Post by famulan on Feb 15, 2010 16:03:50 GMT -5
~~~Welcome to Disney Uncut!~~~
~~~You Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me~~~
Character Name Mulan
Movie Character Appears In Mulan
~~~Who I am Inside~~~
What is your character's history? Are they a hero, or a villain, a sidekick or guardian? What has happened to them in their lives to make them the way they are today?
Born to Fa Zhou and Fa Li, Mulan was loved and adored much more than any son could have been. Despite not having a boy to raise in his footsteps, her father could not have been happier and did not want any more children. He cherished his daughter more than anything; she was his precious blossom, who was taking just a little longer to bloom than most. He assured her time and time again that she would be the most beautiful of them all once she did bloom, and inside he knew that one day she would bring honor to him.
Mulan always knew she wasn’t like the other girls. It wasn’t that she was weird, just different. Not that being different was always the best thing, but it wasn’t necessarily bad either. She was quite content with her unique self, and she was fine not having a whole lot of friends, preferring to be more of a loner. She was more family-oriented anyway, enjoying spending time with her parents and grandmother. The young girl wasn’t always perfect either, embarrassing herself in public on more than a few occasions. Always taking it with a small smile and a lowered gaze, and always receiving a father shaking his head with a small laugh, though never mad at her.
When it came to being delicate, poised, and refined, this was definitely Mulan’s weak spot. Which was why after she heard about going to the Matchmaker, she was utterly terrified. The girl had always wanted to bring honor to her family – her father especially – more than anything. She hated displeasing him and not living up to his expectations, although the expectations she set for herself were much higher than his actual ones. Embarrassing him and being a disgrace was something she was sick and tired of, so she vowed to everything in her power to make sure she didn’t mess up completely with the Matchmaker.
Which meant it was perfectly acceptable to write some notes on her arm in case she forgot something. It wasn’t cheating; they were simply reminders. Helpers, per say. And it wasn’t like she didn’t need the help. Loopholes and making things easier for herself – like her contraption with the bone attached in front of the dog to have him help her with chores – came naturally to her, and she was positive she had inherited that from her grandmother. Of course all the cheating in the world couldn’t help her if she was late. Which she nearly was, but thankfully her mother had hired the best of the best to help Mulan clean up into a respectable bride.
Surprised at how she looked, she calmed down once her mother seemed to brighten at the sight of her. Her mother and grandmothers’ smiles eased her worry, and with the ‘lucky’ cricket she started to feel that maybe everything was going to work out alright. But of course, nothing could be so easy when it came to Fa Mulan. Everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong, including a very soaked, very embarrassed, very much on fire, and very livid Matchmaker. Mulan really did feel like a disgrace, and had to hide her face from her father upon returning home, not wanting to see how disappointed her would be. Why couldn’t she do anything right?
Although her father wasn’t angry and it seemed life would go on, the Fa family was hit with another blow when the Imperial forces arrive, requesting her father to once again join the army and fight for China. Knowing her father to be partly disabled, she runs out and begs Shi Fu to let her father stay, which only angers her father by her dishonoring him. Later that night at dinner, Mulan once again speaks up, trying to persuade her father to not go. He has already served the country once, and he’s much too fragile now, it just wasn’t fair. Her father gets angered again, and his temper and hurtful words make her leave the table and rush outside. This is where she realizes what she has to do…
She takes her father’s armor, cutting her hair with his sword, gets the family horse Khan and runs away from home to serve in her father’s place. Along the way she runs into Mushu, a guardian sent from her ancestors to help, and Cri-Kee, her ‘lucky’ little friend. Upon arriving at the camp, she’s not taken in too kindly from the men. They do mistake her for a man at least, which was her initial goal, and she adopts the name Ping as her own after she is asked by the handsome, yet very harsh, Captain Li Shang.
At first, training is a killer. Mulan fears she cannot make it because she continually struggles and messes up, but her friends Mushu, Cri-Kee, and horse Khan are very supportive and root her on. When Shang tells her that she is not suited for the rage of war, Mulan is hurt, but determined more than ever to prove herself, not being one to give up so easily. She does the task that no man had been able to do, make it to the top of the tall pole to retrieve the arrow while being weighed down by two brass amulets. Once the good Captain wakes up that morning, Mulan tosses down the arrow to greet him with a good morning present. He lets her stay, and the troops are inspired by her (or ‘his’) hard work, that they all start improving and are finally ready for war.
The three men, who had been giving her the hardest time since she first met them, decided it was time they get off to a new start with Ping. Chien-Po, the largest yet most kindhearted of the three was easy to warm up to, his easy-going nature was contagious. Yao, the most brute and brash of the three was rough around the edges, but Mulan found his quick temper and sarcastic attitude quite amusing, once it wasn’t aimed at her. And Ling, the silly, skinny, shrimpy man was quite the character. She wasn’t sure how he had made it into the army at first either, but his loyalty and Ling-like-‘charm’ were hard to ignore. He was sweet, in a strange way, and his terrible jokes were somehow quite funny. Once you got to know him, he was difficult not to like.
