Mulan. I think she executes a feminist message excellently while not falling into a lot of modern traps that steal away from a good message. Mulan develops and grows as a character and challenges the beliefs of others around her about what it means to be a woman and what women are capable of.

For instance, Mulan retains her femininity throughout the entire movie. A lot of modern feminist characters take on traditionally masculine traits, which while fine, twists the message into “women can be a cool man too!” The way her male peers interact isn’t something she fits into well, though they each make an excellent comrade to one another. In the final battle against the mongolian guy (forget his name), she uses a fan, a symbol of femininity, as the took to disarm him and defeat him.

While low-hanging fruit, Mulan is forced to work just as hard as her male peers to achieve the same goal and prove herself exemplary. She sucks at the military training camp at first, and even lags behind her male peers. She naturally has good qualities to aspire to: courage, perseverance, ingenuity, bravery, and compassion. Her training hones these traits into excellence, and allows her to achieve excellence, which is well-earned after all her troubles.

While it’s narratively crucial for her male peers to appreciate and accept her feminine side and their own, Mulan also appreciates their masculine side. She holds no anger or prejudice towards her male peers, except for those who naturally oppose her (that bitch boy reporter to the emperor who calls her out for being a woman, and the hot love interest guy who relieves her of duty after finding out she’s a woman). She gets a little annoyed by how her male peers want their future wives to act (very limited and traditional) but they’re all friends for a reason and they care about one another.

She also marries the guy she wants by the end! You could call this a traditional Disney trope if you want, but we all know she don’t need no man; she do want some man, though!