Mike Pence Argued In An Op-Ed That Disney's "Mulan" Was Liberal Propaganda "Despite her delicate features and voice, Disney expects us to believe that Mulan’s ingenuity and courage were enough to carry her to military success on an equal basis with her cloddish cohorts. Obviously, this is Walt Disney’s attempt to add childhood expectation to the cultural debate over the role of women in the military. I suspect that some mischievous liberal at Disney assumes that Mulan’s story will cause a quiet change in the next generation’s attitude about women in combat and they just might be right. (Just think about how often we think of Bambi every time the subject of deer hunting comes into the mainstream media debate.)"
While I really doubt it was propaganda, I do think that he's right that it made an impression in the subconscious of a generation. It was made at the height of the 90's girl power movement, yet presents the story in a straightforward "you're capable of what you put your mind to" manner, without bashing it over your head. If he wants to complain about propaganda, how about he takes a look at the not-so-subtle morals taught in Girl Meets World, which tend to walk the line between afterschool special and actual political talking points I also wasn't aware that Walt worked on Mulan. Pretty impressive feat for someone who had been dead 30 years
Isn't Mulan based on centuries-old Chinese lore? How clever of them to know that all those centuries later it could be used to propagandize little American girls. Them Chinese is sneaky, I tells you.