Composers in audiovisual entertainment are too often under appreciated by general audiences. It's unfortunate, but even I'm no exception. It can be easy to ignore the background music in shows and movies I watch. Of course, it does make sense. The score's job is to support or enhance the other elements, not upstage them.
I get why background music stays in the background, but composers deserve more credit. After all, I've discovered some of my favorite music by taking the time to listen to film soundtracks. Even when the film is a musical, I can still find background tracks I enjoy listening to more than the songs.
More than finding nice stuff to listen to, though, I love looking for motifs. Once I start to notice patterns, I can't help trying to piece together what the music is saying that the text isn't. Is there a perspective I hadn't considered? How does the music help us connect with the story and characters? Are there motifs shared between character themes, and if so, what does that imply?
This is what happened when I sat down to listen to the original film score for Disney's 1998 Mulan.
First, here are a few disclaimers. I'm not a musical expert. I have some moderate knowledge about music since I played violin in middle school, but that's about it. For the most part, I'm an average movie viewer who happens to love music. Everything in this post is my interpretation. I haven't found any interviews with Jerry Goldsmith about this particular soundtrack. He hasn't come out and said what his intentions were, so my interpretations are mine alone. Take them with a grain of salt.
I'm also not going to be reviewing the movie as a whole. I may do that someday, but I'm focusing on the music for now. I'm going to disregard historical and cultural inaccuracies in the film. That's an entire discussion of its own, and I'm not qualified to start it anyway. Whatever I say about "China" in this post is referring to the fictional version of China we see in the movie.
With that out of the way, let's talk character themes.
I happened to be listening to character themes from films and shows, and I decided to check for any in the score of Mulan. While only one character has a track named after them, there were a few recurring motifs that caught my ear.
The most obvious is the motif from the track "Shan Yu." Most would consider Shan Yu one of Disney's least entertaining and memorable villains, but it's hard to miss his theme in the film. With its blaring brass instruments and heavy drums, its both ominous and imposing. It establishes that Shan Yu is a very powerful, dangerous man right off the bat. In fact, it's the first character theme to play, right in the opening scene.
The theme manages to pick up the slack for the writing in subtle ways, too. Despite not having many appearances, Shan Yu's theme plays in a whopping 11 tracks on the score. That's more than any other motif. This establishes Shan Yu as a constant, looming presence. We don't need to know him personally to feel how much of a threat he is. Since the music does the heavy lifting here, the writing is able to focus on Mulan's character arc.
Shan Yu's theme only works better in tandem with the other motifs, though.
In the same track from the opening scene, we can hear the first instance of what I call "the theme of honor." This acts as a slight variation of the theme for Fa Zhou, Mulan's father.
While the theme of honor has a faster tempo and is more bombastic, they share a chord progression and key. This draws a parallel that establishes Fa Zhou as Mulan's standard for honor. To be more specific, he represents what China expects from its people. They all serve a purpose to their country and emperor, and to stray would bring dishonor to the family.
While honor is a good thing in Mulan, for the most part, there are also clear problems. The music sounds triumphant, yet in Fa Zhou's theme, which is slower, it becomes more melancholy. Both tracks also share a similarity with Shan Yu's theme. All three tracks open with a repeated hook; three notes climbing a scale. While Shan Yu's theme uses different notes, it's still an interesting detail.
These similarities could've been an accident, but I'd like to think otherwise. Shan Yu's a physical threat, but the country and Mulan's father are also oppressive forces. There are expectations of Mulan that want to dictate who she can be. She's supposed to fulfill her purpose, and when she fails, she's seen as a disgrace.
To tie it together, the music reflects this in what I consider to be Mulan's theme.
If you're already familiar with the score, this might not sound like Mulan's theme. I'll be talking about that theme next, but I believe this track paints a more honest picture of who Mulan really is.
The track starts the same as the others, with three climbing notes. It's in a major key, though, and everything that follows is distinct from everything before. The parallels are there, signifying the both the pressure of her society and her admiration for her father. Still, it doesn't quite match up, much like Mulan herself.
There are six tracks that have this motif, though its purpose varies greatly. When it plays in "Preparation," it's meant as our introduction to Mulan. It even highlights her feelings toward her father by having his theme play midway through the track. When her motif briefly shows up in "The Matchmaker," it's conveying Mulan's attempt to fit herself into the mold the matchmaker wants. It also appears in tracks that play during her time training in the military, after her other theme has already made itself known. One example is at the end of "The Real Work." This lets us know that Mulan hasn't abandoned her old self, but is growing and developing it alongside her adopted persona of Ping. It also appears much later in the film, but I'll talk about that momentarily.
First, let's address Mulan's turning point and what I like to call "Mulan's hero theme."
This theme plays in nearly as many tracks as Shan Yu's theme (10, to be exact), but it doesn't appear until "Short Hair," also known as "Mulan's Decision."
Stealing her father's armor and taking his place in the army is my favorite scene in the film. It's the first of many things Mulan does to defy not only the expectations of those around her or the enemy invading her home, but also the laws of her country. It puts her at arguably more risk than even the other soldiers, since being discovered would lead to her execution and family's dishonor.
