Gender, power and magic in the film of Mulan (2020): a cross-cultural analysis of the Western feminist discourse and the Daoist cultural discourse

The story of Mulan, which first appeared in an ancient Chinese folk ballad, was not a Chinese mythology, and thus was not suitable to be discussed within the discourse of gender, power and magic. The contemporary Western film Mulan (2020) first converts the story of Mulan into a magical discourse and originally creates a supernatural character of feminist witch Xianniang. The supernatural character of Xianniang represents feminist concern of masculine hegemony in the magical discourse, which is shaped by the patriarchal epistemological framework. However, the character of Xianniang and the gender issues of masculine domination in this film are logically confusing in the Chinese cultural context, particularly the Daoist cultural concepts, including Qi and Xian (immortals), are misrepresented in the film Mulan (2020). In contrast to the feminist witch within a magical discourse that aligns with a struggle against the masculine hegemony, the Daoist immortal is not constructed by patriarchal epistemology and represents gender equality in the Chinese cultural context. Therefore, the character of the feminist witch regarding feminist concerns of gender dualism, masculine hegemony and patriarchal oppression in Mulan (2020) is logically confusing in the Chinese cultural context.