Gender Performativity in Disney’s "Mulan" (eBook)

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject Gender Studies, grade: 1,0, University of Luxembourg, language: English, abstract: Gender and its meaning are often discussed by anthropologists, feminists, and other researchers. However, the way that each defines the word gender is very different and there seems to be no fixed definition as to when one identifies as man or woman. This problematic, that there are so many different definitions for gender, Judith Butler takes as the center of her work, and tries to explain what they understand behind the notions of sex and gender.

I will therefore base my analysis on Judith Butler’s "Gender Trouble", published in 1990. Butler’s approach is very interesting, as it brings in the notion of culture as well. And because Butler brings in culture, and culture is the subject of anthropological research, I will take some ideas of Lila Abu Lughod’s "Writing Against Culture", published in Recapturing anthropology: working in the present. The anthropological approach will only lead to a better understand of how culture
and gender are so similar, as they are both not innate. The fact that gender is not innate and has to be learned, or as Judith says performed, will be the key idea that I will represent in this paper.

The idea that gender is performed and is a social construction, is clearly represented in Walt Disney’s "Mulan". I will, therefore, use this movie to prove the point that I am aiming to elaborate. My point is that any individual can perform different gender identities and that individuals are able to change their gender. So, gender is not related to the sexual organs or chromosomes one has, but gender is simply a behavior that adapts to its environment and is fluid.