Robert Chapman-Morales
As many know, the Telephone Game involves a group of people, usually in a circle, in which the first person whispers a specific phrase into the ear of the next person and so on until the last person hears the phrase. Surprisingly, the phrase usually changes considerably when the last person hears it. Similarly, oral stories are passed down from generation to generation and change considerably over time. These changes are significant as they display what remains constant and important to the story, as well as what a generation changes based on their values. Ballads, like oral stories, can change depending on who is printing or telling the story. Yet, we want to pay attention to what remains constant over time, even when different versions are produced. In Dianne Dugaw’s catalogue of 113 Warrior Women ballads, obviously that constant theme or motif is women who plan to go to war as men. In order to appreciate the importance of this motif as it occurs in the English ballads of the catalogue, it is beneficial to consider related examples of the warrior woman motif from other nations, cultures, genres, and historical periods. This short essay examines the ballad of Mulan, a Chinese warrior woman valorized in folk legend beginning as early as 568 C.E. (Lan 231), in which one can see that the theme of crossdressing has analogues in other cultures and time periods other than the that of Dugaw’s catalogue. Furthermore, this interest in crossdressing, given the lower-class audience of ballads, shows a desire to escape one’s station and construct one’s own identity outside of societal constraints.
First, it is important to understand the intended audience of the ballads in the catalogue ad compared to the Mulan audience. In Dugaw’s ballads, the primary audience is the English of the 17th and 18th Century, or a country that at the time was building an empire and attempting to dominate other existing cultures. In contrast, the ballad of Mulan “is believed to have originated as a folksong during a period of foreign domination that is marked by historians as one of cultural plurality” (Hsieh and Matoush 215). It is important then to note that in both cultures, both the English of the 17th/18th century and the Chinese of 568 C.E. (Lan 231), ballads exist about crossdressing warrior women. While those in England are material objects that are reproduced and also changed to create alternate versions, there still is the oral tradition element in which they were sung to a popular audience of lower-class individuals. The crossdressing trope seems to be especially popular given the radical nature of the content: there were cultures in which women fought alongside men, yet there is a fascination with women passing as men, then fighting alongside men. It seems a lower-class audience desired content in which it was possible to transform and escape one’s expected social station.
Furthermore, the ballad of Mulan shows the literary evolution of ballads. Ivy Haoyin Hsieh and Marylou M. Matoush in their article, “Filial Daughter, Woman Warrior, or Identity-Seeking Fairytale Princess: Fostering Critical Awareness Through Mulan” describe how the ballad of Mulan changed over its history, a change that included geographical and language adjustments:
If scholars are correct in attributing the ballad to the Northern Wei, it must have been translated into the dominant language of the Tang Dynasty. This series of transmission, translation, and transmediation over a century or more undoubtedly involved numerous adaptations on the part of both singers and translator(s) that required not only varying language choices, but also different sets of socio-cultural understanding. The cumulative effects of such reinterpretations make any claims that the origin or cultural authenticity of the ballad can be identified seem specious.
(216)
Hsieh and Matoush trace the existing scholarship on the ballad of Mulan to show this ballad, like many other oral tales, changed with the telling based on the speaker, the culture of the speaker, and, in the case of Mulan, any translators of the tale. While Mulan apparently survived all of these transformations as an oral and written ballad, its most dramatic transformation was from Chinese folklore to American cartoon in the Disney film, Mulan. And yet, even in this admittedly sanitized and commercialized iteration, the Mulan legend maintains core aspects of the warrior woman genre, aspects that are also articulated in the Dugaw catalogue. For our purpose here, though, it shows that despite the uncertain origins of the tale of Mulan, and despite the changes and “numerous adaptations” brought about by the needs of different audiences, including the western audience of the Disney film, the core concept of the tale remains the same. In every version, Mulan becomes a warrior woman by assuming the guise of her father. Thus, the crossdressing motif remains our constant in the Telephone Game of the Mulan tale, showing us the relevance of this motif across cultures and the interest it holds for audiences in the ability to escape one’s station and create a life one chooses.
One interesting addition to the Mulan ballad in western adaptations and especially highlighted in the Disney version, is a love element similar to what we see in many of Dugaw’s warrior women ballads. Hsieh and Matoush point out that, “Rather than merely elaborating on the simple tale of a girl who disguised herself as a man so that she could fight in a war in place of her aged father, Disney chose to tell the tale of a girl who is rejected by a matchmaker and sets out to discover herself by running away to join the army in place of her father” (219). Here we see, first, that Mulan is a “tale of a girl who disguised herself as a man so that she could fight in a war” and this is the same in every version. This shows us again that this is the constant, essential element of the story, just like many of Dugaw’s ballads. Yet, it also shows that an element that western audiences desire is a romance element: crossdressing to escape one’s station and choose one’s own identity, but also to be accepted by one’s partner. This added element of rejection and a search to “discover herself” that ultimately ends in a love story between Mulan and the captain is a common interest of western culture and the ballads in Dugaw’s catalogues. In these ballads, this element of rejection, then becoming a warrior woman, then finding love is a main focus. This seems to suggest that for western culture, love and acceptance after crossdressing and transforming one’s identity is a key element.
Another interesting similarity between the ballad of Mulan in Chinese and the English Warrior Women ballads is the acceptance of one’s Warrior Woman status as a result of their patriotism. According to Hsieh and Matoush,
Song Nan Zhang produced a picture book [of Mulan] with a reverence for historical accuracy that descendants of the dominant Tang Chinese culture could recognize. Reflecting his own Chinese upbringing in Shanghai, Zhang clearly positioned himself as a faithful ‘‘reteller’’ of the story. For centuries, Chinese scholars have emulated previous works for their learning; therefore, Zhang does not add his own opinions or words … On the last spread, he does add his own conclusion: “to this day we sing of this brave woman who loved her family and served her country, asking nothing in return.”
