title:  Trump’s VP Pick Attacked Animated Disney Movie For Being Pro-Woman
text: Mike Pence, the presumptive Republican nominee for vice president, once penned a screed attacking the Disney animated musical Mulan as liberal propaganda.Before he was a member of Congress and a Governor, Pence was the host of a right-wing radio show. As part of that show, Pence wrote the column in 1999 attacking the musical.  As a part of the hardcore  religious  right, Pence was angry about the main character serving in the military.He complained: Despite her delicate features and voice, Disney expects us to believe that Mulan s ingenuity and courage were enough to carry her to military success on an equal basis with her cloddish cohorts,  wrote Pence.  Obviously, this is Walt Disney s attempt to add childhood expectation to the cultural debate over the role of women in the military. He later wrote: I suspect that some mischievous liberal at Disney assumes that Mulan s story will cause a quiet change in the next generation s attitude about women in combat and they just might be right,  Pence continued.  (Just think about how often we think of Bambi every time the subject of deer hunting comes into the mainstream media debate.) Pence went on to claim that Mulan proves that women shouldn t serve in combat: It is instructive that even in the Disney film, young Ms. Mulan falls in love with her superior officer! Me thinks the politically correct Disney types completely missed the irony of this part of the story. Yet in the film, while she does strike up a romance, she is also key to the victory of China over the invading Hun, repelling his attempted invasion and defending the life of the emperor, who rewards her for her bravery.Since the film s release, women have more options to them in the military. Under President Obama, all military positions are now open to women who are able to qualify for them, including in front line combat.Despite Pence s hostility to a cartoon character, he obviously doesn t hold a grudge as he has decided to run on a presidential ticket with one, albeit one less intelligent and capable than Mulan.Featured image via YouTube/Flickr