28. Mulan Spent 12 Years In The Army
In the movie, Mulan is nearly exposed on the very first day that she is in the training camp. She goes for a swim so that she can adequately bathe but is unexpectedly joined by some of her comrades who had the same idea. She realizes that she will have to be extremely careful to protect her female identity.
The real Mulan remained in the army for a full 12 years. This meant that she had to hide her female identity for much, much longer than Disney’s character did. If she had enlisted as a teenager, she would have had to hide the fact that Mulan was going through female puberty and spend one week every month hiding the fact that she was menstruating.