Text 丨Mr. Infamous
Just mentioning the name Okafina means having to argue with people.
Because she seems to be recognized as "not good-looking enough", to put it bluntly, she is ugly.
Her birth has always revolved around lip service, and the recent starring "Shangqi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" has been released since it was released some time ago, which is even more controversial.
Shangqi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
However, Marvel's first film that was insulted by the cannon in a large category, and not only was she criticized, the male protagonist Liu Simu, who was once relatively unknown, was bombarded by netizens like this, even if in addition to the basic quality of the actor, he also has a martial arts foundation and a muscle, but the gap with the so-called hero image or the protagonist's face in the eyes of the public is enough to be sneered at for a long time. Liang Chaowei, who played the villain, was also scolded, for reasons not listed here.
This kind of hat is very easy to buckle, this kind of rhythm is also very easy to bring, and once it is buttoned and brought, few people have to care about what the substance is, or what will happen afterwards. The conclusion of the coffin is the reaction of the living to the living. Anyway, Okafina continued to be knifed.
There is no shortage of such remarks on the Internet: "Finding such a Marvel heroine, Marvel is really painstaking." "She's a comedian, but she's not fit to be a heroine."
The roundabout is, "She's not easy." It is not easy for an Asian-American who is not outstanding to mix with arrogance, discrimination and prejudice in Hollywood, which is full of arrogance, discrimination and prejudice, and the sweat and effort may be unimaginable to those of us outsiders. But that doesn't stop us from squirting that her character in Shangqi is disgusting."
On the line a little, then it is, "to meet the American white left's obscenity to Chinese, white supremacy mentality, don't look at China getting stronger and stronger, but Chinese is so ugly, well, satisfied."
In the various high-praise comments, it is mainly these arguments. Of course, judgment is free. It's just that sometimes as a bystander, it is inevitable that these attacks on appearances that jump out of the movie itself may not be so friendly.
Three years ago, "Hidden sky across the sea: Beauty Plan" was released, and Okafina, as one of the eight arhats, was the first time to have a supporting role worth mentioning in the film industry. But since this movie is generally popular in China, she still has to wait until the "Picking Gold" that was later denounced as "unremarkable".
"Picking Gold"
When the entire Asian community is highlighted, anyone has some right to blame. So this face was posed, and the hoarse voice and exaggerated posture began to arouse disgust, let alone a comedian? The mainstream will not focus on the righteous spirit of the character Lin Pei himself, and will only start from here.
Then the following year, "Don't Tell Her", which quickly helped Okafina to the Golden Globe film, was even more "sinful", because it was a story that happened in our northeast, and she "really" returned to her hometown as a New Yorker growing up, and carried out a real cultural difference exploration, just such a role, but also helped her trigger many Chinese film stars to trigger the luck that many Chinese film stars could not trigger in their lifetime. In this logic, how annoying should Okafina be?
As if she didn't know, she wanted to continue to be openly active under the lens of film and television and entertainment with that more and more confident attitude. Is this against "female morality" or "ugly morality"?
But how good is this movie, it uses the deep affection of the two grandchildren to stumble, to explore the warmth and kindness of human nature in seeking common ground while reserving differences, and in the ideological disputes under the collision of different cultural backgrounds, it reflects on a certain malice of ethics, which incidentally points to the loneliness, autonomy and idealism of human nature. And, for an actor, it was an important attempt to break free from the comedic model, and it was done beautifully.
"Don't Tell Her"
After being able to win awards in history and remove the luck component that any actor can't do without, it actually depends on their own talent. In Okafina's case, this talent is also magnified by her attitude. The fusion of various factors has made this achievement.
However, many people are using a stereotype to attack the stereotype of Westerners and Asians. Then under the double standard, it is our common trend of following the trend and self-hypnosis. At the end of the day, it's because of looks. Having such a look can also gain fame and fortune, and it is easier to break our own unbalanced mentality.
But I still have to say that Okafina still has her strength, even in the moment, put into the peers, not necessarily the best, but the highlights are not lacking. In particular, those films, television, musical works, or unique comedy performances that show attitudes are particularly impactful to put on such a woman with ethnic identity.
