A Study of the Image of Legendary Chinese Woman：Hua Mulan’s Cross-Cultural and Cross-Gender Transformation

• Main Authors: KE, CHUEH-JU, 柯珏如
• Other Authors: Chien, Ying-Ying
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/qe2593

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 應用華語文學系 === 104 === The animation The Legend of Mulan published by YSY digital entertainment firm, the animation Mulan produced by Walt Disney, the novel The Woman Warrior written by Maxine Hong, Kingston and the musical play Mulan (《木蘭少女》) written by Pao-Chang Tasi are the research targets of this thesis. The thesis sorts out the evolution of the Mulan stories to analyze their transformation and to understand their development in different eras. The thesis also compares different types of Mulan stories in terms of their plot architecture, culture, and the image of Mulan to discuss the differences of Mulan’s cross-culture and cross-generation images. Mulan is a well-known folk story without official written record in the history, so the existence of Mulan is still in debate. However, this allows readers and adapters to interpret the story with their own annotations. Although people are familiar with the legend of Mulan, every individual can have his or her own interpretation of the story. The image of Mulan has been depicted differently in dramas, movies and novels due to the differences in cultures, customs, and the eras they were filmed or written. This thesis discusses the similarities and differences between The Legend of Mulan and Mulan in terms of how cultural differences affect the contents of the story at different times. The images of Mulan depicted in these two films are compared with the traditional image of Mulan, so it also explores how the ideology of Chinese women has transformed over time under the influence of western culture and its possible causes in The Woman Warrior. Another focus of this thesis is on the gender identity gay issues included into Mulan (《木蘭少女》). Overall, this thesis analyzes The Legend of Mulan, Mulan, The Woman Warrior and Mulan (《木蘭少女》). Looking from the perspectives of comparative literature, migration research, gender studies and queer theory, the present research gradually reveals the hidden messages encrypted in the aforementioned four Mulan stories and the image of Mulan’s cross-culture and cross-gender transformation.