In the context of globalization and the Post-Covid-19 Era, the Chinese story of “Mulan” has moved from China to the world, providing an important case for feminist film criticism. From the perspective of film narratives of female characters, intertextual narratives about Mulan reveal the neutral change in the female narrative from the male “gaze”, gender role anxiety and female self-awakening, transcending traditional gender role norms. From the perspective of the gender narrative of the role relationship in the movie, the gender role relationship shifts from implicit patriarchy to a new relationship involving equal dialog between gender roles. The inner strength of the development of feminist films in the context of globalization is the result of the strong willingness of female directors who want create narratives of independent women and audiences who desire new images of independent women.

Globalized film development and innovation require “Chinese stories”. Characters in Chinese culture have been portrayed as important “others” by world culture, providing an important imagination space for screenwriters, directors, actors and audiences. In China, “Hua Mulan” is portrayed as a woman who can fight like a man, accepting responsibility for family and country, and gender consciousness in this context is presented as a gender hierarchy of “who says women are inferior to men”. Mulan, walking along the path of stereotypes from China into the world, cannot get rid of her female identity even though she is dressed as a man. Mulan (2020) uses the imagination of feminist films, allowing female characters to finally break the shackles of gender culture; therefore, Mulan has become an independent neutralized person who transcends gender. This not only frees up potential space for the liberation of gender roles but also warns of the difficulties of transcending gender identity.

From the perspective of building new images of women, Mulan (2020) has undertaken a cultural imagination of the female image, responds to the cultural needs of contemporary women audiences for a new female image, and transcended traditions. As a popular product, contemporary films have established a new female identity by resonating with female viewers and the establishment of a new female identity that includes independence, charisma and equality while enabling the viewers to release social anxiety and realize self-value. In the historical process of film development, the creation of new Mulan images has traced the struggle of women, including directors, actors and women audiences against implicit patriarchy. Globally, women directors are still a minority, but women audiences have become an important force in the development of commercial cinema. It is expected that the decisive power of women and their contributions to box office and network productions could give a birth to even more new images of independent women, with more diverse narratives on gender relations.