Editing Mulan (1998 film) (section)

===Writing===
In its earliest stages, the story was originally conceived as a ''[[Tootsie]]''–inspired romantic comedy film where Mulan, who was a misfit tomboy who loves her father, is betrothed to Shang, whom she has not met. On her betrothal day, her father Fa Zhou carves her destiny on a stone tablet in the family temple, which she shatters in anger, running away to forge her own destiny.{{sfn|Kurtti|1998|pp=108–11}} In November 1993, [[Chris Sanders]], who had just finished storyboard work on ''[[The Lion King]]'', was hoping to work on ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' until Schumacher appointed him to work on ''Mulan'' instead.{{sfn|Kurtti|1998|p=34}} Acting as Head of Story, Sanders grew frustrated with the romantic comedy aspect of the story, and urged producer Pam Coats to be more faithful to the original legend by having Mulan leave home because of the love for her father.{{sfn|Kurtti|1998|p=111}} This convinced the filmmakers to decide to change Mulan's character in order to make her more appealing and selfless.<ref>{{cite video|title="Finding Mulan" |location=''Mulan'' DVD|type=Documentary film|publisher = [[Walt Disney Home Entertainment]] | date = 2004 }}</ref>

Sequence Six—in which Mulan takes her father's conscription order, cuts her long hair, and dons her father's armor—served as a pivotal moment in the evolution of Mulan's character. Director Barry Cook explained that the sequence initially started as a song storyboarded by Barry Johnson and redrawn by character designer Chen-Yi Chang. Following the story changes to have Mulan leave to save her father, the song was dropped. Storyboard artist and co-head of story [[Dean DeBlois]] was tasked to revise the sequence, and decided to board the sequence with "minimal dialogue".{{sfn|Kurtti|1998|pp=173–75}} Assisted with an existing musical selection from another film score courtesy of Sanders, the sequence reel was screened for [[Peter Schneider (film executive)|Peter Schneider]] and Thomas Schumacher, both of whom were impressed. DeBlois stated, "Sequence Six was the first sequence that got put into production, and it helped to establish our 'silent' approach."{{sfn|Kurtti|1998|p=176}} Additionally, General Li was not originally going to be related to Shang at all, but by changing the story, the filmmakers were able to mirror the stories of both Shang's and Mulan's love for their fathers.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/top/2530/4/Mulan-1998-50-things-you-might-not-know-about-your-favorite-Disney-films-1998-2013-edition.html|title=50 things you might not know about your favorite Disney films, 1998–2013 edition|last=Hicken|first=Jackie|newspaper=[[Deseret News]]|date=June 24, 2014|access-date=June 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825074011/https://www.deseretnews.com/top/2530/4/Mulan-1998-50-things-you-might-not-know-about-your-favorite-Disney-films-1998-2013-edition.html|archive-date=August 25, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> As a [[Christians|Christian]], Bancroft declined to explore [[Buddhism]] within the film.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = http://www.christianpost.com/news/tony-bancroft-on-mulan-i-want-to-bring-christian-based-values-to-all-my-work-90987/|title = Tony Bancroft on 'Mulan': 'I Want to Bring Christian-Based Values to All My Work'|website = The Christian Post|date = March 12, 2013|last = Martin|first = Sami K.|access-date = February 23, 2014|archive-date = February 27, 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140227034213/http://www.christianpost.com/news/tony-bancroft-on-mulan-i-want-to-bring-christian-based-values-to-all-my-work-90987/|url-status = live}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=The source seems to be confused between Buddhism (which either hadn't entered China or was a recent import during the Han dynasty when we claim the film is set) and ancestor-worship. The distinction is important here as the film does touch on ancestor-worship but doesn't "explore" it in detail, which appears to be what the source is talking about. It would be better to have a source that either explicitly says ancestor-worship or says Buddhism and explains what it means doesn't seem to be talking about ancestor-worship as the present source does.|date=January 2021}}

Because there was no dragon in the original legend, Mulan did not have animal companions; it was [[Roy E. Disney]] who suggested the character of Mushu.<ref name="classic">{{cite news |last=Vincent |title=With "Mulan," Disney bids for another classic|newspaper=[[The Virginian-Pilot]] |access-date=June 3, 2015 |date=June 20, 1998 |first=Mal |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-68447736.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924162500/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-68447736.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref> Veteran story artist [[Joe Grant]] created the cricket character, Cri-Kee, though animator Barry Temple admitted "the directors didn't want him in the movie, the story department didn't want him in the movie. The only people who truly wanted him in the movie were [[Michael Eisner]] and Joe Grant – and myself, because I was assigned the character. I would sit in meetings and they'd say, 'Well, where's the cricket during all this?' Somebody else would say, 'Oh, to hell with the cricket.' They felt Cri-Kee was a character who wasn't necessary to tell the story, which is true."{{sfn|Kurtti|1998|p=147}} Throughout development on the film, Grant would slip sketches of Cri-Kee under the directors' door.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://blogs.disney.com/oh-my-disney/2015/03/21/13-things-you-didnt-know-about-mulan/ | title=13 Things You Didn't Know About Mulan | date=March 21, 2015 | access-date=June 3, 2015 | publisher=Disney Blog | archive-date=June 5, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605204325/http://blogs.disney.com/oh-my-disney/2015/03/21/13-things-you-didnt-know-about-mulan/ | url-status=live }}</ref>