The Burning Question: Is Mulan A Princess?

Maybe your like

The Burning Question: Is Mulan a Princess?

August 13, 2017 Mulan is a wonderful animated feature that was released by Disney in 1998. Showcasing a young woman who broke tradition by disguising herself as a male soldier and saved all of China in the process, it is, in my opinion, one of the most empowering films for girls on the market. Yet, with my reputation as a self-proclaimed princess expert, there is one burning question that people are always asking me: "Is Mulan a princess?" She was not born to a king or queen, nor did she marry a prince, so why is her visage so often plastered alongside the other royal heroines? The short answer is that she's not a princess, but she is a Disney Princess. Why aren't the two mutually exclusive? The answer to that is a bit more complicated. When the Disney Princess line was launched in 2001, it initially focused on the main six--Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine. However, since Jasmine was the only heroine of color in the line, it expanded shortly thereafter to include Pocahontas and Mulan as honorary or secondary princesses. Pocahontas fit the mold in some ways because she was the daughter of the Powhatan tribe, which made her Indian royalty. Yet, the lack of a sparkly ballgown made it difficult for them to feature her in group shots with the more traditional European princesses. Her story was also loosely based on history instead of a fairy tale, whereas Mulan's story came from an ancient Chinese poem. Unlike Pocahontas, Mulan also had some nice dresses to showcase. Thus, she was given a sparkly princess image to blend in with the others while making the line more diverse at the same time.

Now, if you're thinking "Wait a minute! That barely even looks like Mulan! She hated wearing fancy dresses!" you would be correct. However, at the time, this was the image that made the most money for the company. Times have since changed. You might also be wondering why they would feature Mulan, who was not actually royalty, whey they could have gone with a character who was, such as Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire or Eilonwy from The Black Cauldron (if you've even heard of that one). The answer is simple. Mulan was a much bigger financial success than either of them, so girls are more likely recognize her, which means bigger profits. If being a princess in a Disney movie does not always make a character a Disney Princess, then what does? From what I've observed, it boils down to the three Princess Ps: Popularity, Personality, and Power. Every character who is featured among the Disney Princesses is well-known among the animation community and sells a ton of merchandise. These are characters girls will recognize from a mile away and go crazy over when they see them in the parks. That's why Eilowny would never be caught dead on a Disney Princess product. She needs to take a lesson from Galinda and understand that she is simply not popular enough. Mulan's movie was a financial success, so many people love her, and it would be a shame if she was not prominently featured among Disney's finest. All of the princesses also share specific personality traits, despite being unique in other ways. They are all kind-hearted, selfless, lovable, stubborn, and curious about the world outside their castle, or cottage, in some cases. Even the meek Snow White showed some of that princess stubbornness when it came to convincing the dwarfs to wash their hands. Mulan is no exception to this rule. She too was selfless when she risked her life to save her father from fighting in the war and put on a "tough" act as a man, when it was clear that was not who she really was inside. Finally, all of the Disney Princesses hold a place of power in their kingdom or tribe. Even though Mulan was not born into royalty, she was given a position on the emperor's council and had the honor of seeing all of China bow to her. This was the final Princess P that sealed her into the Disney Princess line. Even though she wasn't a literal princess, she still earned some power within the monarchy. The company also attempted to reinforce her princess status by introducing the emperor's three daughters in the mediocre 2004 sequel when she selflessly agreed to marry a prince that none of them wanted to wed. Believe it or not, there are even more non-royal Disney ladies that have been featured among Disney Princess merchandise than just Mulan. The second volume of the 1998 Disney Princess Collection CD included Megara's "I Won't Say I'm in Love" from the 1997 movie, Hercules as well as "Love," a song by Maid Marion from the 1973 movie, Robin Hood. You would be hard-pressed to find a princess fan who did not enjoy belting out Susan Egan's cynical rendition of "I Won't Say I'm in Love" along with their other favorite tunes. Later, Disney made the odd choice of replacing Ariel with Alice as a Princess of Heart the 2002 Disney-centric video game, Kingdom Hearts. To conclude, being a Disney Princess does not always require a character to be an actual princess. Even though Mulan was not a princess in her story, her overwhelming popularity among Disney fans, selfless and curious personality, and attainment of power by the end of the movie were more than enough to earn her a place among the best of the best. In this blogger's opinion, that is right where she belongs. alice consumerism disney disney princess megara mulan Lisa Dawn I have always dreamed of being a writer and creating the next great fairy tale princess heroine. Princesses inspire us to be our best selves. While you're here, feel free to follow my page on Facebook, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and check out my books. I'm also on Instagram and Twitter. Would you like to contribute to The Princess Blog? Become a patron, and you could pick the topic for my next post!

