How many different dilemmas can a woman encounter in her life? And when they want to make a sound, what kind of response do they get?
Apple TV+'s latest "Roar" is another fresh attempt at popular women's dramas in recent years. Adapted from best-selling author Cecilia Achen's short story of the same name, the eight short stories of the same name are chosen to tell the absurdities and prejudices women encounter in their upbringing, workplace, love, marriage, and survival in an exaggerated way.
(The poster for "Roar" is designed as a flower with sharp teeth.)
Kas is a ceiling level. Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman served as executive producer and starred in one of the episodes. Almost all of her other actresses have won Golden Globe or Emmy awards and nominations, including Issa Ray in "Restlessness", Alison Brie in "Scrap Wood League" and Alison Brie in "Beauty Wrestling League".
(In the second episode, Nicole Kidman plays a middle-aged woman with a sick mother and an adolescent son, which is very impressive.) ）
After the broadcast, the response was a bit polarized. Some say it's a women's version of Black Mirror; others feel that the story is superficially unobtrusive enough. Some people say that it is a feminist cliché; others think that such simplicity is more poignant.
However, the titles of eight stories alone are enough to be considered brain-opening, and the plot setting revolves around these titles: "Disappearing Woman", "Woman Eating Photos", "Woman on the Shelf", "Woman with Bite Marks on Her Body", "The Woman Fed by Ducks", "The Woman Who Solved Her Own Murder", "The Woman Who Returned her Husband", and "The Girl Who Loved the Horse".
A pretty little girl named Amelia, her mother told her from an early age: "If I had to choose between wanting you to be smart or beautiful, I would always choose you to be pretty." ”
Pretty Amelia later naturally became a catwalk model, and met her rich husband who loved her on the catwalk.
Her husband told her that she should quit her job because she would always have a carefree life and a husband who would always want to worship her. Her husband personally built a shelf for her, hoping to see her every time he looked up, "Which will make me the happiest person." ”
She hesitated for a few seconds before deciding to sit on the shelf and become a "woman on the shelf." She does nails, drinks champagne, exercises, changes into trendy clothes and expensive jewelry, and accepts the envious eyes of others.
Of course, within a few years, her husband, tired of it, moved his desk and didn't want to look at her more, even though her beauty was still the same. Allowing her to cry on the shelf, she was left alone in the room. At this point, Amelia finally began to think about a possibility: jump off the shelf.
From the shelf, the floor that looked like an abyss really jumped down, and it didn't even shatter its bones. The first few steps were stumbling, but gradually the footsteps became brisk, and even danced on the beach.
Then she went back to the house and smashed the shelf.
You think that's the end of the story? No, no, no, the film ends with Amelia discovering her talent and opening a popular beauty shop.
She sat on a shelf and became the sign of a beauty shop. Everyone who came in would say to her, "Wow you look so beautiful." This time, it is no longer a rich husband who is willing to pay for her beauty, but society as a whole.
So, also using her beauty to "open business" and be "gazed" by the eyes of the male power, can Amelia be considered a successful transformation from a "vase wife" to an independent woman?
Compared to the twists and turns and open-ended endings of "Woman on the Shelf", "The Woman with Bite Marks on her body" is more direct to people's hearts, especially for mothers. In addition to being a mother of two children, the protagonist Ambia is a very successful partner in the company and has a husband who is willing to support the family. But since returning to the workplace after giving birth, she has developed a deep sense of powerlessness.
On the first day of work, the eldest daughter held her thigh and would not let her go.
The boss had a heartless sentence "When you are not there, the team guarded the position very well", which made her smile freeze suddenly, and a crisis arose in her heart.
Because the upscale office was full of floor-to-ceiling windows, she could only sit in the storage room and pump milk.
Worse still, after a hard day's work, I came home to find my daughter furious and dropped a heartfelt sentence: "Shouldn't you make things better when you get home?" ”
Under these pressures, Ambia found that bite marks began to appear on her body and face. She thought she had dermatitis at first, until she stumbled into the hospital's small dark room, where she found a group of women with injuries like her.
Her scars come from the "maternal guilt" that almost all mothers experience. The cries and cries of children, the rebukes of husbands, the crises at work, each become a wound, silently bleeding and scarring, leaving traces on every inch of skin.
In addition to "Vase Wife" and "Cursed Mother", "Rant" also depicts many different types of women, such as Elisa, a girl in her 30s who has not yet found a boyfriend – if you listen to this opening, you must be able to smell some familiar smell? It is true, but the development of the story is quite amazing.
Elisa meets a talking duck in the park who sounds funny, understanding, and more importantly, the duck seems to have a crush on her. So the girl and the duck talked about a relationship.
Soon, the girl finds herself away from friends and family as the ducks tell her that they don't really care about you and that only I'm the only one in the world who will be nice to you. Then, the girl felt that she could not do anything, because the duck told her, you really can't do it, you are a waste of firewood, you can only be with me. What an absurd but so familiar PUA plot.
There are also black best-selling female authors who are "invisible" in front of white male partners and lose their voice – but in fact, even if skin color is set aside, it is not uncommon for women to be ignored and ignored by men in the workplace. In the face of this situation, do you choose to escape, pander to, or fight back?
"Roar" also explores some interesting possibilities: for example, after marriage, is it possible to return to the husband you don't want?
And some shouts: Who taught a 16-year-old boy to hate women so much?
Of course, there is also the warmth and kindness between some girls.
In the modern fable of "Roar", we see real voices from the female perspective, and such voices should never be ignored.
Written by: Mingyan
Image source: Douban, video screenshot