Hero's Journey: Mulan By: Kate Gonçalves
Introduction:
- Takes place during the times of ancient China.
- Mulan's parents are always telling her that she must marry someone who will bring great honor to their family.
- When the day that she is supposed to meet the matchmaker (the person who matches her up with a husband) she gets a small transformation to look like a beautiful bride. All she needs to do now is conduct a flawless interview
- Unfortunately, it does not go as planned. Her supposedly "lucky" cricket causes her to make the matchmaker angry. Furious, the matchmaker tells her that she will never find a husband. Hearing this news makes Mulan very sad because all she wants to do is make her family proud.
Part I: The Departure
Call to adventure: Her father, Fa Zhou, is called to fight in war against the Huns because they have invaded China and the Chinese Army needs at least one man from each family to fight. Mulan is an only child and is a girl, so her father must go. Mulan is devastated that her father has to go because he is still wounded from the last battle.
Crossing the Threshold: At night while everyone was sleeping, Mulan sneaks into her parents room and takes her father's armor and battle sword and cuts her hair short so that she can disguise herself as a man. Mulan goes to the training camp to get ready to fight in the war.
Part II: The Initiation
Challenges: Mulan has to fool the other guys that she is getting trained with, especially Captain Li Shang because he is the one who is training her for battle. If they find out that she is a girl, they could kill her or send her home. Mulan must become stronger and faster like the other men in order to blend in and avoid the consequences of her actions.
Supernatural Helper: Mulan's supernatural helpers were Mushu and her ancestors (ghosts). Mushu is a dragon that helps Mulan throughout her training and fighting in the war. He is sent by Mulan's ancestors to guide her and bring her home safe.
Special Weapon: Before Mulan left to the training camp, she took her father's sword that he used when he was in battle.
The Abyss: Mulan and the rest of the people that were training with her are now needed in battle because the other warriors all died. Mulan and her the troops come in contact with the Huns. Mulan fires a cannon and it causes an avalanche, which buries all of the Huns except for Shan-Yu, their leader. Right before the avalanche covers him, Shan-Yu takes out his sword and cuts Mulan's side. Mulan and her troops are able to get out in time before the Avalanche buries them. Mulan then faints and a doctor comes and treats her wounds. That is when they find out that she is a girl. Shang gets mad and instead of killing her because of what she has done, he decides to just leave her there alone.
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The Transformation: Mulan notices that Shan-Yu and his troops did not die in the Avalanche, and runs after Shang to tell him. Mulan tells them that Shan-Yu is still alive but they do not believe her. Shan-Yu shows up in the city and captures the emperor and tries to kill him. Before he gets the chance, Mulan comes up with a plan and is able to stop Shan-Yu and kill him, saving the emperor.
Part III: The Return
The return home: The. Emperor and everyone in China is very thankful for Mulan because she killed Shan-Yu. The Emperor decides to thank her by giving her the sword of Shan-Yu and the emperor's crest to show her family what she has done for him and what she has done for China.
Mastery of two worlds: Mulan's parents always wanted her to be the perfect girl and bride, but after going to the matchmaker, they realized that she is not perfect. When Mulan brought home the crest and sword, her father was so proud and thankful of her that he did not care about the awards that emperor gave her. He was happy that she was safe and that he had the greatest gift in the world: having her as his daughter!