This blog originally started as a long, long master post of my favorite films, but because I like making gifs too much, I had to break each movie out into their own films. 😅 What? You’ll read it either way.

Here’s part five:

Mulan (1998) aka Who Showed Vanessa Gender is a Societal Construct

Mulan will always have a special place in my heart. It taught me a lot about how expectations of both men and women, girls and boys can literally kill us. It taught me that you don’t need a son to carry a legacy. It taught me there are dads out there who love their daughters FOR their strength and don’t see it as a flaw or the enemy. It taught me that drag (Ping was Mulan’s drag persona!!!) can be a source of power, rebellion and might.

I get so emotional every time I watch this movie and even got emotional making the gifs for this blog. This movie is rooted in so much of my self-confidence, how I view the feminine/masculine duality that lives in me and what I value in all of my familial relationships. This is a movie I will show my kid as a lesson plan for how they should live their lives. REBEL, QUESTION EVERYTHING, PROTECT THE ONES YOU LOVE!

This is a movie that really blurs the lines of what it means to be a man or a woman or a dedicated son or daughter. In the end, your gender doesn’t matter … what you do with your inherent power is the only thing that matters. People can roll their eyes all they want at the phrase “gender is a societal construct” but it’s true. Many of the roles we place on people across the gender spectrum are detrimental and inefficient.

Put more women in male-dominated sports, high-ranking military roles, even fucking construction sites; more men belong in the kitchen, daycares and should be nannies, etc. When we chip away at the binary, the nonbinary doesn’t feel so alien.

Read about my other fave movies!