"Reflection" is a song from the 1998 Disney animated feature film Mulan and the 2020 live action remake. The song was performed within the movie's narrative by Fa Mulan, sung by Lea Salonga, in order to show how much Mulan wanted to honor her family.
Plot[]
The song is performed after Mulan returns home following a failed attempt to impress her matchmaker. The lyrical content expresses Mulan's struggle to fit into the traditional gender roles and expectations of her family and society. She questions if she is even meant to play that part and then muses about being herself, but also acknowledges that doing so would disappoint her family. This central conflict is the heart of the song - the need to conform to traditional gender and familial duties versus the desire to be true to oneself. The song ends with her yearning for the day when she can be free to be herself and make her family proud, hoping that one day her reflection will show who she is inside. This scene takes place at Mulan's home in its surrounding gardens and ends in her family temple, where she removes her makeup to reveal her true appearance in sadness.
Lyrics[]
Look at me
I will never pass for a perfect bride
Or a perfect daughter
Can it be
I'm not meant to play this part?
Now I see
That if I were truly to be myself
I would break my family's heart
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight
Back at me?
Why is my reflection someone I don't know?
Somehow I cannot hide
Who I am
Though I've tried
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
Look at me
I will never pass for a China doll
Or a perfect daughter
Can it be
I'm not meant to play this part?
Now I see if I learned each rule
That could fool them all
I could never fool my heart
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight
Back at me?
Why is my reflection someone I don't know?
Who is that perfect bride?
It's not me
Though I've tried.
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
How I pray
That a time will come
I can free myself
From their expectations
On that day
I'll discover someway to be myself
And to make my family proud
They want a docile lamb
No one knows
Who I am
Must there be a secret me
I'm forced to hide?
Must I pretend that I'm
Someone else for all time?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
Look at me
You may think you see who I really am,
But you'll never know me
Everyday
It's as if I play a part
Now I see
If I wear a mask
I can fool the world
But I cannot fool my heart
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight
Back at me?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
I am now
In a world where I have to hide my heart,
And what I believe in
But somehow
I will show the world what's inside my heart
And be loved for who I am
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight
Back at me?
Why is my reflection someone I don't know?
Must I pretend that I'm
Someone else for all time?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
There's a heart that must be free to fly,
That burns with a need to know the reason why
Why must we all conceal
What we think
How we feel?
Must there be a secret me
I'm forced to hide?
I won't pretend that I'm someone else
For all time
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
Gallery[]
Screenshots[]
Miscellaneous[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- This song was meant to be much longer, but the filmmakers wanted to save time in the movie. In the deleted version, Mulan not only takes off her bun, makeup, and jewelery, she also takes off her sashes. Also, the deleted version shows Mulan riding Khan through mountains and a swamp.
- When Mulan sings "Reflection" in her father's shrine, the writing on the temple stones is the names of the Disney animators who worked on the film, written in ancient Chinese.
- Tony/Olivier Award-Winning actress Lea Salonga originally auditioned for Mulan's voice, but it was deemed "not deep enough" for when Mulan is impersonating a male soldier. Although Ming-Na Wen plays Mulan, Salonga was retained for Mulan's singing voice.
- Lea Salonga sang "Reflection" on the Disney Expo right after she received the Disney Legend Award for being the singing voice of Jasmine and Mulan.
- In the Lizzie McGuire episode "Random Acts of Miranda", where Miranda has a failed stunt as an actress in the school talent show, she decides to become a singer instead, and sings "Reflection."
- The movie credits' version of the song is the first to stay the same on any Disneymania volume.
- The film is credited with launching the career of Christina Aguilera, whose first song to be released in the US was the film's song "Reflection". The song was so well received that it landed her a recording contract with RCA Records.
- Christina Aguilera sung the song at the 2019 Disney Legends ceremony. Aguilera later returned for a new performance of the song for the film's live-action remake, making her the first performer to reprise an end credits song from the original Disney animated film in a Disney live-action remake.
- The lyrics "Who is that girl I see, starring straight back at me?" are quoted by Mr. Wilson in the first episode of Ms. Marvel.
External links[]
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