Fittingly, this theme disregards the patterns of the first three entirely. Shan Yu's and Fa Zhou's themes have a looming presence, while Mulan's initial theme is slow and somewhat relaxed. The hero theme sounds more like charging forward into danger. It's not reckless, though. The music is still methodical and deliberate. It climbs up and down the musical scale, and it uses four opening notes rather than three. Mulan isn't actively rebelling against the system, really. She's simply defying it in order to do what she believes is right and necessary.
Most of the tracks featuring Mulan's heroic theme play it alongside and in direct opposition to Shan Yu's theme. Tracks like "The Huns Attack," "Avalanche," and "A Lucky Bug" alternate between the two, usually coinciding with who has the upper hand at the moment, or at least who's taking a more direct offensive. These are probably the most significant and memorable uses of Mulan's heroic theme aside from "Short Hair," but it does still get plenty of other uses.
The second time it plays is a very brief, quiet moment in "Ping." After the fantastic scene that was Mulan's decision, "Ping" reminds us that while taking up this persona is very brave, her clumsiness and inexperience won't make it easy for her. There's also "Truth All Around," which is easily my favorite example of combining motifs.
From this point on, I'd like to go a little more in-depth. While the music is excellent the whole way through, I think the way the score compliments the climax and ending are especially superb.
"Truth All Around" plays after Mulan's identity is exposed, when she and Mushu are opening up to one another. The track opens with Mulan's original theme, which transitions into a few notes of Fa Zhou's theme/the theme of honor. This is Mulan's lowest point, and she feels ashamed. She feels she's let her father down. She even questions her original motive, wondering if the reason she left was more selfish than she'd claimed. After Mushu comes clean about his own selfish motives to her, she's able to take comfort in the noble part of her intentions and the fact that she's not alone. Her original theme picks up again, this time with more of a hopeful sound. She decides to go home, putting her hero persona away for good and accepting whatever comes next.
That could've been the end of her character arc, but of course the music turns ominous, signaling that something is wrong.
Shan Yu's theme kicks in and the surviving Huns burst out of the snow, ready to attack the unsuspecting palace. This is the cue for Mulan to put away all her personal baggage and leap into action. Yes, she's exposed now, and there's only so much she can do, but she can't just sit on the sidelines. This time, it's not for her father. He's not at risk. He's still safe at home. This is for her country and, equally important, herself. Mulan's heroic theme starts anew, and it continues to alternate once again with Shan Yu's theme while she tries everything in her power to stop him and save the Emperor.
While I do love the music throughout this part, it's mostly nothing new. There's the iconic reprise of "Man Out Of You," as well as the fantastic in-universe music that plays during the celebration before the Huns attack. Aside from that, though, there are the background tracks "Sword Snatcher," "Boo," and "A Lucky Bug," which are all variations of Shan Yu's theme and Mulan's heroic theme.
Where things start to get interesting is after "Gratitude." Obviously it's perfect to play a bit of Mulan's heroic theme while she's being honored by the Emperor, followed by the entire present population of China. Briefly, you can here the tiniest bit of Mulan's original theme. Then, there's the comedic bit toward the end that plays while the Emperor casually sacks Chi Fu.
Once that's over with, it's actually Mulan's original theme that starts playing. Mulan turns down a position on the Emperor's council because she feels it's about time she returns home. Interestingly, the theme also opens a bit differently, skipping one of the notes it shared with Fa Zhou's theme. Mulan hasn't fundamentally changed as a person. She's simply gained more confidence and managed to rid herself of some of the pressures that were telling her how she should be.
Her motif turns more triumphant when the Emperor gives her his pendant and Shan Yu's sword, not only acknowledging, but honoring who she really is. This would probably be considered the greatest honor possible to many of Mulan's people. For her, though, facing her father is a far more frightening prospect. She doesn't know how he'll react.
We don't get to see much of Fa Zhou during the time his daughter is missing, but we get a taste of what he was going through when the scene transitions to him sitting beneath the blossoming trees and we hear a bit of his theme one more time. The music softly transitions into Mulan's theme when she walks in, and it remains while she presents the Emperor's gifts and waits for her father's reaction.
Of course, her father tosses aside the Emperor's gifts without looking away from his daughter and hugs her tightly. Those aren't what he cares about right now. He's overjoyed to see her again, as well as proud and, of course, honored just to have her as his daughter. The music swells dramatically, and this time, Mulan's theme skips the opening three notes entirely. It jumps straight into the part of the music that is entirely Mulan's. This reassures the audience that, yes, Mulan is truly able to be herself. All the expectations and rules that concerned her before no longer matter.
There's a lot more going on in the movie. Even as far as music goes, there's a bit with what sounds like a Chinese wind instrument that seems to act as Li Shang's theme. It doesn't have much overall significance, though. It's seeing how the twists and turns of Mulan's story are represented in the music that fascinates me. I might not be an expert on music itself, but to me, this is what makes a truly great score. I appreciate catchy tunes and bombastic orchestras and all, but music can do so much to enhance a movie's themes. As much as I enjoy reading, this is one of the downsides to media without an audio side to it.
This kind of post was completely new to me, and it's been quite awhile since I've written anything this long. I'd like to do more stuff like this in the future, though. I really am passionate about music, particularly in movie and TV soundtracks. I hope this turns out alright so I can keep scratching that itch. I'm a bit worried that listening to this score while writing this brought out the side of me that sounds really pretentious and annoying, but that hopefully that won't be an issue. Regardless, thank you if you actually took the time to read all of this! It'll be great to finally have a post up on my site.
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