Comments

Review: Cosmic Princess Kaguya

January 23, 2026

The latest princess movie on Netflix is inspired by an old Japanese legend, but it isn't a direct retelling \like The Tale of Princess Kaguya . Instead, Cosmic Princess Kaguya takes place in a futuristic world where most young people are obsessed with a popular virtual reality game, similar to the anime movie Belle . It also follows the recent trope of modern musicals like Six and Between the Lines of taking back the narrative by attempting to give Kaguya a happier ending than she had in the fairy tale. Many aspects of the movie are fun and interesting, but it tends to jump around between too many different ideas. Cosmic Princess Kaguya tells the story of Iroha, a teenage girl whose mother all but abandoned her, leaving her to grow up quickly at a young age. When she finds a baby trapped in a utility pole, she struggles with the decision to take it in or bring it to the police. The baby magically grows into a preteen overnight and bonds with Iroha, wh... Read more

Find Me in Paris Has Its Last Dance

August 21, 2020

Only one month after my recent obsession with Find Me in Paris , the time-traveling ballerina princess drama dropped its third and final season on Hulu today. Though somewhat predictable, this season offered a satisfying conclusion to the show's unique concept that combined dance with science fiction and tied up all remaining loose ends from the previous seasons. We finally learned the truth about Lena's birth and why she's always being chased by anyone remotely interested in time travel. Nearly every character got paired off at the end, even if it meant some questionable decisions on behalf of the writers. The season also offered some of the most beautiful dance sequences in the show yet for its key story moments. While I could have done without the repetitive recap sequences, the final episodes made it clear that this was always meant to be the end and gave the cast and crew many happy memories to look back upon. The final season of Find Me in Paris incorporated the ... Read more

One Hundred Princesses for My 100th Post

November 14, 2017

Today is a major accomplishment for me. I started this blog 100 days ago, and I've managed to write a new post in it every day since then. Some of the topics were easier to come up with than others. I also had to go back and edit some after the fact due to poor proofreading. Speaking of which, I'm really sorry about the disastrous short story from my first Story Saturday post . The whole thing was written on my phone on the way to a Mermaid Art Show event in San Diego, so I was a little distracted. I promise to put more effort into future Story Saturdays, which should be easier now that I will no longer be writing new posts every day. Don't worry, though. I will still keep everyone informed of the latest princess news and review all the new princess movies and specials. Without further ado, in celebration of my 100th post, here is a list of 100 princesses with all of the posts I've made about them (in no particular order). Thank you so much for reading my blog. 1-11:... Read more

Is This Sofia the First's New Look?

January 05, 2026

Disney Jr. has been sharing sporadic updates on their social media to remind us that the upcoming Sofia the First sequel series, Royal Magic , is set to debut later this year. The frustrating part is that they are keeping the project very much under wraps, avoiding any artwork, plot, or production details, and focusing instead on nostalgic clips of the original show. This makes fans hungry for more information, causing them to turn to less reliable sources for any nugget of hype they can find. The Disney fan insiders delivered these coveted nuggets with The Disney Scope: Magic at a Glance , a Discord panel, which revealed some early leaks of Sofia's new design, along with potential new character and plot information about the upcoming show. Since this is not an official press release, all of this information should be taken with a grain of salt, much like the Mexican Sleeping Beauty project . Sofia fans had a lot to say about this first look at the sequel series redesign shared o... Read more

The Legacy of Sleeping Beauty: Is She As Passive as We Think?

June 12, 2023

When I wrote my series of fairy tale origin posts , one major story that I skipped was "Sleeping Beauty." It wasn't because I didn't care for this story as much as the others, but instead that it had a less complex narrative of changing with the times . In fact, this fairy tale is so simple that no matter how many updates modern adaptations incorporate, it is rarely altered so drastically from its roots to the point of being unrecognizable, except in the case of a ridiculous 2016 horror movie called The Curse of Sleeping Beauty . Of all the movies I argued against depicting the theme of "Be pretty, girls, and things might work out," Sleeping Beauty is the biggest outlier. It is probably for this reason that it is the only Disney Princess movie that did not get a direct live-action remake , but instead a creative reimagining with Maleficent , which focused on the more active villain than the mostly passive princess. Determining how much Sleeping Beauty h... Read more

Disney Announces Sofia the First: Royal Magic!

