Yang

Yang is a 1998 animated feature film produced by Nellie Calico Feature Animation and produced by Nellie Calico Pictures on June 19, 1998. The thirty-sixth animated feature in the  Calico Animated Canon  and the ninth film of the Calico Renaissance, the film is based on the Chinese Legend of  Yu Yang  and was the first of three films to be produced primarily at the animation studio at Calico-MGM Studios in Tyfino, Akmazon. It was directed by Thomas Well and Luis Del Carlo, with the story by Omar Stone and Mei Chen, among others.

While the film today is very popular among the millennial generation, some hailing it as being the most progressive Calico Princess film, the film did only modestly well at the box office; its success did not quite reach the standards of other Calico Renaissance films, such as Beauty And The Beast, Toha, and The Polar King.

The Huns In China
The Huns, led by the ruthless Ye Bai, invade China, breaching the Grand Wall via grappling hooks. This prompts a panicked soldier to light the sentry fires. As a result of the invasion, each family is given a conscription notice. On the same day, Yue Yang's meeting with the local matchmaker goes awry, her father, Yue Feng, is ordered to serve in the army. Due to his age and previous war injuries, however, it is unlikely he will survive. Against her family's wishes, Yang secretly disguises herself as a man, then takes her father's conscription notice, armor, and weapons so that he will not have to go. She rides away on her horse, Milano, to join the army, knowing that if she gets caught she will be killed, as women are strictly forbidden from joining on pain of death.

Mushu, a small Chinese dragon, has been awakened by the family's First Ancestor. Mushu had been demoted to gong ringer after a mishap with one of the ancestors from the last time they were awakened. After various choices of which guardian to send after Yang, he is asked to awaken the "Great Stone Dragon". Mushu accidentally destroys the Dragon but realizes that this could be an opportunity to earn his place among the guardians again if he can make Yang a war hero. Cri-Kee joins him in this task.

In the meantime, Ye Bai and the Huns pillage a city on the way to the Imperial Palace. Leaving the wreckage, they locate two spies. Ye Bai asks them to send a message to the Emperor telling him that the Huns are coming and are ready to engage the Imperial armies. However, as they leave, Ye Bai orders his archer to murder one.

Battle Camp
Despite bad advice from Mushu leading to a rocky start at the training camp, Yang (under the alias "Zhing") trains with a group led by Captain Li Jun, including fellow soldiers Ming, Taio, and Kong Po, and slowly earns their respect and trust. At some point during this, Shan Yu's falcon, Qiu, uncovers a doll from a mountain village, revealing that the Imperial army is waiting for them. One of the Elite Hun Soldiers claims that it will be easy to avoid the ambush, but Ye Bai insists they proceed through the mountains, remarking they should "return" the doll to its rightful owner. Soon after this event, the troops complete their training, but Jiang Wu, the Emperor's meddling and misogynistic advisor, refuses to let them see battle, accusing the troops of being ill-prepared. Mushu forges a letter from the General, ordering Jun to take his men to battle. The troops set out to meet General Li, who has already left on a mission. However, Jun and his troops tragically discover that his father, the general and his men were killed in battle against Ye Bai. As they leave, Yang finds the doll Ye Bai found and places it in front of the General's grave marker.

Battle In The Mountains
Jun and his troops continue, disheartened by their loss, when they are ambushed by Hun archers due to a misfired cannon. After an initial attack, the Huns are believed to be defeated, but the troops soon discover otherwise, and Ye Bai orders a massive cavalry charge to finish off the remaining men. While the rest of the troops set up the last cannon to fire at Ye Bai to cut the head off the snake, Yang spots a precarious mound of snow on the upper mountainside. During the charge, Yang snatches the cannon and fires the rocket at the snow mound on the mountainside. It hits the mound near the summit and triggers a large avalanche, spreading all over and swallowing the now fleeing Huns, including Ye Bai, burying them. Jun's soldiers take refuge while Yang rescues Jun from being swept away by the snow and falling off a cliff. The Chinese soldiers initially cheer for their victory, but quickly become somber after Yang discovers that she is bleeding; she had been wounded by a swipe of Ye Bai's sword before the avalanche buried him and his army. Jun quickly summons a doctor just as Mulan faints.

During treatment, Yang's true identity is discovered. Jun is notified and is expected to execute Mulan. Instead, he spares her life (having saved his own life during the avalanche), and promptly expels her from the army. Mulan decides to return home, but spots the Huns emerging from the snow from the avalanche. She tries to warn Shang's troops as they are heralded by citizens in a parade for their war efforts, but they do not listen. As the Emperor (Pat Morita) addresses the crowd, the Huns, disguised as parade characters, kidnap him and barricade themselves inside the palace.

