Ma Li's individual struggles and the collective plight of northeastern women

◎ Li Qinyu

Misplaced propaganda

The propaganda of "Siberian Tiger", like the text, is seriously "misplaced".

Before the release, the small videos were bombarded indiscriminately, and the bridge section of Ma Li's "grasping the little three" was overwhelming. Audiences who have watched this film know that there are actually three narrative threads in "Siberian Tiger", namely Xu Dong (played by Zhang Yu) who wants revenge because his dog has become the dog meat in the pot of the builder Ma Qianli (played by Zhang Zhiyong); Ma Qianli's relatives and friends want to take revenge because Ma Qianli "cheated" their money; Mei Ling (played by Ma Li) also wants revenge, because Xu Dong cheated when she was pregnant. Everyone wants to "avenge", but finally fails due to various "dislocations" and co-starred in a northeast absurd black humor drama.

The story of Ma Li and Zhang Yu is obviously only a branch line, but it is publicized as the "main hit", and it is not difficult to guess the reason: first, this kind of scene is the most bloody, and as a gimmick, it can attract the attention of the melon-eating masses; second, compared with Zhang Yu, who has broken through in the field of literary and art films, Ma Li's national affinity is of course still better.

The publicity strategy is not difficult to understand, but it is the "misplaced" Ma Li who is intriguing. Obviously, she is very successful in the comedy circle and often enjoys the treatment of "heroine", why should she "condescend" to play a supporting role in a literary film with few roles?

Ma Dongmei's confinement

Ma Li has stressed on many different occasions that she hopes to play more types of female roles. Of course, everyone can hear her subtext - debut, popular so far, Ma Li's acting road is actually getting "narrower".

Many viewers may have an illusion before enjoying "Siberian Tiger", "Siberian Tiger" is not Ma Li going to play the Northeast "Tigress" again? Coupled with the fancy misleading of the promotional short video, it completely distorts the public's aesthetic expectations for this film. But Ma Li did not have this idea, on the contrary, her eagerness to break through her previous roles is obvious to all. In "Siberian Tiger", Ma Li completely put away the exaggerated performance and used a more restrained and restrained approach to shape the characters.

There are two details worth mentioning. The last time when "catching adultery", Ma Li opened the other party's hat, only to find that the family did not have the yellow hair of the third party, she immediately returned the hat to the other party, carefully compensated, and showed the inner anxiety under the fierce appearance of the character to the fullest.

When meeting with a real third party, the husband reminds the other party that there is a problem with the wine, and Mary smiles coldly, "The wine is no problem, it is your problem." Immediately after, a tear silently slid across her cheek. There is no hysterical emotional catharsis throughout the whole process, but the audience reads out disappointment, sadness and collapse.

Of course, Ma Li is "acting", but I have to say that although her performance in this film is remarkable, Mei Ling is still a copy of "Ma Dongmei", only this time she is more calm and normal.

From "Charlotte Troubles" to the "Li Mao Dressed as Prince" just released in the New Year, Ma Li went around in a big circle, and the performance style and role positioning still returned to the starting point - whirring, grinning, on the surface it seems to be the stronger party in married life, but in fact, there seems to be only one appeal in life - to firmly tie the husband to his side and keep the most orthodox "family concept" red line.

This is reminiscent of the recent hit "Love Myth", Miss Li and Gloria both longed for love and held the scale just right, vividly interpreting what is the "individual dignity" of contemporary women. And Ma Li's northeastern female Meiling is more like the boxers whose bodies were swapped in "Shy Iron Fist" - seemingly fierce, but the soul is full of conservatism and nostalgia.

The collective dilemma of the female image in the Northeast

Of course, this is not Ma Li's problem alone, and always hanging on to the "iron pot stew herself" cannot be her ultimate artistic pursuit. However, rather than some kind of a priori character portrait that makes her involuntari, it is rather the collective dilemma faced by the "Northeastern female" image.

The stereotype of northeastern women by audiences across the country is very unified, that is, the women with strong physique, rough voices and no scheming portrayed in the northeast sketches at the evening or variety stage. In the northeast-themed film and television dramas, female characters are generally divided into only two categories: one is the reverse obedience type, such as the jujube flower in the "Fences , Women and Dogs" series, which seems to take loyalty to her husband and filial piety to the elderly as the only goal of life, and has a resigned attitude towards the injustices encountered. The other type is a strong personality, rough voice, wind and fire, such as Xie Bigfoot in "Country Love", always love to fight uneven, in their own emotional life is also active and persistent.

Ma Li in "Siberian Tiger" is a combination of the above two types of images. As a pregnant woman, Mei Ling held up a huge belly, in the cold and snowy northeast, but also a popsicle, "fire" very much; found the hair on her husband's clothes, quickly from the box at the bottom of the pressure box, turned out another hair of the collection for comparison, not only reflected her "shrewdness", but also showed the deepest fear in her heart.

This kind of female image shaping caters to the "northeast imagination" of the current mainstream culture (or audiences everywhere): from the perspective of market economy, "northeast" is the remnant of the planned economy, Meiling's family is "economic decay"; from the perspective of urban civilization, "northeast" is rough, Meiling has a big belly to check the "little three" one by one, but the day before she is still enjoying the pleasure of her husband pulling a sleigh for her...

In short, in this stereotype, the "northeast" has become an "outsider" of modern civilization. So, how can women in Northeast China find their "sense of existence" in contemporary society? Obviously, many creators have exerted too much force to portray northeastern women who have long been suppressed by traditional concepts into "humble women" who ridicule men and are cruel and brutal. This is actually a regression of the concept of creation - women are "powerful", which does not mean that women are "independent".

At present, Ma Li, who is a representative actor of "Northeast Women", is just another victim of such a seriously distorted creative concept.

The Northeast Renaissance has nothing to do with women?

"Siberian Tiger" is literary and "dull", but there is also a bright color in the video text, that is, two mentally abnormal people: one is a poet who insists on selling the poetry collection to "different people", and the other is a small two who sends a kite, fried fish and 500 yuan to Ma Qianli. They are incompatible with the main plot, but they have prompted Xu Dong, Ma Qianli and other protagonists to start thinking about how to "get out of the numbness". This is the "sadness" exclusive to Northeast literature and art, not the moaning without illness.

In recent years, the "New Northeast Writers Group" represented by Shuang Xuetao, Ban Yu, Zheng Zhi and others is on the rise, and the so-called "Northeast Renaissance" has long ceased to be a joke. In the pen of this group of writers, there are too many losers, who are full of ideals but are not in time, and are regarded as crazy or wasted, just like the poet and Xiao Er in "Siberian Tiger".

Giving dignity to this group of losers and marginalized people helps to break through the law of the jungle of social Darwinism, which is the fundamental meaning of the "Northeast Renaissance". However, the "Northeastern women" mostly play aesthetic and romanticized roles in their works. For example, Li Fei and Fu Dongxin in "Moses on the Plain" embody love and kindness, but they are always outside the story and become an empty concept.

At the end of "Siberian Tiger", the protagonist Xu Dong wants to go to the south to see, saying "Survive today, tomorrow is interesting." The Northeastern men in the movie are miserable, humble and funny, but they are still looking for a way out of life after all. Geng Jun uses the Siberian tiger trapped in the zoo as a metaphor for their situation, but on the other hand, Meiling is "forgotten" by the director, or only another "Ma Dongmei" is produced.

At the moment of drastic changes in history, whether It is Ma Li or Mei Ling, it is not just an insignificant symbol, and it should never be a tool person in the work. What "northeast women" lack may be just an opportunity and an outlet for expression.