Mulan and Frozen are Disney musical movies that portray contrasting themes, plots, characters, and settings. Mulan takes place in ancient China and tells the story of Fa Mulan disguising herself as a man to serve in the imperial army instead of her elderly father. Frozen is set in Norway and follows Princess Elsa, who has ice powers and accidentally freezes her kingdom, leading her sister Anna to search for her. While both movies use music to convey emotions, the songs are expressed differently - Reflection in Mulan reflects Mulan's desire to be herself, while Let It Go shows Elsa's freedom in isolation.

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: ONG JIA HUI
STUDENT ID NO: 0317752
FILMS SELECTED: MULAN & FROZEN
WORD COUNT: 1050 WORDS
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 19TH SEPTEMBER 2014

2. Movies come in various genres such as thriller, comedy, fiction and many more.
However, the one that I find to be the most interesting is none but movies of the musical genre
as the songs are interwoven into the narrative, often accompanied by dancing to express their
feelings and emotions. Disney movies are said to be one of those that are well versed and
conversant in the musical genre, such as the popular High School Musical, Aladdin,
Pocahontas and many more. However, despite having the same genre, each movie stood out in
their own way as each has their own respective selling points. Hence, I would like to talk about
the movie Mulan and Frozen as they both showed such contrasting themes, plots, characters,
and settings.
Albeit musical theme was used in both movies to further enhance and elaborate the
feelings and temperament of the characters, there still lies the differences in how the songs
were expressed and portrayed. At the kickoff of Mulan, the song Reflection was sung in a
melancholic way by Mulan to show how she had to conceal her true self and transform into
someone which she was not comfortable with in order to please her family and to meet the
social’s expectation of a young lady. This can be shown through the verse ‘what if I were truly
to be myself, I would break my family’s heart’ and ‘why is my reflection someone I don’t know’
(Motion Pictures, 1998). In Frozen however, Elsa sang the song Let It Go in a cheerful and
carefree manner, of which such demeanor was seldom seen when she was still in the castle in
Arendelle. She was more at ease being in the ice castle she constructed as she can rest assure
that the people around her would not be hurt even if her powers were to go viral, and for her to
finally be free of the judgmental stares by her people. The phrase ‘let it go, let it go, turn away
and slam the door’, ‘and the fears once controlled me, can’t get to me at all’ (Motion Pictures,
2013) from the song further proved that she was finally letting go of what had been gnawing
at her heart.

3. The plot of both movies are very different to begin with. The movie Mulan started off
with its protagonist, Mulan, taking her elderly and physically injured father’s place in the
Chinese army in order to honour her family. In doing so, she had to disguise herself as a man
and went through various physical trainings. Even after being exposed as a woman, she strived
to fight for the country, saved the emperor and restored her family’s honour. On the other hand,
Frozen is a story germane to two princesses and sisters. Elsa, the elder sister, is gifted with the
power to create ice and snow out of thin air. However, she inadvertently hurt her younger sister,
Anna with her powers when they were young. Haunted by the fear of hurting others, Elsa
started living her life in isolation by locking herself in up till the day of coronation years later.
Despite the precautions she made, she unintentionally froze the entire kingdom after getting
into an argument with Anna. Elsa fled and built herself an isolated ice castle where she can
finally be herself once again. Later on, Anna went on a journey to look for her sister and showed
her love and convinced her to bring summer back to the kingdom.
Even though the central characters in both movies are females, they can be easily
identified as they were of different family background and personality. The main character in
Mulan, being Fa Mulan, was an ordinary farm girl and the only child of Fa Zhou, a former hero
of the imperial army. She was an outspoken, forward thinking and a free-spirited woman who
did not want to fit into the cultural and traditional mold of what society expected women to be.
Instead, she wanted to be appreciated and respected for her abilities. Meanwhile, Elsa was
anything but ordinary. She was a child born with supernatural power where she can conjure
snow and ice. Also, she was the elder daughter of the monarch of Arendelle, making her the
legitimate heir to the throne three years after the death of her father. As a queen living in
seclusion for years, Elsa was shy and reserved towards people in general, yet regal and well-

4. experienced in poise and grace. She put a lot of pressure upon herself and tried hard to be a
capable and competent queen to her people.
The setting of Mulan took place during the Han Dynasty in China, which was obviously
shown with the presence of The Great Wall, The Forbidden City and the invasion of the Huns
and Xiong clans. Also, the use of fireworks in the early ages and the occurrence of Chinese’s
foot binding culture in the movie served as further prove that the event took place in China due
to its culture and history. Furthermore, as an ordinary farm girl, the homeland of the protagonist
was near to a large patch of paddy field where greeneries could be easily seen. On the contrary,
the setting of Frozen is in the kingdom of Arendelle set against a majestic Norway-inspired
backdrop. The Norwegian influence was reflected in the movie’s wintery landscape with snow-capped
mountain tops and deep fjords. Besides that, the characteristic Norwegian elements
such as the typical Scandinavian hairstyle with braided plaits was adorned by Elsa throughout
the movie, while the traditional Norwegian folk costume, the bunadand and the ancient stave
churches were also spotted. Aside from that, the home to Queen Elsa was the castle of
Arendelle which was a stone’s throw away from the sea where instead of greeneries, streaks of
blue could be seen.
In conclusion, although Mulan and Frozen are of the same genre, they portray very
contradicting themes, plots, characters and settings. However, musical movies from the old and
new era have a similar assortment, which is the amalgamation of singing and dancing by the
characters to portray the mood of the characters or flow of the story. Hence, musical movies
can be enjoyed by viewers of wide age range as they are usually more full of life and vivacious.

5. References
1. Musical Film. (n.d.). Retrieved on 17 September 2014,
from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1102784/musical- film
2. Frozen (2013). (n.d.). Retrieved on 18 September 2014, from
https://www.movieguide.org/reviews/frozen-2013.html
3. Devlin C. (2014). Disney’s ‘Frozen’ Breaks The Ice With Progressive Themes And
Characters. Retrieved on 18 September 2014, from
http://manitoumessenger.com/opinions/2014/03/09/disneys- frozen-breaks-the- ice-with-
progressive-themes-and-characters/
4. Mulan Vs The Legend Of Hua Mulan. (2011). Retrieved on 18 September 2014, from
http://dettoldisney.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/mulan-vs-the- legend-of-hua-mulan/
5. Paul. (2012). Disney Origins #1: Mulan. Retrieved on 18 September 2014, from
http://www.disgeek.com/disney-story-origins1
6. Wartick J.W. (2013) Mulan Among Us: Disney’s “Mulan” and Womanhood. Retrieved on
18 September 2014, from http://jwwartick.com/2013/03/11/mulan/
7. Snider E.D. (1998) Movie Review: Mulan. Retrieved on 18 September 2014, from
http://www.ericdsnider.com/movies/mulan/