Recently, Wang Ju has re-entered everyone's field of vision. In the hit drama "Love is Delicious", Xia Meng, played by her, is a "strong woman in the workplace" who makes her boyfriend feel pressure and propose to break up because she is too capable.
Xia Meng, who was "broken up", was afraid that her toughness would scare off men again, so after meeting a fitness coach, she began to play weak: she was obviously a corporate executive, but she said that she worked in a small shop, and she lived in a high-end community, but said that she lived in a shabby community. She lied one after another in an attempt to keep the other person around in this way.
But the lie was eventually broken. The two begin to learn to face their true selves and accept each other's truth. Although the process was bumpy, it was finally complete.
This is after the summer of "Creation 101", Wang Ju was once again hotly discussed. But this time, people no longer argue whether she meets the standards of the women's group, no longer judge her appearance and figure, this time, people give her an evaluation: I did not expect Wang Ju's acting skills, it is quite good.
Did Wang Ju change? Maybe not. In the film and television drama, she still maintained a slightly dark skin, and did not deliberately lose weight to a very slender body, as for the makeup, she made the choice that best fits the role. I think this is the Wang Ju I know: a person who has always been particularly determined to know what "self" looks like.
I remembered a conversation with Wang Ju 2 years ago. In that conversation, she told us about her upbringing and expressed her insights on women, bodies and beauty in detail and deeply.
01.
Sitting in front of us, Wang Ju, Su Yan, although girlishness has never been something that Wang Ju pursues, but my first feeling when I see her is, "It turns out that she looks so girly with a real face", and her face is very small. Thinking of what she thought she should look like when she was herself (hairstyles, makeup, and clothing made her look aggressive and powerful), I think it must be because Wang Ju felt that it was closer to her soul.
After 101, she once caused controversy for losing weight and slimming down. After all, Wang Ju was successfully selected for the women's group because she, as the embodiment of a value, had fans who supported this value. At the heart of this value, perhaps the most central one is "not bowing to mainstream gender stereotypes." Because the mainstream gender stereotype requires women to be weak, passive, and in need of protection, and at the same time place too much emphasis on thinness. Wang Ju once fought against such demands in a clear-cut manner. However, after her success, she began to lose weight and slim down, making many people feel that she betrayed the value orientation she once represented.
But as soon as Wang Ju sat down, he said to us:
"I don't mind that others will attribute Wang Ju to slim down and lose weight, due to bowing to the mainstream aesthetic." This is one of the things I really mind because that's not my purpose. ”
"I wanted to be an actor, and that was a dream I've had since I was a kid. I'm a person who likes to do things differently from others, and I like to keep trying to challenge people, and I don't change in order to make more people like me or purposefully attract more groups. If one day you find that Wang Ju has changed, it must be because Wang Ju has broken through herself and challenged herself in order to do what she wants to do (not to meet any aesthetic standards)." Fortunately, this winter of 2021, she finally fulfilled her dream: to be remembered as an actress.
Next, she explained to us her choices about body and appearance in a very realistic and authentic way. "After becoming an artist, I spend more time, energy, and financial resources on my appearance and skin than before to complete it (to achieve the goal). When I was a vegetarian, I didn't have this kind of thought, and I didn't think it was so necessary at that time. But because you need to rely on this thing to make money now, it wasn't made by this thing before, so it's different. ”
In the process of talking to Wang Ju, I gradually believed that her change in her body was a process of her inner search for herself. Our body is a particularly important part of our sense of identity, and all mental states depend on the body to exist. So when we see repeated changes in the appearance of a person's body, we can also see the conflict and confusion within her.
Wang Ju told us that in fact, she was born a person with a very light skin color and easy to turn white.
"I myself have a fairer complexion, and if I don't stick to tanning — for me at least once or twice a week — to maintain the level of tanning I want."
But some time ago because I had a small surgery on my hand, I didn't have a tanning light for almost three weeks, and then I whitened surprisingly fast. It's not that I haven't tried the 'white as beauty' skin tone before. But I later realized that that didn't fit my authentic, assertive personality. ”
"Everyone's personality habits and saying that she has different standards for her own aesthetic. Nor am I saying that I represent absolute beauty. Everyone has their own standards, as long as they think it is beautiful, there is no problem. I like European and American makeup is also the reason, European and American brands have a lot of foundation color numbers, unlike Asia, which is always only a few very white color numbers, which is why they are culturally allowed to be the target of "beauty" in all colors. I think their standards of beauty are more diverse and rich than ours.
For me, the process of determining the shape of my body is a constant attempt. In the beginning, there will be a lot of catering to external voices to say what is beautiful, but I will review all the attempts and finally know what I like most.
Like most Chinese girls are still white as beautiful, everyone likes to paint themselves white, and then like to put their double eyelids thick, and then the nose is small, the mouth is also small, of course, I also tried this, but then I feel more and more that it can not show my heart. “
She went on to tell us quite freely that she felt that her breasts and hips were beautiful, and that if others said that her ass was big, she would be happy, and she would be willing to show these body parts.
Later when we asked her what animal she thought she looked like most, she said, ocelot. Each of us is also affected by our own perception of ourselves, and what we think of as "our truest appearance" will never be the most comprehensive way we are, but the part of us that we are most willing to identify with, the part that we think is most valuable.
