Kata Kita: Journal of Language, Literature, and Teaching
Vol. 13 No. 3 (2025)

Defying Expectations: Gender Roles and the Balance of Masculine and Feminine Traits in Disney’s Mulan (2020)

Vanessa (Petra Christian University)
Jenny Mochtar (Petra Christian University)



Article Info

Publish Date
30 Dec 2025

Abstract

This study analyses Disney’s live-action Mulan (2020), focusing on Mulan’s defiance of traditional roles. This movie highlights the theme of female empowerment as she frees herself from conventional female roles. This study examines Mulan’s behaviors that are inconsistent with the expected gender roles, leading to her liberation by embracing both her feminine and masculine traits. This analysis employs two main theories: The social Role theory, which focuses on gender roles, and Confucianism as a supporting concept, to analyze Mulan’s behaviors that are inconsistent with traditional roles. The second one is the Bem Sex Inventory, which identifies the masculine and feminine traits that Mulan embodies, incorporating Giddens’ concept of agency to analyze the ways Mulan liberates herself from the expected roles. The finding reveals that Mulan’s defiance comes from her desire to remain true to herself as she liberates herself by embracing her feminine and masculine traits.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

sastra-inggris

Publisher

Subject

Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

Description

Kata Kita is a journal dedicated to the publication of students research in the areas of literature, language, and teaching. In the study of language, it covers issues in applied linguistics such as sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, pragmatics, sylistics, corpus ...