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[–]Thatstealthygal 35 insightful - 2 fun35 insightful - 1 fun36 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

Well she DOES pose as a man. However, she's not saying she IS a man. She's a girl who dresses as a man in order to take her father's role as a soldier, both because Girls Aren't Allowed and also for her own protection. I don't understand why people find that so hard to understand. Posing as a man is not the same as adopting a male identity by preference because you think you are really a man inside.

[–][deleted] 20 insightful - 2 fun20 insightful - 1 fun21 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Isn't part of her motivation also the fact that she doesn't want her aging father to go off to war when he was clearly in no shape to fight? Mulan's crossdressing wasn't a matter of gender identity, she's clearly uncomfortable and awkward when pretending to be a man the entire time. The whole movie was meant to show that girls and women could also be physically strong and challenge sexist gender roles and stereotypes. At the end she even sheds the false male persona. It's like they didn't even watch it to the end.

[–]Feather 19 insightful - 1 fun19 insightful - 0 fun20 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah, and the entire theme of the movie is how she's worried they'll find out who she TRULY is (a woman) and also about the unusual strengths granted to her by being a woman (like figuring out clever ways to match men in battle).

[–]C3P0 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Isn't that what transgender people are doing though? They know they are merely pretending for some finite period of time (it certainly didn't start when they were born).

I'll expound that transgender people don't actually believe they are the opposite sex. That would as preposterous as believing one has gills or flippers attached to their body.