Feminism has been an important theme in film and television dramas in recent years, and the series "My Genius Girlfriend", adapted from Italian writer Elena Ferrante's "Neapolitan Quadrilogy", is one of the most talked about.
The first three seasons that have been broadcast have scored 9.3, 9.5 and 9.5 on Douban respectively. The fourth (and final season), which is expected to return in early 2024, has also made drama fans and book fans look forward to it.
Recently, the first stills of the fourth season of "My Genius Girlfriend" were released, and the list of main creators was revealed: Laura Bispuri, the director and screenwriter who directed "The Virgin Oath" and "My Daughter", will serve as the director of the season; In the first three seasons, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher (who has appeared in "Miracle", "Happy Lazaro", "Perfect Stranger", etc.) replaced the middle-aged "Lenu", and Irene Maiorino played the middle-aged "Lila".
Speaking of Elena Ferrante, many of her works "Annoying Love" and "Daughter in the Shadows" have been adapted into film and television dramas. Among them, the movie "Daughter in the Shadows", released in 2021, is Maggie Gyllenhael's directorial debut, starring Oscar actress Olivia Colman and "Sister" Dakota Johnson.
These works focus on the mother-daughter relationship, and Ferrante constantly explains the mother-daughter topics that make her feel intimate, painful and inexplicable.
"Daughter in the Shadows"
"Annoying Love"
The "Neapolitan Tetralogy" is about the topic of female friendship that is rarely touched in literary history.
Unlike the friendship between men, which has been shown in previous novels and film and television dramas, it is often described as proud, solid, and simple emotions. Women's friendships are more subtle and complex, mixed with "good and bad emotions", and are constantly changing. Therefore, after the broadcast of "My Genius Girlfriend", there were even platforms that played the gimmick of "plastic sisterhood", but in fact they did not understand the plot or female friendship.
Ferrante once said of Lila and Lenu's relationship in an interview: "Competition and mutual sympathy and inseparable emotions coexist, although mixed with jealousy, jealousy and other negative emotions, but overall it is a very solid emotion." In this way, the relationship between women will be difficult to understand, but it is right. ”
But if you've seen "My Genius Girlfriend", you should know that in addition to female friendship and mother-daughter relationship, the show also explores more intense and disturbing realistic female topics.
From the first appearance of Lenu and Lila, they have been left with the impression of good boys and bad boys.
Lenu is well-behaved and quiet, and is loved by teachers and other students. Lila is mischievous and rebellious, dares to make blatant trouble in class, but is gifted for beating the best boys in math competitions.
In Lenu's eyes, Lila is her "genius girlfriend" and the maker of chaos, dominating their friendship. Shortly after they became friends, Lila threw Lenu's doll into the basement and convinced her to go to the bully Karachi to get the dolls back, and used the money from "compensation" to buy "Little Women".
Lila encourages Lenu to skip class to see the sea and instills in her the idea of studying, writing a book, and then becoming rich. But just like in childhood, when they really fled Naples and went to the sea, the first thing they feared and proposed to go home was Lila, but Lenu wanted to move on; As an adult, it was Lenu who really persevered and became a writer.
But whenever Lenu thinks that Lila is "smarter" and "one step faster" and wants to give up, the person who gets her back on track in various ways and can go to middle school, go to college, and enjoy a good life is always Lila.
They are each other's "genius girlfriends".
There are a lot of scenes in the play describing Lenu's psychological activities, and she was unwilling to marry Lila before her and become Mrs. Kuo. But when Lila is betrayed at the wedding and raped by her husband during her honeymoon, only Lenu can understand and empathize with her pain: the dilemma that women face has nothing to do with whether she has money or not, but is always under the pressure of men and cannot release herself.
It can be said that Lila is the initiator of Lenu's female consciousness.
Many people do not understand the reason behind this ambivalent feeling. For example, Lenu's husband, Pietro, a university professor born in a scholarly family, is keenly aware of Lila's difference, but he is unwilling to admit her intelligence and avant-garde, and instead tries to belittle her in front of his wife.
"I don't understand why your relationship lasted so long, maybe you carefully hid things that could ruin the relationship. I think she hates you. ”
He is accustomed to accepting traditional, straightforward male friendships, but he is reluctant to think seriously about the subtle emotions of likeness, dependence, jealousy, and competition intertwined between women.
On the one hand, this is caused by the different feelings of men and women in emotional cognition.
On the other hand, it is because in a male-dominated world, there are not many works that can portray female friendship positively and positively.
