Original title: Is women 'able to fight' to grow and be strong?
Cao Xuemeng
Crime, revenge, women, suspense, the Korean drama "My Name", which gathers several eye-catching elements, is full of "can fight" temperament like the heroine with full combat effectiveness in the play.
From "Extremely Cold City" to "Anna", "Immortal Guard", "Gunpowder Milkshake" and other film and television works, in recent years, the big heroine action movies have emerged in an endless stream, and the beautiful and sassy heroine and the bloody fight scene are strongly combined, no matter what the plot direction is, it can always win a large number of curious eyes.
Stills from "My Name"
HighlightsThe "ambition" of the female characters was highlighted
The boom caused by "My Name" also comes largely from the action scenes of the heroine Zhiyou. In order to investigate the truth of his father's murder, Zhiyou joined the Dongchuan faction, a drug trafficking organization where his father was alive, and under the cultivation of the leader Choi Wu-jin, his strength value continued to rise, from a rebellious girl to a fierce thug, and changed his name to Wu Huijin, an undercover police station.
Han Shaoxi, who plays the role of Zhiyou and is a model, changed the feminine and gentle style in "The World of Couples" this time, and gained 10 kilograms to create a tough and indomitable image of a beaten woman. From the initial tearing of the girls' hair between each other on campus, to the vulnerable in front of other male gang members after entering the organization, to winning the battle against everyone and becoming a policeman, to performing a mission to be ten... In the extremely dense play, with the continuous transformation of the forms of group fights, one-on-one, and narrow spaces, the energy of the upgrade of the zhiyou monsters is also accumulating. Attack weaknesses are fatal, punches and legs are dazzling, close-quarters hand-to-hand combat is not dragged with mud and water, the movements are clean and clean, the strength and speed are combined, and the combination of sound and camera scheduling is quite realistic.
The plot of "My Name" is actually very simple, summed up as the story of a young girl who avenges her father and hides her name, goes through hardships and obstacles, but finds that she has been wrongly regarding the enemy family as a benefactor.
Such a setting is not new. When the three elements of femininity, action and revenge come together, the plot mostly soars along a tried-and-true path. The highly poisoned heroine in "Kate" spends the last day of her life looking for the poisoned person; "Evil Girl" Kim Sook-hee constantly embarks on the road to revenge due to the death of her father, lover, and daughter; A Xin in "Kingdom: A Letter in the North", like Zhiyou, sacrifices everything to avenge her father... The collection of the three elements seems to form a stable triangle, so that these stories that happen in different time and space, different women, share a similar set of logic and structure: the road to revenge is always accompanied by deception and betrayal, a thousand turns, a thousand turns, a roundabout, and the heroines will eventually find that the enemy is the person they once trusted, grateful for, and even loved - such as the good brother of Zhiyou's father, Kate's boss who is also a teacher and father, and Kim Sook-hee's beloved ex-husband.
In such a narrative, in order to become a great heroine, you must first experience tragic situations, and then penetrate the cold and warm of human feelings, and then overcome the inner waves, and finally hand blade the enemy. The ruthless temperament, heroic appearance, extraordinary force value, etc., make the women in such film and television works look like they have escaped the role of the rescued, and they are different from another type of image that completes revenge with humiliation and scheming, but a powerful independent individual visible to the naked eye. The American writer Barbara Kinsovo once said: "People praise the ambition of men, but often look at this trait in women with questioning or hostility." In such works of big heroines, the "ambition" of female characters is publicized, magnified, and praised, replacing the qualities of humility, gentleness, and respect that are regarded as women's traditional virtues, becoming their significant labels and sources of charm.
"My Name" is no exception, trying to distance itself from the male gaze in the portrayal of the heroine. Dark costumes, smart short hair, and messy styling have replaced the usual beautiful female figures in film and television works. And although he is always accompanied by scars, bruises, and bleeding, Zhiyou has never been defeated, and can always get up after being knocked down, and has nothing to fear when encountering powerful opponents. As a result, what cannot be defeated is not only Zhiyou herself, but also the indomitable will, faith and spirit of women - this obsession that begins with revenge, through intensive confrontation, continues to expand its extension, trying to make the audience see and believe that the powerful root is not her torch of revenge, but the courage and determination of women who are not inferior to anyone and know the difficulties and obstacles.
It is a pity that the uniqueness of male power has not been erased
In the shaping of male characters, "My Name" also tries to adopt a level-headed perspective, so that they avoid showing people in the image of the savior, and move closer to the equal leader, opponent and partner. The male in the play has not been simplified and narrowed into a tool person who serves the heroine all the way, and even to some extent, the drug lord Choi Moo-jin played by Park Hee-soon is richer and more three-dimensional than the role of the heroine Zhiyou, and the character portrayal is more nuanced - although he is the embodiment of the villain, he is not the embodiment of complete evil, his viciousness, loss, warmth, and coldness are in the slightest, and the moment he knows the ending, he can't help but sigh.
But in fact, the practice of placing the female protagonist in an almost "all-male class" environment has largely made the series and Zhiyou together with Zhiyou unable to get rid of the shackles of male perspective. The members of the Dongchuan faction in the shelter are all men, the gang members Du Jiang are plotting against her, only winning against all male opponents means victory and strength, and the colleagues in the police station are all men... Similarly, her growth is inseparable from the help of a group of men: Cui Wuzhen takes her in and carefully cultivates her, and her colleague and lover Quan Bidao brings a bright color to her life. However, can only be a man who acts as a guide and protector?
At the end, the series hopes to reflect through the mouth of the people in the play, if blinded by hatred, life will lose its meaning. Although the whole drama has weakened the emotional drama, at the moment of "sublimation" of the plot, love suddenly comes again, so Quan Bi Dao and Zhiyou, who have no spark in the early stage, staged a passion play. The logic of the creators is that the nourishment of love allows Zhiyou to discover the beauty of life and avoid the fate of the dragon slayer teenager becoming a dragon. But the actual effect is confusing, the heroine who is bent on "engaging in career" cannot escape the love drama, and the drama has not been able to escape the trap.
In all this, in the overall treatment of the relationship between women and male characters, "My Name" still intentionally or unintentionally places women in opposition to men. Men are the constraints that women are difficult to succeed, and the way to success is to surpass men and become more powerful than men, and success requires men to lead and confirm. The uniqueness of male power has not been erased, and their connection with women still carries a downward gaze.
Under the violent aesthetics highlighted by "My Name", the growth history of the heroine compressed by several black and white light and shadow fighting shots has few traces to follow, and the male-led revenge further weakens and reduces the original female independent will and self-growth theme.
It is true that the progress from "white young and thin" and "flower fist embroidered legs" to a fighting woman with superior combat effectiveness is the most intuitive way to show the strength of women. However, compared with the "coolness" of sensory stimulation, the general observation and in-depth discussion of women's situation is the proper meaning of an excellent heroine's work; the reasons and embodiment of those women in life who are regarded as role models and goals, widely admired and praised, are also far beyond the simple power.
At the end of the episode, Zhiyou slashes the enemy with his hand, and the great revenge is repaid. And when she offers flowers in front of her father's tombstone, does it mean that a new life begins? The episode does not give an answer, and in the vast rain, she still has a long way to go - just like the telling of the story of the big heroine.
Editor-in-Charge: Xiao Yun