I'll Make a Man out of You

Some of you may be wondering about this song and why I chose it for the site. It's from Mulan and one of T's favorites. I've spoken before about how I like Mulan better than almost all other disney characters. I'm less than thrilled with Ariel, the mermaid, who basically runs away from home at 16 to go and live with her boyfriend. Conversely, the Mulan story is this...

Mulan's father is permanently injured due to fighting in a previous war. When the Huns invade imperial China, he is once again conscripted into service. Mulan, fearing for her father, disguises herself as a boy and takes his place ...an offense that if discovered would "dishonor" the imperial army and call for her death.

This song plays when Mulan is in army bootcamp. She's failing miserably as she's not as fast nor as strong as the men. However, she learns that if she uses her intellect, she can compete with and be just as good. As the story progresses, Mulan proceeds to save all of Imperial China and the Emporer himself from the Huns, using her cunning and wit. While the words to this song may seem odd on a little girl's blog, when the song is put into the context of the movie, it takes on new meaning. The moral of the story is that Mulan doesn't have to "become a man", she is just as good, if not better, as a woman.

Besides, T running around the house using her princess bat like a ninja warrior...all 27 pounds of her...singing "Mister, I'll make a man out of you" is a riot.