#01 A century ago, "Nala" who walked out of the house
In the cold winter of 1923, Lu Xun delivered a speech at the Beijing Women's Higher Normal School: "What happened after Nala left".
At that time, sitting under the podium were a group of women who were the first to receive modern higher education in China, and Shi Pingmei, who was later known as the four talented women of the Republic of China along with Zhang Ailing, Xiao Hong, and Lv Bicheng, and Lu Yin, a female writer of the Republic of China, all walked out of here.
Nala is a female character in the play "A Doll's House", written by Norwegian dramatist Ibsen in 1879, when the feminist movement was popular, and she was the epitome of the thousands of traditional women in society at that time - a good wife and mother, selfless dedication, and obedience. When she suddenly realized that she had never had an independent personality, but had always been a puppet controlled by male authority, she resolutely decided to run away from her family and escape the fate of the puppet.
In the winter of 1923, Lu Xun discussed a serious social question with China's early awakened female elite: What would happen to Nala after she left?
Ibsen did not give a direct answer in his play, but Lu Xun said it for him:
"Either fall or come back." This is a cruel answer and a true reflection of the current state of society at that time. Because the society at that time did not provide women with a mechanism to make a living independently, the vast majority of women had no choice but to live by relying on men.
If "Nala" is regarded as a symbol of awakened women, then a century later, women generally have employment opportunities - the employment rate of Chinese women has reached about 60%[1], and the average monthly salary is about 8500 yuan[2] - when we look back and reflect on the question raised by Lu Xun in the winter of 1923, what kind of problems will the new "Nala" face?
#02 A century later, they are no longer the runaway "Nala", but the "Nala" who opened up the land
As a brand consulting company that drives business innovation with humanistic insights, and a research organization with more than 70% of female employees, Gengen has always paid attention to and reflected on women's topics. After the 2019 women's study, we conducted another follow-up study in 2022 to discuss the confusion and problems they face today with this group of modern women who were born in the context of the reform and opening up market economy, received higher education and had stable incomes. Among them, there are post-80s, post-90s, post-95s, some married and have children, and some are still single. We not only deeply understand their self-growth as women, but also trace their life journey from childhood, to youth, from school to society, from single to marriage, so as to depict the awakening path of contemporary "Nala".
The interviews with these women began with the understanding of "independent women", and to our surprise, this topic was invariably questioned by them - "Why add women before independence?" "Isn't independence something everyone should do?" Such interrogation makes us realize that on the century-long road of awakening, this group of "Nala" who have left the world of their home has reached a whole new world.
"I think that although modern society has progressed, there are still too many definitions and labels for women, some definitions require you to do this and that, and some labels make you have to do this and endure. Why? What I should do is what I should think about. ”
"Whether men or women, it is important to be yourself, follow your heart, keep trying, keep trying and making mistakes, and then slowly find your talent and love."
If a century ago, Nala's exodus was a desire to break free from the definition of attachment to the other, then a century later, in a new world outside the "home", the "Nala" faces the problem of how to define and explore itself, a pioneering journey to find themselves.
The tension between old and new pushes the "Nala" to open up the land
"I filled out a school that was far from home, I just wanted to escape from them, and the thought of my mother being in the kitchen and in the world of her husband all her life made me feel terrible."
When they have reached adulthood and even started a family, recalling their childhood and adolescence across time and space, we can clearly see that their self-consciousness has broken through the conflict game between old and new forces.
Many of our interviewees came from a more traditional family structure: a stern father who controls the voice of the family, and a meek mother. They are not expected to meet a more challenging life like boys, but are put on the protective circle of "girls are safe and the best". Escaping all these "old" bondages, they embark on a path of self-discovery.
In the traditional Chinese hierarchical social order pattern constructed by "heaven-king-patriarch-patriarch-patriarch-patriarch (husband, father, mother)-family members (wife, daughter, son)", male roles (son, husband, father, patriarch) naturally have the ability to break through the restrictions of hierarchical hierarchies, break through and explore outward and higher-level levels, and redefine their identity, abilities and resources. However, women (mothers, wives, daughters, etc.) have always been in subordinate roles in the family hierarchy, resulting in a lack of awareness and opportunities for the female community to explore and redefine themselves outward. Therefore, even in the contemporary era, it is difficult for awakened female groups to trace the effective experience of exploration and self-definition to their own cultural traditions, but are often bound by tradition. Therefore, as the antithesis of traditional social pattern and culture, relying on the modern culture and postmodern trends introduced by film and television dramas, animations, novels, etc., as a "new" existence, they see more diverse individual possibilities and worlds, which inspires their exploration of themselves.
"When I was a child, I watched TVB dramas, and I was particularly impressed, the policewoman rode an oversized motorcycle, ran wildly, and then stopped there, took off her helmet, and her hair slipped, and I thought, wow, it turns out that women can be so dashing."
A still from "Senior Sister Topgun"
In the 90s, the image of professional women created by TVB dramas such as "Testimonial" and "Senior Sister of the Topgun", and the popularity of American dramas such as "Friends", "Modern Family", "Gossip Girl" and "Sex and the City" opened their cognition of gender and individuality: women are not necessarily limited to love and marriage, and they can also pursue their ideals like women in TVB dramas; Women don't have to be docile and well-behaved, and they can also be as well-behaved as Blair in Gossip Girl...
A still from "Sex and the City"
The narratives of Japanese anime on themes such as self-growth inspire them to explore themselves.
