Visual Storytelling – Assignment 1

Finding a character that I felt strongly for and one with depth took me a while before I realised how apt Mulan would have been for this project. I really really love Mulan, especially the Chinese adaptation of it.

Mulan, 2009

Since I was referencing from the Chinese film, the ideas of filial piety, sacrifice, honour and the torment of war were brought forward more explicitly. I personally also believed that these values far preceded the issue of breaking gender stereotypes as portrayed in Disney’s Mulan. With the intent of portraying Mulan as one who embodied all these values, I have reached the final composition as attached below.

A kneeling female figure sits inside an armored exterior. The overwhelming size of the armour represents the main role that Mulan played in the movie. However, the fearless and glorified warrior was merely a facade that Mulan had to put on. It nothing like how her men viewed her. She was helpless, lost and broken through the many years of warship, which explains the female figure entrapped in armour’s body. Kneeling down, hands clenched together, she was nothing but just an extremely vulnerable female warrior.

Another key symbol that I played with was the magnolia flower which is what Mulan literally meant (木兰花).  One of magnolia flowers’ key representation was that of nobility. Hence, a blooming magnolia flower sits on the yellow mask, indicating how Mulan’s nobility was what people saw superficially but never her true identity. Her true self was the complete opposite of a blooming flower. It was in fact a withering magnolia flower and is shown through the extended branches surrounding the kneeling figure.

I chose to paint the composition in acrylic paint because it was a medium that could bring about strength and power to the armoured figure. The use of red over the actual rendering of the armour further enhanced the toughness of Mulan as a warrior. A strong back lighting was also seemingly cast at the back to elude a sense of glorification. (p.s. Am super super glad that my touch for acrylic painting hasn’t completely disappear after more than a year so YAY)