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Joanna Shin
11/7/15
Professor Dickey
CWS Essay #3 Film
When people watch films they watch them because they are enjoyable. They do not
usually watch it to analyze it to see why the characters are the way they are or what they
symbolize. Two classic Disney films, The Hunchback of the Notre Dame and Mulan, will be
explored. Both films have strong female characters as well as strong male characters in
extenuating circumstances who are being persecuted based on their gender or race and these
movies show how they are portrayed like the ideal man or woman.
Disney is good at portraying females as strong and confident like Esmeralda from
Hunchback of the Notre Dame and Mulan from Mulan. Esmeralda is a headstrong, confident, and
sassy woman who is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. Phoebus said “You fight
almost as well as a man!” Esmeralda responded with: “Funny, I was going to say the same thing
about you!” (Hunchback of the Notre Dame). Esmeralda refuses to be a damsel in distress; when
she was surrounded by several guards in one scene she managed to outwit all of them and have
them all on the ground in a matter of seconds. In the Hunchback of the Notre Dame, the gypsies
are in danger from the vicious and cruel Judge Claude Frollo. Throughout the entire movie
Esmeralda continues to stand up for her people and everyone she deems needs protecting like
Quasimodo. “You mistreat this poor boy the same way you mistreat my people. You speak of
justice, yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help!” (Hunchback of the Notre Dame).
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Mulan is of the same mindset. She sets out to protect the ones she loves by taking her
father’s armor and proceeds to take his place in the army so he would not have to fight. Mushu
says it the best. “The truth is we’re both frauds. Your ancestors never sent me, they don’t even
like me. But you risked your life to help people you love. I risked your life to help myself. At
least you had good intentions” (Mulan). In China, women had to serve their fathers and later
their husbands. They had no say except in child rearing in which “they did have some greater
freedom.” (Chinasage). This is what Mulan grew up knowing that if she does not have a husband