(216-17)
Mulan’s actions as a warrior woman are accepted given her selflessness as well as the fact that she “served her country, asking nothing in return.” In Dugaw’s ballads, we see this same emphasis on patriotism as many seem to be war propaganda intended to inspire men to fight for their country. Here, too, we see a warrior woman posited as an example of what an exemplary citizen would, and should, do.
The ballad of Mulan also shows the potential for warrior women ballads to be inspiration for action and rebellion. Chang-Tai Hung in his article, “Female Symbols of Resistance in Chinese Wartime Spoken Drama” allows us to see the warrior women in Dugaw’s ballads and the ballad of Mulan as symbols of resistance to an outsider. This nationalistic use of the warrior women motif is common in both the Mulan ballad and the warrior women ballads. Hung tells us how Chinese dramatists would seek to inspire support for a war with Japan in
the cultivation and exaltation of female resistance symbols. Chinese playwrights carefully nourished these symbols of patriotism in order to inculcate a sense of determination and responsibility into their people, old and young alike. These female symbols, representing a wide spectrum of nationalistic and virtuous ideals, served as examples for inspiration and emulation to many.
(152)
Across cultures, then, warrior women are used as “symbols of patriotism” and “examples for inspiration and emulation” and the ballad of Mulan could certainly be considered in this context. For example, in the Dugaw catalogue, ballad 35, Emma, the lover of “Young Henry” states, “I’ll dress myself in man’s apparel, / So dearest Henry don’t complain; / In Jacket blue and tarry trousers, / I will plough the Raging main” ( “Young Henry…” 497). Emma’s desire to join Henry seems also to be a desire to join the British navy, whose colors are “blue and tarry trousers.” So, although love is the main motivation, there also is a fearlessness and willingness to do her duty that shows Emma’s ability to serve her country. Especially later on when she shows her ability to do her duty, no matter the danger, as she braves a storm: “Undaunted up aloft went Emma / Midst thunder, light’ning, wind and rain / With courage true, in a jacket blue, / Did Emma plough the Raging Main” (“Young Henry…” 498). This shows that a true patriot does what is needed “with courage true.” This can be compared to the story of Mulan in which she takes the place of her father in order to fight for her country and do what her father should have been able to do. A question that these types of ballads then pose for scholars is why are warrior women used for these “symbols of patriotism?” As we can see with our comparison of Dugaw’s warrior women ballads and the ballad of Mulan, this use for the warrior women remains the same.
Finally, the ballad of Mulan shows us that in both Chinese and Western culture there is a desire from audiences for the ability to construct one’s identity outside of what is socially expected. Lisa Brocklebank in her article, “Disney’s Mulan – the ‘True’ Deconstructed Heroine?” reviews the character of Mulan to show the call to social change offered by fairy tales. She says,
Some tales, however, reveal an inherent subversiveness that projects a deeply rooted Utopian vision of change and transformation. For, as part of the genre’s continual engagement with some aspect of the marvelous, amazing, or unexpected, the fairy tale, in its very essence and role, must inevitably transcend expectations. Indeed, it must contain and offer the possibility of a vision which circumvents the conventional knowledge of society: a vision which exists beyond the dichotomous categories shaping our beliefs, which poses a riddle that challenges habitual patterns of thought, and which seeks to somehow redefine notions of real. (268)
This applies not only to the ballad of Mulan, but also to the warrior women ballads. These ballads, specifically the crossdressing of the warrior women, present a challenge to conventional ways of understanding gender, gender roles, and sexuality. As we see with the story of Mulan, from ballad to Disney, this challenge and “vision which exists beyond the dichotomous categories shaping our beliefs” has not gone away and continues to be relevant across cultures and historical periods. As such, we can use an understanding of Mulan to allow us to see that Dugaw’s ballads present a motif that captured a lower-class audience who desired an ability to escape their station and create an identity outside of societal constraints.
From Mulan to Dugaw’s Ballads we see a continuing interest in warrior women. We see that across cultures and ages, this interest remains the same. These stories of warrior women, symbols of hope, resistance, patriotism, and social change, tell us that no matter the time, no matter the culture, there exists a desire to create a more equitable society. This call can be found in the warrior women ballads. It is up to us to answer that call.
Works Cited
Brocklebank, Lisa. “Disney’s ‘Mulan’—the ‘True’ Deconstructed Heroine?” Marvels & Tales, vol. 14, no. 2, 2000, pp. 268-83.
Hsieh, Ivy Haoyin, and Marylou M. Matoush. “Filial Daughter, Woman Warrior, or Identity-Seeking Fairytale Princess: Fostering Critical Awareness Through Mulan.” Children’s Literature in Education, vol. 43, 2012, pp. 213-22.
Hung, Chang-Tai. “Female Symbols of Resistance in Chinese Wartime Spoken Drama.” Modern China, vol. 15, no. 2, Apr. 1989, pp. 149-77.
Lan, Feng. “The Female Individual and the Empire: A Historicist Approach to and Kingston’s Woman Warrior.” Comparative Literature, vol. 55, no. 3, 2003, pp. 229-45.
“Young Henry of the Raging Main.” A Catalogue and Collection of Anglo-American Female Warrior Ballads. Ballad 35, p. 495.