摘 要

魏晋南北朝时期的一首《木兰辞》让一个保家卫国，恪守孝道的女性形象跃然纸上，随后的1500多年里，人们对这一家喻户晓的形象进行了多样性的塑造与多角度的理解，其中不乏诗歌等文学创作形式，也有戏剧将其搬上舞台。随着科学技术日新月异，大众媒介在文化传播中扮演的角色日益突出，影视作品成为传播文化的重要载体。美国迪士尼动画公司于1998年将木兰替父从军的故事改编成了动画，赋予了花木兰美国特有的文化元素。在其大获成功的同时，中美花木兰形象差异引起热议，人们对木兰形象的解读也更加多元化。

本文从外貌，行为准则，子女关系与爱情观等四个方面对中美花木兰进行了对比研究，进一步让读者对中美花木兰形象有更为全面的理解，同时分别分析了塑造中美花木兰的典型的文化价值观，从而展现了中美花木兰的的形象差异并揭示了造成差异的深层原因。

本文可分为三个部分，第一部分对花木兰的历史传说以及迪士尼的改编电影进行了简要介绍。第二部分从四个方面对中美花木兰形象差异进行了对比分析。第三部分得出结论，点明本文主题。

关键词：花木兰；差异性对比；文化价值观；跨文化交流

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Demonstration 2

2.1 Historical Legend of Hua Mulan 2

2.2 Disney’s Adaption of the Legend 3

2.3 Image Differences between Traditional Chinese Hua Mulan and Disney Mulan 4

2.3.1 Differences in Physical Appearance 4

2.3.1 .1 Traditional Chinese Hua Mulan——Typical Oriental Beauty 4

2.3.1.2 Disney Mulan——A Westernized Oriental Beauty 5

2.3.2 Differences in Moral Norms 6

2.3.2.1 Traditional Chinese Hua Mulan——Being state and family oriented 6

2.3.2.2 Disney Mulan——Being self-fulfillment centered 7

2.3.3 Differences in Parent-child Relations 7

2.3.3.1 Chinese Traditional Hua Mulan——Obligatory Love Implied in Xiaodao 8

2.3.3.2 Disney Mulan——Reciprocal Love as the Replacement of Xiaodao 8

2.3.4 Differences in Attitudes towards Love 9

2.3.4.1 Traditional Chinese Hua Mulan——Love under national interests 9

2.3.4.2 Disney Mulan——Love above Everything 10

2.4 Analysis of the Causes from the Perspective of Cultural Values 10

2.4.1 Hua Mulan and its Shaping Values Embodied in Chinese Cultures 11

2.4.1.2 High Power Distance 11

2.4.1.3 Feudal Doctrines 12

2.4.2 Disney Mulan and its Shaping Values Embodied in American Cultures 12

2.4.2.1 Individualism 12

2.4.2.2 Low Power Distance 13

2.4.2.3 High Masculinity 13

3. Conclusion 13

Notes 15

Works Cited 16

Bibliography 17

A Study of the Image Differences Between Chinese Traditional Hua Mulan and Disney Mulan from the Perspective of Cultural Values

1. Introduction

The Chinese narrative folk song The Ballad of Mulan in Northern and Southern Dynasties (also known as Ode of Mulan) makes the image of Hua Mulan almost known by every household in China as it successfully shapes a heroine who possesses the quality of both Chinese traditional ethics of loyalty and filial piety. Therefore, Hua Mulan, as an assertive and brave heroine, has been admired and loved by Chinese people all the time. Under the background of accelerated globalization and burgeoning mass media, Disney Company produced an animated film Mulan in 1998 according to the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan and has achieved favorable box office. It is worth noting that although the Disney Mulan originates from Chinese Hua Mulan, it is quite different from the traditional Chinese version to a great extent.

This intrigues numerous scholars’ interest to explore the image of Hua Mulan as well as the differences between traditional Chinese Hua Mulan and Disney Mulan. As a result, more and more studies have been conducted both at home and abroad, among which studies at home being the dominant. Ode of Mulan is the earliest written record of Hua Mulan. The domestic scholar Lv (2006) makes a comprehensive analysis of the poem itself, namely the poem’s note, its impacts on people in Tang Dynasties and social background as well as its writing style. Meanwhile, she makes a careful interpretation about the image of Hua Mulan from the aspect of her distinctive spirits like loyalty and filial piety, braveness as well as her returning to mediocre life instead of accepting the reward. Finally, she draws a conclusion that Hua Mulan has gradually become a symbol of profound traditional Chinese culture and that’s why she has won high praise for thousands of years. Another domestic scholar Wang (2012) notes that the differences between traditional Chinese Hua Mulan and Disney Mulan indicate cultural shock and integration and she further analyzes Disney Mulan from the perspective of feminism. What she mainly focuses on are the self-pursuing process of Disney Mulan and her efforts to fight against the traditional social constraints, thus highlighting the strong feminist spirit of this new image. However, domestic scholar Lai (2008) regards Disney’s adaption of Hua Mulan legend as a typical case of post modernism deconstructing classics under the background of globalization. She points out that the Disney movie Mulan realizes the transformation from single educational case to mass culture and turns traditional Hua Mulan into an American girl infused with individualistic heroism.

We can see that many scholars have conducted their researches on the image of Hua Mulan from various perspectives but few from the perspective of cultural values. Thus, the image differences between traditional Chinese Hua Mulan and Disney Mulan are worth studying in this sense. This paper will present the image differences between Chinese traditional Hua Mulan and Disney Mulan from the aspects of physical appearance, moral norms, parent-child relations and love concept. And the causes will be discussed in depth from the perspective of cultural values. Moreover, it attempts to inspire people’s awareness of cultural values, enrich their knowledge of other cultures and promote the effectiveness of cross-cultural communication.

2. Demonstration