The deeper reason is that as vested interests in the patriarchal world, when the favorable situation is broken, they often feel afraid, which in turn to anger, denigration, and even violence. Because they don't want to change the status quo.
In her many years of association with Lila, Lenu has always felt the difficulties of women.
When she saw that Lila did not want to give up her studies because of her family's poverty, her father punched and kicked her, and even threw her directly from the window; When she saw that Lila did not want to marry Marcello, but was forced by her father and brother and her mother's helplessness, she "saved herself" and married Stefano; And Stefano, in order to maintain the "dignity of a man" after marriage, often scolded Lila and regarded her as his subordinate...
For as long as they can remember, the first language they are familiar with is "violence", and as long as you refuse to "obey", violence will appear. This also became the root cause of Lila's violent and bad words to solve the problem in a certain period.
Lila would urge Lenu to study and "for herself" out of Naples, and Lenu faced swearing and persuaded her lame mother to buy books for herself, also because in their hearts, going to school and going out of their hometown was the only way for them to break through the class and enter the civilized world.
Otherwise, like her mother and other women in the town, she will give birth, be subjected to domestic violence, live without dignity, and become a "crazy woman" in the eyes of children.
But it wasn't until Lenu became a well-known writer, married a well-known professor, and achieved popular success, only to discover that the plight of women was a "dead end" in any class.
Gigliola, who was betrayed by Michele and died tragically on the street, explained the essence of traditional marriage:
Lenu's husband doesn't care about her work, what books she reads, and just wants her to be a loving mother and a virtuous wife. When Lenu offered to continue his writing career and hire a nanny to help take care of the children, the husband replied, "I don't want slaves in the household." ”
He is unable (or unwilling) to recognize the problem, because it seems to be "tradition" for granted. So much so that the words of fighting for Lenu's power must be said through the mouth of the hypocritical Nino. But Pietro retorted: This is because Lenu didn't plan her time well, she obviously had all day!
Does this set of rhetoric sound familiar and harsh?
Lenu's insight into the traditional role of mother is even more striking. She realized that she had spent a lot of time and energy raising her three daughters, but that her father would still be the master of their minds: "They attribute their successful and prosperous lives to their fathers." But I, I don't have any advantages, I am the foundation of their superiority. ”
However, women are not trying to get their education and higher education to get trapped. They also have ideals and pursuits, and desire to freely control their lives and achieve a more wonderful life.
The story of Lila and Lenu takes place in the 1950s and 1970s, but similar problems continue to occur today.
After "My Genius Girlfriend" became popular, the original author Elena Ferrante was often asked in interviews about "the characteristics of female writers" and "whether the work is written for women" and other issues.
In January, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin also encountered a "special" question at the World Economic Forum: As a young woman in a position of responsibility, are there any concrete measures to promote women's issues?
As Ferrante puts it: "While we feel that we have left the language and culture of a patriarchal society behind, looking at the world today we immediately understand that the struggle is far from over." Everything we've won so far is also easy to lose. ”
This is why an Italian drama set in the parents' generation has received so much attention and resonance around the world, because many of the issues mentioned in it are common and real.
For example, Lenu and Nino, who also achieved a class jump through education, the former will first be questioned as relying on her husband's family after their works are published; Nino, on the other hand, can learn by trickery and win the hearts of countless girls.
For example, Lila, who is also smart and talented, can only work as a deputy after joining IBM with Enzo. The latter candidly stated the truth: "We are still in a world of male dictation. ”
In an era when contraception and abortion were illegal, Lila and Lenu managed to get female doctors to help dispense birth control pills. Women who have mastered reproductive rights truly have themselves.
But last June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, meaning that a woman's right to abortion would no longer be protected by the U.S. Constitution. In addition to anger, it also makes people feel that the struggle for women's rights has a long way to go.
These are precisely the reasons why works like "My Genius Girlfriend" should be seen. Somalia, the editor in charge of publishing the Chinese of the "Naples Quadrilogy," once referred to Polish publisher Izabella Kaluta telling her. "In Poland, there is an interesting phenomenon where many husbands watch their wives stay up all night watching the 'Neapolitan series' and then follow suit."
Similarly, under the Douban comments of the play, we often see male audiences and readers express their opinions, which may be a good "break".
As women, we should build our own knowledge and thought system, have the ability to distinguish and break through the way men have seen and evaluated us for thousands of years, and will not be too limited by masculine culture, so that we can define ourselves.
Perhaps, let's start by reading Beauvoir and Woolf, and watching the drama "My Genius Girlfriend".
Written by: Yui
Edit: sugar
Design: Lele