Samantha Kubota
Thu, May 23, 2024 at 3:24 PM EDT·6 min read
It doesn’t matter how old I get, the song “Be a Man” still absolutely gets me amped.
It had been years since I watched Disney’s animated film “Mulan” but in honor of Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander History Month, I decided to revisit the film that had such a profound influence on me as a young kid.
“Mulan” came out in 1998, just one month before I turned 7. At the time, it was truly the first experience I’d ever had as a young child seeing Asian faces on the big screen.
I loved the film and forced my parents to take me several times to see it. I can still picture the sticky floors of the now-defunct movie theater in my hometown and the cold air conditioning in the summer heat.
I didn’t exactly start taking martial arts or learn Chinese but I did memorize the entire soundtrack. I even sang “Reflection” as a child in a voice lesson recital. I now realize “Mulan” probably helped me feel more confident in marching to the beat of my own drum as a kid.