August 15, 2024

Almost two years ago, Disney announced that they were working on a spinoff series to Sofia the First . The best place to reveal new updates about this mysterious series would have been the D23 Expo , which took place in Anaheim last weekend. Instead, Disney Jr. quietly posted on Instagram today that we can expect to see the new series, Sofia the First: Royal Magic on Disney+ in 2026. This is fantastic news if it's true, but Disney has broken promises on many other upcoming shows over the upcoming years, so it's a good idea to take all their announcements with a grain of salt until there is something more substantial like a trailer or release date. Still, it's exciting to have a title and more information about the series. Unlike the original announcement about it being a spinoff like Elena of Avalor , the show will now be a direct sequel that continues Sofia's adventures after graduating from Royal Prep . The official summary is as follows: "Sofia the Firs... Read more

Review: The Spanish Princess/White Queen Trilogy

November 30, 2020

Yesterday, the Starz network released the series finale of The Spanish Princess , concluding The White Queen trilogy of miniseries that began in 2013. Based on a book series called The Cousins' War by Phillippa Gregory , the trilogy covers the women who stood behind the men in power in the English monarchy from 1464 to the 1530s, preceding the first two sovereign queens, Mary and Elizabeth. The White Queen , The White Princess , and The Spanish Princess grant us a rare opportunity to see what life was like for medieval monarchs. Watching them reminded me of why I prefer the fairy tale versions of royalty. Those stories do not contain the gory deaths, gruesome births, and invasive politics that historical dramatizations like these exemplify. In fact, I had very little interest in watching the second season of The Spanish Princess until I watched some historical videos and learned that the king that Catherine of Aragon was married to was none other than King... Read more

Review: Bye Sweet Carole

October 12, 2025

Bye Sweet Carole is a horror adventure game that is entirely hand-drawn in the style of classic Disney movies. It has been in the works for about four years, which seems reasonable, considering how time-consuming it is to draw every frame by hand in the style of Dragon's Lair . The gameplay is inspired by an old Super Nintendo game called Clock Tower , but its plot, themes, and overall vibe resemble a more obscure point-and-click adventure game called Tsioque . Although Bye Sweet Carole is classified as horror, it is not particularly scary and is made to appeal to the Disney Princess crowd, which has a tepid relationship with horror . A better description of the game's genre would be "psychological thriller," which tends to be reserved for movies and books, even though many games fit this genre as well. Bye Sweet Carole tells the story of Lana, who lives in a Gothic-inspired orphanage called Bunny Hall in Victorian England. She spends the majority of the game chas... Read more

This Upcoming Horror Game Looks Just Like a Classic Disney Movie!

September 01, 2025

The first time I saw preview footage from Bye Sweet Carole , I thought it had been rotoscoped from Disney's Beauty and the Beast . It wasn't, but this perception was a result of the game's distinct look that is reminiscent of hand-drawn films from Disney's Renaissance and Golden Age eras. The nostalgic aesthetic is a huge selling point for the game. It is difficult to find anything in the modern era that recreates this style so perfectly. The game's protagonist, Lana, bears features that are similar to the character models for both Belle and Snow White. It is not unheard of for a video game to use hand-drawn animation. Dragon's Lair and Cuphead are some examples of this. However, it is an exceptionally rare medium for interactive storytelling due to the amount of time it takes to animate every possible player scenario. Few people are willing to put this amount of time and effort into modern games because of how much easier it is to take advantage of new tec... Read more

Fans "Wish" Disney Had Used These Abandoned Concepts

January 01, 2024

Happy New Year, princess fans! When a new year begins, many of us think about things we can do better than the year before. There is no company this notion applies to better than Disney, which has been failing in every direction now more so than ever. Their latest feature, Wish , was a genuinely solid movie that sadly did not make the profits it deserved. Following its theatrical run, many fans noticed that the concepts presented in the official Art of Wish book would have elevated it from a good movie to a great one. Most of these concepts revolved around love and romance , which has been strategically removed from modern Disney Princess archetypes , despite being a staple of the brand prior to the past decade. Despite some early rumors that Asha might be the daughter of King Magnifico and Queen Amaya, the film's director Chris Buck explained in an interview why he was adamantly against making her a princess, which may have been another mistake that coul... Read more

Lisa Dawn I have always dreamed of being a writer and creating the next great fairy tale princess heroine. Princesses inspire us to be our best selves. While you're here, feel free to follow my page on Facebook, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and check out my books. I'm also on Instagram and Twitter. Would you like to contribute to The Princess Blog? Become a patron, and you could pick the topic for my next post! Visit profile

Would you like to contribute to The Princess Blog?

Become a patron, and you could pick the topic for my next post!

Current Patrons

Kae-Leah Williamson

Report Abuse

Tag » How Is Mulan A Princess

The Burning Question: Is Mulan A Princess?