Disaster struck when the men found the village, and Captain Li Shang’s father, destroyed. It was up to their troop now to warn the Emperor and take out the Huns. Unfortunately, even as Ping, Mulan still had awful luck – the cannon (in the cart that she was in charge of, of course) was accidentally shot off by Mushu, revealing their position to the Hun Army. They outnumbered them terribly, but when all hope seemed lost Mulan grabs the last cannon and instead of firing it at Shan Yu (which really, with all of his men still running towards the small army, what would that have accomplished?) fired it at the mountain, which in turn caused a gigantic avalanche. Doing much more damage than they could have hoped for, Ping saves the day once more by saving Li Shang from falling to his doom. Unfortunately, Mulan had been hurt by Shan Yu, and moments after their supposed victory she loses consciousness.
After gaining consciousness again she almost wished she hadn’t, finding out that the truth had been revealed, and that she really was a woman impersonating a soldier. The penalty was death, but because she had saved Shang’s life, he spared her life in return. Leaving her alone in the snow-filled mountain, Mulan realizes why really stayed there so long. Honestly, when Shang had dismissed her from the camp that day, she could have left and returned home safely. But that wasn’t enough for her; not only did she want to save her father; she wanted to prove that she could do something right for a change. Her time would come soon though, because once deciding on heading back home, Shan Yu and a depleted number of his men popped back out of the snow like it was just a minor setback. Mulan knew she had to warn the others before it was too late.
Unfortunately, being a woman again was getting her nowhere. Nobody would listen to her, not even Shang who said that he had trusted Ping. Feeling a bit disheartened and almost betrayed from his lack of trust, she has to take matters into her own hands. Which he probably regretted not listening, because shortly afterwards the Huns revealed themselves, and Shan Yu took the Emperor hostage. Luckily the friendships she had made with the gang of three came through for her, not only believing her the entire time but wanting to help. Shang eventually did join up with them, too. Dressing them up as women – ironic how that worked out – they snuck into the palace, fooled the men guarding, and kicked some serious Hunny-buns!
Making their way to the Emperor, Shan Yu turns on Shang once he is defeated and blames it on him, but Mulan reveals herself to the Hun leader. He advances on her, but she gets away, looking for whatever she can to aid her in her plan, which she basically made up as she went. Great minds think alike, and good thing Mushu had one because while Mulan kept the angry Hun busy, he was able to get the fireworks. Shan Yu had no idea who he was messing with, and was probably very surprised that all his plans had been foiled by a woman. The great and fearful Hun leader was defeated, by both Ping and Mulan.
Of course, both Ping and Mulan also had to face the consequences of all that she had done. Thankfully, while some of the things she did were terrible, the fact that she saved the Emperor as well as the entire country kind of balanced it all out. She was awarded with Shan Yu’s sword, the Crest of the Emperor, and all the honor for her family she could possibly have gotten. It was all more than a young woman, or any female for that matter, had ever received before. Mulan was a warrior, a soldier, and a true hero.
Of course, all heroes have to go home eventually, and she knew it was her time to return to her family. At first she was afraid her father would be upset with her, so she made sure she showed him the gifts from the Emperor first. She had no reason to be worried though, and Fa Zhou pulled his daughter into a tight hug to show her how much he missed her, how much he really loved her and was worried about her, telling her that she was the greatest gift of all. It was wonderful to be home, safe and with a very proud father and family. She guessed that it could only be just as great for Mushu, and she knew Khan and Cri-Kee were happy to be home. It was also a pleasant surprise to have Li Shang show up, returning her father’s helmet. All in all, everything finally seemed to be falling into place for the Fa family. She had finally proven that she could do something right, and what a something it was. Fa Mulan had brought honor to them all.
Describe your character's personality. What are their strengths and weaknesses, what are their passions? What qualities do they have that are good or bad?
Mulan is definitely anything but a girly-girl of any kind. It’s not that she hates the idea of it altogether, it’s just she’d prefer not to dress up here and gossip over there. She’s quite content with sitting under a cherry blossom tree to be alone with her thoughts. And yes, she actually does have thoughts, despite how it may be looked down upon. She’s quite clever; not exactly book smart, more along the lines of ‘street-smart’ and resourceful. She knows how to get what she needs, and will creatively use any means she can think of. This includes cheating, using loopholes, telling half-truths, and talking her way out of situations until people forget what the problem was. She prides herself on being able to think her way out of most situations.
She has never been one who’s afraid to speak her mind, no matter how controversial her opinion might be. She's very opinionated, and when she feels strongly about something, she’ll do anything and everything in her power to do what is right. She'll say things before she thinks them through, sometimes making her seem like an idiot. Yet that never stops her from telling others what she thinks. Though she has a strong – sometimes narrow – mind, she is willing to listen to what others have to say. However, it has to make a lot of sense for her to change her mind, and even then it's iffy. She doesn't like to change her mind because it shows that she was wrong.
