father, her brother and her grandmother, what this war would do to them.
"Ping!" Ling’s barely steady, high pitched voice alerted her. She squinted her eyes, struggling to keep her consciousness intact. In the background, she could hear his rapid yelling and incoherent dissonance.
"Ping....Oh god!" If it was even possible, his voice trembled and stress line taut his face.
“Ling?” she rasped, staring at him puzzled.
"No… no...no. You’re going to be fine. Please, stay with me.” There was a strange pleading edge that Mulan had never heard of him before.
“Breathe slowly! The help is on its way!"
“Ling, what… what h-happened?” she said, voice almost a whisper. Her question was answered by a piercing pain on her side, from her blurred peripheral vision, she could see a pool of blood forming where she was.
“You are…-” he gulped, unable to continue, watching the blood oozing from the gaping wound on her side. “You are going to be fine, Ping,” he repeated, letting his own words consoled his worry.
Her world went dark for a few seconds before Ling’s panic scream brought her back. She suddenly realized the grim reality ahead.
Death had never felt so real, so close and so…. Imminent.
“Ling,” she said with the vestige of her strength, guiding his hand to the hilt of her sword. “Please give this to my father. Tell him I’m sorry....”
“Please….please!” Ling pleaded. “Please don’t say that!”
"No… listen, Ling, I just wanted to say…. thank...thank you." Her voice broke, and she could feel the tears resurfacing. It wouldn’t be long before emotion fatigue consumed her. She had to get this out fast.
"Thank you for always… be…-being there…. for me. Thank you…. for being my friend and...and for protecting my secret. You’re like... l-like a brother to me, Ling. You and ….Chien-Po."
Her thought fled to her family, how would they react if they had to face two deaths in the same year. And… Mushu, how she wished she had a chance to thank him for his company during her dark days.
“But, Captain Li Shang…he is comi..-" Ling’s voice faded off as tears fell rapidly from his eyes.
She gasped as Ling said his name. Shang. The man that she promised to hold and cherish as long as she lived.
“He is … he is getting help, Mulan.” Ling exhaled heavily trying to kept the sob at bay. “Thanks to you. We’ve won. Don’t….don’t leave us yet,” he said, silently wiping away the drops sliding down his cheek with the back of his other hand.
Did he say, they won?
Mulan smiled. Regrets suddenly evaporated like morning dew under the heat of the sun. There were no words adequate to express the kind of relief that she felt.
But there was a closure to be made, a chapter to be closed—before she’s gone.
Happy brithday!Dear @ani-dragmire❤️
Thank you!!❤
Happy birthday @ani-dragmire
Some updates about Journey of a Warrior
First off, I would like to apologize to everyone for not being active on Tumblr lately, as most of my energy has gone into discord across a couple of servers, and, of course, writing. Compared to last year, I have made quite a bit of progress on my story (yes, I said story), I will explain in a bit, Don’t worry. But I will tell you that a lot of things concerning Journey has changed since my last post. The purpose of this post is to give you the round-up of update things, so you know, more or less, What to expect when I finally do post Journey of a warrior:
It’s a Tigress character study that takes place across various places of the franchise, ending at the end of Kung Fu Panda 1.
It will consist of four sections:
Section 1: The orphanage scene (original) posted here Section 2: Secrets of the Furious Five (where Tigress gets trained by Shifu to control her strength.) Section 3: Secrets of the scroll from Tigress point of view. Section 4: The first Kung Fu Panda movie from Tigress point of view. (possibly abridged to where certain scenes are highlighted to show highlights to her character.
What was originally a one-shot will be split up into a three-shot story due to how long it’s gotten, the chapter lineup is as follows:
Chapter 1: Section 1 and Section 2 (section 1 is already posted to my Tumblr)
Chapter 2: Section 3
Chapter 3: Section 4 (final section)
Note: I am planning to post the first two chapters when sections 2 and 3 have been completed, From there, I will post the final chapter at a later time when it’s completed. Remember that I will be posting Journey of a Warrior to both Fanfiction.net and A03, and the link to both of those will be posted here, and on discord in a couple of servers, so please watch out for it. I hope this post may have cleared up any confusion and questions that you may have. I look forward to posting it, and hearing what you guys think of it, reviews and feedback are very welcome, so I know how to improve for future writing endeavors. Thank you to everybody for your support for my story, it really helps me to keep writing, and I look forward to what you all have to say.
Tis the bicons :))