Did You Know In MULAN…

There is a definitive moment where the mood of the movie shifts. You will notice that there are a fair few musical numbers throughout the first part of the movie. This traditional Disney animation trope stops dead during “A Girl Worth Fighting For” When Mulan and the army stumble upon the burned village and lost battle which has caused the death of Shang’s father. This helps to shift the tone of the movie to being more serious from that moment on as the character’s face the realities of war, with no musical numbers popping up from then on.

Movie: Mula

#Shorts #MovieFacts #DidYouKnow

[myladynaynay]

The meaning of the song changes when Mulan finds that doll, too; They're no longer fighting for a romantic fantasy, they're fighting for the little girl they were too late to save.

[nationalinstituteofcheese]

Also it shows them that war isn’t about fame or fortune. It’s about protecting those who can’t protect themselves

[meganhash]

Plus, the little girl's doll from the beginning of the movie shows that SHE'S the girl worth fighting for, along with all of the other innocents who lost their lives

[MemeAMillion]

Mulan imo was a masterpiece and was a huge part of my childhood

[TrickyHobbitBitxh]

Earlier on, the villain Sheng Mu menacingly says they should return a little girls lost doll to her, resulting in this scene. So the stop doesn't just transfer the tone of the movie, it transfers the meaning of the phrase. "A girl worth fighting for" stops being a safe damsel back home and becomes this little girl, and all the innocent citizens who are ravaged by the war.

[battlesister]

Mulan also gave back the doll to a little girl from the boys messing with her at the beginning of the movie, right when she was still preparing to visit the matchmaker. Now the second half Mulan couldn't give back the doll to the other little girl from the village ravaged by war, right after 'A Girl Worth Fighting For' finished playing.

Man those parallels and the timing absolutely kicked me in the feels, asides from the entire scene. I still say Mulan was arguably the best 'Disney' Princess movie ever.

[KlyosXA]

"A girl worth fighting---"
The dead silence that followed was really jarring. I remember the theater being completely silent until the Palace rescue.

[unclefranklin]

Funny that few people notice that the final battle of the movie becomes comedic again.

[thomasparsons]

I love how it applies to both the goofy characters and the serious ones like Shang and Mulan. Shang has one of the most popular songs in the movie, but even he doesn’t have the will to sing again after seeing battle for the first time.

[brenkrasmer]

The awesome part about that to me was that everyone was singing about a wife to come home to as the girl worth fighting for.

The most poignant symbol of the shot of the burned village? A little girl's doll. A girl... Worth fighting for.

[SerotoninParadise]

And as I've seen from a different post, the moment they found that little doll is when they "found a girl worth fighting for". Instead of a typical beauty they were all singing about just moments before, they all wanted to protect the ones who couldn't protect themselves.
THAT is what made me love the animated Mulan over the live action, the live action only focused on culture appropriation and completely forgot the Disney magic the animation had.

[profanearcana]

It also shows off the little girl's doll. That's something I've always taken as them finding their girl worth fighting for - this little girl who was killed needlessly by the Huns.

[欧阳信-zq]

Fun fact: Mulan was actually very much supported by her family to go to the war, unlike they show in the movie

[beth]

The fact there is no music at the burnt village instead of tragic orchestration really resonates with the sombre and deafening reality check this scene called for. It gave me goosebumps then as it still does now as I reminisce it.

[Legoluke]

“No musical numbers happening from then on”

So we aren’t going to acknowledge the make a man reprise in the climax?

[_beans_]

“a girl worth fighting for” then at the end of the scene they show a little girls doll, … she’s the girl worth fighting for i’m gonna go cry myself to sleep

[zenith]

I love effective tonal shifts like this. Really captured how the soldiers who felt all heroic and badass lost their ego once they saw the evils of war

[ajinx]

Lets not forget that after they discover that they were too late, Mulan found a doll that belonged to one of the children and found herself a "girl worth fighting for"

[bigseven]

I love how the mood instantly shifts from fun to dead serious. I'll always remember that scene. How the reality of war is revealed and how it shows why they need to defend China.

[spiwolf]

"Mulan" has always been one of my favorite musicals. Not only for the song but because they know how and when to use singing.