She prefers to do things by herself, and only herself. She feels like if she accepts help, people will think she’s weak and useless, and she’s had enough of feeling like that. She just doesn’t feel like she’s accomplished something if she only did half the work. This being said, she does know there’s a limit to what she can do, though she pushes it all the time. If she gets herself into something she knows she will never be able to do, she will grudgingly accept help… only after she does as much as she can by herself, first.
Mulan is not exactly a delicate flower in any case; she’s actually quite clumsy, much to her dismay. But she has a heart of gold. She’ll do anything she can to protect those she truly loves and cares about, not minding risking her own life in the process. She just wants her father and family to be happy with her, to bring honor instead of failure. She likes talking to people, and feels bad when others are upset. She tries her best to make the people around her happy, helping them in whatever ways she can. She’s not the best with comforting, so don’t be offended if she’s a bit awkward, or gives a small pat on the arm. She’s only returning to you what makes her happy; and to Mulan, the smallest gestures are what warm her heart the most.
~~~That's How You Know~~~
Give us a small sample of how you will play your character. Please don't copy a scene from their movie, and give us at least three paragraphs.
Although she had ran away from home, impersonated a soldier, endured the freezing snow, went up against the leader of the Hun Army and defeated him, and saved the Emperor and the entire country, there was still one thing Mulan feared more than anything. The Matchmaker. After the whole saving China thing, the cruel, calculating woman had decided to give Mulan one last chance to change her mind, or impress her, or something. Mulan wasn’t exactly sure what the woman wanted from her, all she knew was that the woman had requested her presence at noon, sharp. Which was only about an hour away…
Gulp.
Glancing at herself in the mirror she made a face. The white paint always struck her as ridiculous, especially on her. But as silly as it may have looked, nothing compared to how horrible it actually felt. The white powder mixed with the sticky paste had an oily, waxy feel to it. Applying it to the face with the bamboo brush had been time consuming, especially since every stroke she made with it made her pause with an uneasy shiver. Pretending to be a porcelain doll was surprisingly much more difficult than pretending to be a warrior man. Not that that was something she particularly wanted to go around sharing.
Without looking, she reached her hand out to get the small brush with the red lipstick, her slender fingers misjudging how close it actually was and knocking it over, making it roll across the desk it had been on. “Aiya,” she yelped, reaching for it as it rolled off of the desk, just missing it. “Of course,” she mumbled to herself. Nothing could ever be easy for her. Kneeling down slowly, since she was tightly wrapped in her dress already, she outstretched her fingers once again to grab the brush. Before she could grasp it, she heard little footsteps scratching at the floor tapping towards her, and before she knew it her little dog had the brush in his mouth.
“Little brother!” Tilting his head at his owner for a quick moment, as soon as she made a movement to grab the brush he ran back a few spaces. By the look in his eyes, and thanks to the movement she had made, she could tell that the dog now thought this was a game and she was playing with him. “Little Brother,” she lightly whined, taking a step forward which only made him dash to the other side of the room. “You little thief…” She shook her head, and despite her time limit she couldn’t help but find the pup adorable. One ear was up, the other down, his behind up in the air with his tail wagging wildly. If Mulan had played with him a little more early in the day, maybe he wouldn’t be so restless.
“Okay, I’ll make you a deal. If I make it out alive at the Matchmaker’s, you won’t have to feed the chickens later – I’ll give you a bone, free of charge.” She slowly began approaching the dog. Of course he didn’t exactly understand everything she was saying, but the soft sound of her voice was putting him a less-energetic-and-ready-to-run stance. “Now come on, come here Little Brother. Give me the brush. That’s it, that’s a good boy… Aha!” Success! She snapped the brush back, nose wrinkling a bit at the dog drool all over it. Letting out a sigh of relief, she reached her hand up to wipe across her forehead, only to freeze the moment she made contact. A silent gasp escaped her as she realized what she had just done, slowly making her way towards the mirror, afraid to actually look into it. And as soon as she peered up into it, there was a nice hand print smeared right in the middle of her forehead smearing her white paint. “…Oops.”
~~~You and Me Together We'll Be~~~
Why this character? What draws you to them, what makes you want to play them? Do you have anything in common with them?
What draws me to Mulan is her entire story, really. Putting herself in her father’s place so he wouldn’t get hurt and risking her own life is simply remarkable. The fact that she knows she’s not the perfect young woman for the matchmaker to work with, nor the most perfect warrior of all time and she STILL does her best to prove herself amazes me! The one thing I think I do have in common with her is probably her temperament. Oh and I have been known to write some notes on my arm, in case I forget something. =3
What would you like your custom title to be? This can be anything you like in reference to your character and will appear under your name.
The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.
Who else do you play here? Jane Porter
~~~A Star is Born~~~
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Tell us a little bit about yourself. Well since I haven’t exactly posted yet with Jane, Nani mentioned something about a character swap. So if Mulan’s accepted, she could be my first character and once I’m done with the twenty IC posts, then I could bring in Jane. Not sure if that’s how it works but talk to Nani! xD
How did you find us? Nani, Kris, et Emz!
What do you think of the site so far? It’s loverly! You’re all wonderful. ^^
