A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Mulan in Disney’s Children’s Book and Its Implications for Translation Practices

This paper investigates Mulan in Disney's children's book, focusing on how the character is constructed in different social contexts and its implications for translation practices. Following a multimodal discourse analysis approach, this paper surfaces the implied values and ideologies in this children’s book by analyzing the ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions of various modes. The findings suggest that while Chinese Mulan Ballad highlights the philosophy of patriarchy, a sense of collectivism, and restrained feminism, Disney’s Mulan is re-constructed to reflect ideas of individualism and feminism to cater to Western and global audiences. It is suggested that competent translators need to be aware of various linguistic resources (e.g., text, image space, etc.) potential for meaning-making and become sensitive to the hidden ideologies in the discourses. Importantly, translators may need to make critical decisions in the linguistic choices for effective communication under various institutional purposes and between cultures.