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Disney does gender >> Talking sex-role reversal with the lead voice in Mulan
Beautifully animated and with several inspired musical numbers, Mulan manages to infuse family entertainment with issues of gender identity. Disney has also gone to great lengths to show racial sensitivity, ensuring that all of the Chinese characters in the film are voiced by actors of Chinese descent. The Mirror invited McGill's only transsexual professor, Olivia Jensen, who often speaks out on issues of concern to the transgendered community, to interview Mulan's lead voiceover, actress Ming-Na Wen, perhaps best remembered for The Joy Luck Club. What follows are highlights of their conversation. Olivia Jensen: I guess my own sense of Mulan, first of all, is that the film reaches beyond the traditional accounts of the Mulan story. I think it actually does exploit something of the world of crossdressing and transgender fashion and I would like to know what you have to say about that... Ming-Na Wen: Disney adhered completely to the original story--it's just funny that now there are contemporary references to crossdressing because, you know, it is more known now. But I don't know, I really don't know how to answer that question. OJ: Well, let me suggest, first of all, the last line of the opening song, "When will my reflection show who I am inside?" My goodness, this is the complaint of so many transgendered people. And I think it certainly comforts those of us who are transgendered watching the film. MW: That's great! And I think it is so brave of Disney to go forward and be part of modern times and bring up the issue. When I first heard one of the characters mention crossdressing, I was like 'Wow! That's so cool!' It's not only about crossdressing or transsexuals, it is also dealing with the issue of what we are on the outside never really reflecting who we feel we are on the inside, whether or not you are a straight person, you know, homosexual, anything... I never had role models where Asians were considered a look that you would want when you were growing up in this society. So when people looked at me I was always considered a foreigner, even though I felt completely American. So I had to live up to what an ideal woman would be--somebody blonde and buxom and long-legged. And I knew I could never be that. With Mulan, you know, it's the same thing. She grew up in a society where a woman was supposed to look and act a certain way. She couldn't fit into that and it's funny that she felt more a part of a group by dressing up as a guy... because there was camaraderie in the army. And when she proved that she was able to achieve something beyond what they were able to do, then she was completely accepted. And we all hope that eventually what we do will be the thing that people will look at us for, rather than what we look like. OJ: Or even who we are. You know, I'm more than just a number of roles and jobs. There's a line--I don't remember if it was yours or not--but it basically addresses just what you have said: "Maybe when I looked into the mirror, I would see someone worthwhile." I think it is a shame that so many young women might have felt, at a time, that the role of a woman was not worthwhile. Did you have any sense that you were seeking, as the actress in the film, a worthwhileness for Mulan? MW: I felt very close to her in many ways. I never felt like I fitted growing up in white suburbia in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. So those elements and the love for her parents, that's a very strong thing for me. These were all things that I completely connected to... and also following my own heart. If I had listened to everybody else about who I should have been, I would have been a doctor or a lawyer by now, but I followed my own heart and became an actress. So it's all those elements about Mulan that I really connect to. OJ: When you were preparing for the role, did you receive any coaching at all about "speaking guy"? MW: (laughs) You know, I'm a pretty good tomboy and I've had training in changing my voice, so it was just really a matter of finding a voice where she would still be recognized as Mulan. At the same time, it was about what Mulan would imagine a boy to sound like. OJ: I was pulled into the movie very quickly, apart from those few lines where you try to sound rather macho and gruff. But then you move beyond that and I think Mulan becomes an absolutely credible soldier. I think that's quite surprising because she isn't a gruff and aggressive person. Did you feel empowered by a role like that? MW: I wish I could be her! One of my favourite questions asked about Mulan is, "How do I feel about its impact?" For me, I just hope it will be well liked and it seems to be right now. That it will be something where Asians all over can really take a sense of pride in having a very positive thing represented for the Asian community. OJ: That's very nice because I think some of the rest of us, we expropriate a little bit of the pride in the simple and positive depiction of someone who is living, to some extent, a crossgender role. MW: Exactly... and bringing that up as an issue that is fun and positive and not something that you should be judgmental about. OJ: I rather hope that six-year-old boys and girls are driving home with their mummies and daddies and asking: "Daddy, what is a crossdresser?", "Mamma, when will we see 'the dragshow on the road'?" MW: Yes. OJ: I have one other question: it must have been very close to the time of doing the voiceovers that Eddie Murphy was arrested with a transsexual prostitute... MW: I don't think I should answer the question. I've never even met the man. Mulan opens Friday, June 19. For more information about transgender issues, Olivia Jensen's website address is: http://travesti.geophys.mcgill.ca/~olivia/. Email: olivia@transsexy.geophys.mcgill.ca
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The latest animated feature from Disney Studios is already raising some serious eyebrow. Mulan is based on the popular Chinese legend of the same name, about a young woman who realizes that if her ailing father goes to war, he will undoubtedly die in battle. Instead, Mulan decides to pose as a man and goes to war in her father's place.