For this quote, I will be focusing on the keywords: reflection. Mulan sings this line in the song reflection, where she laments how she is unable to conform to the female ideals in China. For this quote, i will be focusing on the word, reflection. when I thought of the word reflection, I immediately thought of mirrors and water. Hence mirrors will be my main motif for this design.

The first 2 designs, I wanted to show how Mulan shatters through that stereotypical image of her in the movie. I placed a shattered glass panel in front of her image with the bullet hole right in front of her face in the first one and her heart in the second. In the first one, I wanted to how she shattered her image through physical appearance. In the second design, I wanted to show how her heart has won over as she decided to be a tomboy instead of the docile wife she is expected to be. I felt that the drama wasn’t enough in the first design and decided to add broken grass shards around her.

Similarly, i tried to express shattering the stereotype in another way. the model ic hose is a genderfluid model. he is biologically a male but his physical appearance is a female. I wanted to show how people are breaking the gender norms in today world just like how Mulan did. the geometric shapes are inspired by broken glass shards.

Similarly, this is another androgynous model. I wanted to express a difference in the outward portrayal of the image with the inner mental image of oneself.

For this design, I wanted to focus on revealing the actual person inside. Like the previous 2 designs, the female at the back is an androgynous model who has transitioned from a male to a female. so by placing the glass shard in front of him, i revealed his true gender: a male. However, the previous few designs did not meet the brief requirements of looking retro as it looked too modern and futuristic, In addition, i was told that t=it lack the ancient Chinese setting in my design.

Keeping Mi Mi comments in mind I tried to incorporate more retro and vintage olden chinses elements into my design. for the next few designs, I was inspired by tarot cards and wanted to add an ornate frame. I used the Yin and the Yang symbol to show how Mulan is both a warrior and a female at the same time.

for this design, I used a mirror to show both sides of Mulan: a female as well as a badass bitch. I used a white background for her feminine side and a black background for her warrior side. to further emphasize the warrior aspect, I gave her an Oni mask, to symbolize her bravery and strength.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be using this quote as it has the same meaning as my other quote by Mulan in the same song: “if I wear a mask I can fool the world,  but I can’t fool my heart” which I like a lot better.