"I was very impressed when I watched "Soul of Go" when I was a child, it talked about a child who was very talented in Go, but he didn't know what Go was at first, he came into contact with Go by chance, and slowly he fell in love with Go, and finally showed his talent and defeated the very powerful chess player in the industry. So I always remember that people should find your own talent, love it, and then get the life you want through your own efforts. ”
Not only Hikaru Jinto, who slowly finds his love in "Chess Soul", but also Kiki, the witch Kiki who dreams of coming to a strange city to live alone for her dreams, and Hilda, who guides people out of difficulties in "Sky City", all give them the motivation to explore themselves in the growth period. In addition, the writing of Jiang Nan, Annie Baby, Zhang Yueran, Han Han, Guo Jingming and other post-70s and post-80s young writers is shaping their new subjective consciousness.
"Witch Home Express" stills
And when they enter adulthood from adolescence, the reflections of philosophers such as Nietzsche, Heidegger, Foucault and other philosophers on modern culture and the questioning of existence inspire them to begin to enter deeper thinking, "Who am I?" Where am I from? Where am I going?" asks the subjectivity.
They stand in this questioning, they stand in the cultural void that traditional Chinese culture has not provided women with to explore themselves and define themselves, and they give birth to the power to open up the land - forward.
Under the reclamation, multiple self-defined paths are being generated
When we zoom out and look at it from above, in the vast world outside Nala's door, we see their many footprints, large and small, and countless diverse self-defined paths are being generated.
One is the path they take in a rebellious posture, in which they define themselves by rebelling against the old definition of women, "What you let me, I am not good." They deliberately abandon their femininity and become strong in their careers by imitating masculinity.
One is the path they walk out of the nostalgic gesture, in which they step out of the male-dominated home world, but when they look around, they find that what they want most is still self-identity in family relationships - to be a good wife and mother, so they turn around and turn back.
Another is the path they walk out of under the creative posture, in this state, they are not targeting the old women as in the rebellious posture, nor walking back like the nostalgic posture, but standing in a new world that has been opened by women, creating the life they want from nothing.
But beyond these three paths, we also see a deep, shallow and chaotic path, which is the path they step on in a confused state, they stand in the new world that has been cultivated by women, and they have seen many paths, so they go east and west to see, try any way, but they can't determine which one they are.
Under these four paths, each of them divides countless trails, and the trails are divided into paths, crisscrossing and rich and diverse. This is the flourishing of the new female subjective world, where countless individual possibilities are being practiced, and each modern woman responds to their human life questions in their own different ways. We call this exploration the different "self-definition stances" of women's self-definition, because it is both a morphological feature of these modern women's self-exploration, and it is not an absolute final state, and the four postures have the possibility of choosing and switching in a specific woman's life.
Four different postures of female self-definition
Remark:
- The center origin is a neutral position, facing different paths with four different poses, the main axis to the left is the return path of the nostalgic posture, the right is the advance path of the rebellious posture, the creation posture jumps out of the main line, exploring new paths in different directions, and the confused posture hesitates under different options
- Four different postures: Self-definition Stance, depending on the individual's situation, there may be a dynamic switch between different states
We are also pleased to discover that this kind of land reclamation is not just for Nala, as we heard at the beginning of the interview - why add women before independence? - Indeed, it's not just women. Born in the era of affluence, the younger generation who have been educated by modern culture show more of a strong sense of self-exploration, regardless of gender, and they strive to pursue a more diverse world by breaking all kinds of inherent prejudices and tolerance and respect for differences—a pluralistic world where every possibility is respected, every difference is recognized, and everyone has the right to explore and define themselves.
#03 What are the opportunities for brands in the new world that Nala has carved out?
At the end of this interview, we asked each respondent this question: "What women's brand narratives in the market have impressed you right now?" "THE MOST MENTIONED IS THE PROMOTIONAL VIDEO OF NO BODY IS NOBODY INSIDE AND OUT.
"NO BODY IS NOBODY presents the beauty of diverse female bodies, which touches me very much."
"It doesn't define what physical beauty is, but it lets each woman define the beauty of her own body, which I think is great."
In the process of writing this article, Nei Nei just released the 2023 38th Festival brand promotional video of "Body Ten Questions", so we forwarded this video to the interviewees in the early stage, and an interesting finding was that although the video used a female perspective, they read about "people", not just "women".
"I saw a feeling of empathy, and it captured the kind of psychology that everyone wants to break the shackles."
"It captures the unspeakable topics, questions, and feelings in people's minds."
"People sometimes care too much about outside voices and lack attention to themselves, and it breaks this point."
UNLIKE THE "NO BODY IS NOBODY" FOCUS ON THE BEAUTY OF MULTIPLE FEMALE BODY SHAPES, THIS TIME "MY BODY TO ME" EMPHASIZES THE MORE ESSENTIAL "FEELING ABOUT THE BODY AND FEELING OF THE SELF." In line with our insight into modern women, the focus of internal and external communication on women's topics has also shifted from the "gender perspective" in the early stage to the "individual perspective", from focusing on gender (body) bias to focusing on self-feeling and inner exploration and development. This change in brand narrative strategy is undoubtedly in line with the change in the needs of contemporary "Nala" from going out of the house to exploring itself.
INSIDE INSIDE INSIDE INSIDE 2023 THREE-EIGHT FESTIVAL POSTER MY BODY TO ME
As brands gradually promote their actions during Women's Day, will more brands begin to respond to this demand? We will analyze the narrative strategies of each brand on Women's Day next time, so stay tuned.
reference
【1】National Bureau of Statistics "Outline for the Development of Chinese Women (2011-2020)"
【2】Zhaopin.com "2022 China Women's Workplace Status Survey Report"
Discuss: Alex, Janus, Shera
Design: Olivia
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