Wang Ju chose the way her body wanted to look, strength, aggression, robustness, and not emaciated in the sun. And that's what she chose, hoping her soul would look like.
02.
"I know very well what kind of people I like, which is a manifestation of my clear understanding of myself." Of course, I was flattered when I first knew I was liked by so many people. But I can guess what people who like me will look like, things are clustered, this is a very simple truth.
...... Just like I feel like I'm in the minority in my life, but there are many people like me in my circle, and I don't think my ideas are strange...
There may be some empathy, or some empathy. They wanted to see a possibility of success in me, so they tried their best to help me. ”
101 must be an important turning point in Wang Ju's life. Before 101, Wang Ju had not been on the stage for a long time. But the desire for the stage, in wang ju's words, "is their own nature." "Being in the spotlight on the stage can be said to be the driving force of my life." So she chose to enter the 101 arena in a "kick pavilion" way.
Wang Ju said that he did not deliberately pursue the C position. Before participating in the show, she did not have the concept of C bit, all she wanted was to let her performance get the attention and love of the audience. She said that the C bit is at best a means, not an end in sight.
Wang Ju's sister said that after the momentum of 101 passed, with the decline in attention, Wang Ju still felt a certain anxiety. She will always feel that she has not done enough, she has to work harder, and she will also look at the negative evaluation of herself on the Internet to do some self-reflection.
However, Wang Ju said clearly, "I have always been very positive. A lot of the media have always wanted to film me anxious and nervous, but I have been reluctant to. First of all this is my privacy. Secondly, there is no need to export to the public, and artists have the responsibility to output more positive energy."
"I think anxiety is something that never goes away. Because no one will ever be completely satisfied with their life. You feel anxious about the parts you're dissatisfied with, or when you're anxious to get it done but you can't.
There are many anxious things because entertainers are a high-risk profession. If you're not recognized, you probably won't have a job. You have to produce as many good works as possible. I value work very much, so I don't dare to take a break, and I don't like to rest because I will be very anxious, I will worry that I could have done more work or learned more things when I was playing, but I wasted it.
However, you still have to learn how to live in peace with your anxiety. I think it's normal to have anxiety, but you can't be defeated by your anxiety, you can't be dominated by your anxiety. I was so afraid of everything that I didn't dare to do anything.
For me, when I feel a great sense of anxiety about something, I need to find something that I dedicate myself to, either work or I choose to do it manually. I'm a person who likes to do crafts, people may not think, but in fact, I can stay at home and do some pasting and painting and other small things, I will calm down the whole person. For me, it's a control method for me. ”
At that time, we asked her, what if in a year, three years, five years, you can't do the work you want? Of course, this question may no longer be true today, but at that time, Wang Ju's answer, with its distinctive personality, impressed me. She said,
"This is impossible, it doesn't exist, and this is working so hard now so that it doesn't happen this day, not to imagine."
I think bad intentions should be done in my heart, but I don't say it. It was one thing I knew when I was in high school listening to a lecture at the school — a positive influence on myself.
You don't always repeat some negative things, because every time you say it, you are deepening the concept of this thing in your heart, you are equivalent to letting it thrive, letting bad things, negative things thrive, you should say more words of encouragement to yourself.
I used to listen to that lecture, and the teacher at the time said that he wanted us to look in the mirror and look at ourselves and say: Today is a new day, you will have a very good learning state today, and you must also cheer today. It is a positive encouragement to your own psychology, you should do more of these things, bad things in your head occasionally think about, spur yourself, motivate yourself, I will not talk about a lot. ”
03.
Wang Ju's sister told us that when Wang Ju was a child, she was a child with a strong desire to perform and self-confidence, and she liked to sing and dance at family gatherings.
My sister said that she has admired Wang Ju since she was a child, because Wang Ju has always been very brave to express some of her views and ideas, and she will not worry about what to do if she says wrong in front of so many people like her. She said that Wang Ju has always been a person who feels that she does not need so many people to evaluate her in her own world, and she feels that "as long as she cares about the evaluation of important people."
Perhaps because of this, Wang Ju does not seem to have thought about it, whether it is to cater to or deliberately rebel against the so-called mainstream aesthetic. Her perspective on beauty seems to have little to do with the eyes of others. When she was discussing beauty with us, I could feel that the only pair of scrutinizing eyes in her heart was herself. And the standard she examines is not so much "becoming more beautiful" as "becoming more like herself."
As she said, having your own independent mind and insisting on being the person who is most like yourself is a very important thing, which is the meaning of beauty.
Two years ago, Wang Ju said that about the future, she wanted to become a professional actor while continuing to perform on stage. Because she feels that acting is a pure profession of fighting acting skills and works, in line with her style of "wanting to fight hard power", and performing on the stage for audiences who love her is her innermost and core passion.
2 years later, with her own efforts, she finally took a step closer to her ideals. "Love is Delicious" has been rating above 8 points on Douban, and comments from all sides are also well received. But I think that's just the beginning.
A person who has never given up "being himself", a person who has a firm belief and is not shaken by the outside world, a person who is willing to pay and continue to work hard, will always firmly walk on the path of life he has chosen. But no matter where it eventually leads, Wang Ju has become her "most beautiful look".