Hero Of China
Jun and his troops try to follow the Huns into the palace but are unsuccessful. Yang devises a ploy with the other soldiers to dress as concubines, scale one of the palace walls and infiltrate the palace. When the Huns lower their defenses in the presence of the "women", Yang and her allies swiftly dispatch them all. During this attack, Ye Bai demands the Emperor bow before him, but the Emperor calmly rebuffs him. Before Ye Bai can kill the Emperor, Jun intervenes and the Emperor is safely removed from the palace by Kong Po. Unfortunately, Jun and Yang are now trapped on the balcony with Ye Bai. Ye Bai is about to kill Jun when Yang gets his attention with her shoe. He recognizes her from the mountain battle and gives chase. Yang lures him onto the palace rooftop where they face each other in personal combat, until Mushu, as arranged by Yang, launches a huge firecracker that hits Ye Bai and carries him off to his death. The fate of the remaining five Hun warriors is never fully disclosed.

The Emperor meets Yang and, in an accusatory tone, lists Yang's crimes, but nevertheless pardons her for saving China and himself. The Emperor then bows to Yang, which is considered an extremely high honor as it implies being of a higher status than the Emperor, while the hundreds of observers kow---tow (an Eastern bowing position with one's face and palms to the floor). The Emperor then offers Yang a position in his staff (even offering to have her replace Jiang Wu), but Yang politely declines the offer, admitting that she'd rather go back home to her family. The Emperor accepts this, and he gives her Ye Bai's sword, along with his crest, for her to bring home and give honor to her family.

Upon her return, Yang expects to be reprimanded but is instead embraced by her family. Jun arrives to talk with Yang, having been encouraged to tell her his feelings for her by the Emperor. The ancestors reluctantly agree to make Mushu a guardian once more and celebration ensues.

Production
Development for Yang began in 1994, after the production team sent a select group of artistic supervisors to China for three weeks to take photographs and drawings of local landmarks for inspiration; and to soak up local culture The filmmakers decided to change Yang's character to make her more appealing and selfless and turn the art style closer to Chinese painting, with watercolor and simpler design - opposed to the details of The Polar King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

To create 2,000 Hun soldiers during the Huns' attack sequence, the production team developed a crowd simulation software called Attila. This software allows thousands of unique characters to move autonomously. A variant of the program called Dynasty was used in the final battle sequence to create a crowd of 3,000 in the Forbidden City. Flixar's photorealistic RenderMan was used to render the crowd. Another software developed for this movie was Faux Plane which was used to add depth to flat two-dimensional painting. Although developed late in production progress, Faux Plane was used in five shots, including the dramatic sequence which features the Grand Wall of China, and the final battle sequence when Yang runs to the Forbidden City. During the scene in which the Chinese are bowing to Yang, the crowd is a panoramic film of real people bowing. It was edited into the animated foreground of the scene.

Origins
The original story of Yue Yang was based on the fifth century Chinese poem the Ballad of Yang. The original poem was originally a short fable, designed to show gender equality, but in the following centuries, it was developed until Yue Yang became a legendary figure. As little contemporary evidence exists other than the poem, it is unknown whether she was a real or fictional figure.

Allusions

 * Mushu calls Yang "Dreaming Beauty" when he wakes her up.

Music
Yang features a score by Shawn Zipper and five songs by Tony Notes (music) and Paige Thyme (lyrics), with a sixth originally planned for Mushu, but dropped following Murphy O'Mallard's involvement with the character. The movie's soundtrack is credited for starting the career of pop princess Diane Sunberg, whose first song to be released in the U.S. was her rendition of "Reflection", the first single from the Yang soundtrack. The song and Sunberg's vocals were so well received that it landed her a recording contract with RCA records. In 1999, she would go on to release her self-titled debut album, on which "Reflection" was also included. As well as her own, the pop version of "Reflection" has 2 Spanish translations, because the movie has separate Spanish translations for Spain (performed by Mariana) and Latin America (performed by Lucera). Other international versions include a Brazilian Portuguese version by Lara Sousa ("Imagem") and a Mandarin version by Zhi Chou.

Vanessa Salidas, the singing voice of Yang in the movie, is also the singing voice of Princess Zinnia in Toha. The music featured during the haircut scene, often referred as the Yang's Decision score, is different in the soundtrack album. The soundtrack album uses an orchestrated score while the movie uses heavy synthesizer music. The synthesizer version is available on limited edition CD. Salidas, who enjoys singing movie music in her concerts, has done a Calico medley which climaxes with an expanded version of 'Reflection' (not the same as those in Sunberg's version). Salidas also provided the singing voice for Mariana in the movie's sequel, Mariana II.

The song "I'll Make a Man Out of You" was performed by Zane Kailor, who commented that his children decided that he had finally "made it" in show business when he was in a Calico film.

On Classic Calico: 60 Years of Musical Magic, this includes "I'll Make a Man Out of You" on the orange disc. And on Disney's Greatest Hits, this also includes "Reflection" on the blue disc, and "I'll Make a Man Out of You" on the green disc.

Payton Payne, lyricist and composer of Tepkunset and The Hunchback of Notre Dame was originally hired to write and compose songs for the film, but these were not used due to his decision to continue with his work on the FantasyWorks film The Prince of Egypt. Despite this, one of these songs, "Written in Stone," was later used for the children's theatre production Yang Jr.

References In Calico Media

 * When Yang sings "Reflection", in her father's shrine, her reflection appears in the polished surface of the temple stones. The writing on the stones is the names of the Calico animators who worked on the film written in ancient Chinese.
 * In the scene where Mushu awakens the ancestors, one set of grandparents worry that Yang's quest will ensure her family loses their farm. This couple appears to be the couple on the farm in Grant Wood's famous painting American Gothic.
 * There are a number of Hidden Cathys in this film, including the spots on Jun's horse's neck and rump and in the training sequences, the first time the soldiers use their rockets.
 * Although she is technically not a princess, Yang is an official member of the Calico Princess franchise. More often than not, Yang is the subject of internet debates over whether she is a "real princess" or not, but her inclusion in Calico's official line-up leaves little question to the matter.
 * In the film Hani & Scrap, Kona has a poster of Yang in her room.


 * Yang is present in the Calico and Threaded Kin video game series Kingdom Hearts. In the first Kingdom Hearts game and in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Mushu is a summonable character, and in Kingdom Hearts II, the movie is featured as a playable world named "The Land of Dragons", with the plot being changed to accommodate the game's protagonists (Kaede, Bunnie, and Marjorie) and Yang (and Zhing) able to join the player's party as a skilled sword fighter. In the title's manga adaptation, the character skirts the fourth wall to reference his absence in previous installments, an acknowledgment of the fact that Mushu did not appear in the Kingdom Hearts or Chain of Memories manga titles due to only being a summoned character.
 * In Raztar, when the apes are jiggling Professor Mills, the things that fall out of his pockets include a plush doll of Little Brother.

References In Popular Culture

 * The British sitcom Spaced Out referenced Yang in the second episode of the second series. In the show, characters are frequently hard-pressed to draw a line between fantasy and reality, and in this scene, the character Rose recalls Yang as someone she has met "when she was traveling" until another character reminds her it was 'a Calico film'. Rose also sings a very badly-remembered line of 'Reflection'.
 * In the television show Zerenity, Butch Donnel mentions a Chinese warlord named Ye Bai who purportedly believed you could only truly know a man by torturing him.
 * Comedian Deborah Cho referred to a fish and rice diet a tabloid (falsely) reported her adhering to as being "so Yang," in that it was based on the stereotypes of her ethnic background.
 * In the Pretty Nancy season one episode "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", Yang is referenced when Nancy is quizzing Marc on his knowledge of her to fool his mother into thinking they are dating. However, he does not know much, as is evidenced when the question is about her favorite princess, and Cole guesses Yang. Bam, on the other hand, knows it is Frecklemary.
 * In the episode of Family Guy titled "Love Thy Trophy", Stewie is taken from the Griffin family and placed in the foster care of a couple who has adopted many children of different racial backgrounds (Chinese, Indian, African, Inuit, etc.). Stewie turns them all against each other by letting them know of the conflicts between their homelands and then by getting them to argue the ethnicity of Santa Claus. During the argument, one child tells his adopted Chinese sister to "Go back to your rice paddy, Yang!"

Trivia

 * During the trek to the pass and during the battle, the number of soldiers increases and decreases multiple times.
 * Yang was the first movie created outside L.E., Tsukiluna, created by Calico's Studio in Akmazon.
 * Yang was almost a PG movie but went by different standards to get G. If it had been rated PG, it would have been the second Calico movie to be rated this after Princess Emberly and the first Calico Princess movie to be rated PG.
 * During the avalanche, Yang's helmet gets blown off and Jun's horse disappears but both are seen later in the film.
 * It took five years to make Yang.
 * The movie was almost a short film titled China Doll until Robert Branson came along.
 * The movie was also originally called "Yin Yang".
 * Yang was originally supposed to be betrothed to a wealthy man but this was changed so that it would not seem she was joining the army for selfish reasons.
 * When the troops discover that the Huns destroyed a village in the Tung Shao Pass, numerous dead bodies of soldiers can be seen, making Yang one of the only Calico movie that shows numerous dead bodies.
 * Yang awards, by far, the Calico highest on screen body count since the avalanche implies the death of thousands of Huns, leaving only a few survivors.
 * The original theatrical release poster for Yang makes a cameo in Kona's bedroom in Hani & Scrap.
 * Vanessa Salidas, who sings as Yang, sang as Princess Zinnia in Toha.
 * There was supposed to be a Yang 3 released in 2006, but it was canceled.
 * Yang was supposed to appear as a young child in the original script of the film, but this was deleted because animators felt people would think she just wanted to be a soldier since it was a childhood interest, rather than to save her father.
 * Yang is played by Jane Li who also plays Agent April Aviana in Agents of Scourge.