One thing that cannot be ignored is that she is an active "offense" person before passive "offense". The identity of "Okafina", which is in harmony with "embarrassment", is the twin, or incarnation, that her real name is Lin Jiazhen and Nora Lin used to overcome her shy nature. With this reinforcement, she can be braver, or more brazen and obedient to express herself.
We need to see that the stereotype is not hidden from her. As a rapper and comedian, she knows how to amplify these elements in Western society to express emotions and embellish comedy, just like many Hollywood comedians and musicians. For example, My, which was the first to harvest traffic, provoked many taboos and hypocrisies.
But amplifying "stereotypes" is not discrimination, let alone guiding discrimination. Instead, she tried to get rid of this bondage through these movements. In a small way, this is her means of breaking through herself, so that she no longer shrinks into the vision of someone else to live and work. In the broader sense, it is to use this to speak for the "us" of the stratosphere, cause resonance, and form a joint force against "stereotypes".
Step by step, Okafina was able to form the image of a Hollywood star who is now quite open. Of course, this image is not an empty shelf, only the kind of topic without works, so I believe that for a long time, she can at least continue to work on the road of comedy, and explore more possibilities in the performance mode that has been formed.
After all, I am not the only one who can see that since stepping into the film world, she has gradually established her own personal characteristics from jumping into the framework set by others, such as starring in "Hidden Sky Across the Sea: Beauty Plan" and "Picking Gold", to others tailoring roles for her, such as participating in "Brave Game 2: Fight again" or dubbing "Dragon Quest".
Okafina voices the dragon Shisu in Dragon Quest
In addition, she has more room to conduct her own creative experiments, such as "Okafina is Nora from Queens" that will finish the second season. Although not every episode of this show is hilarious, it occasionally has some humor, which is very heartwarming or hilarious. For example, the eighth episode of the first season, an independent episode, just happened to be Liu Simu, Cen Kangyong and other Chinese male stars to perform a fantasy story, which is very interesting.
Okafina is Nora from Queens
Maybe she is destined to, or has somehow reversed the image and position of Asian characters in Hollywood, rather than smearing, because this not only makes people see new possibilities for yellow faces, but also proves that she and her idol Liu Yuling and other Asian actresses have the possibility of developing into some kind of symbol of the times.
She will still be the bearer of the contradiction, the outward and the shy, the funny and the serious, the confused and the clear, the Western and the Eastern. And Okafina is no longer just Okafina, she and Wu Shanzhuo, who are also humiliated by their appearance, have become another powerful faction that is more and more able to stand up. If "Don't Tell Her" finalizes another possibility for Okafina, then this possibility will inevitably produce other surprises.
Before the future film and television works bring surprises, she still has to be the controversial character, an "innocent person" who has not done bad things but has been caught in the whirlpool of public opinion, after all, "surprises" are difficult to wash away the flood of criticism.
Therefore, she will continue to reflect the sensitivity of our current environment to ethnic identity, the overconfidence and oversensitivity of cultural identity, the verbal abandonment and faithful practice of aesthetic monolithicity, and the most interesting thing is the excessive "self-esteem", because a star on the other side carries many "responsibilities" and "faces" that she may not know herself.
In turn, to repeat the insults she experienced, there was a clear change in essence, that is, from instinctive disgust, pride, and jealousy, to a slow shift to the wind related to a certain national sentiment.
From feeling that such a look is insulting to no Chinese people, and does not want her Asian identity to be "represented", to feeling that such an "ugly woman" has taken the lead in achieving achievements that many excellent Chinese actresses cannot achieve, and then to feeling that Marvel and even Hollywood rely on such looks, which is "due to cultural ignorance" and "political and moral arrogance"...
Interestingly, pride and prejudice are everywhere, but Okafina, who "can't eat" in China, has realized the real American dream on the other side. At present, it will only take the looks of others as a benchmark for criticism, and the embarrassing will still only be the vast number of acid people.
The more we see the indifference at the critical time and the overly positive when it is irrelevant, the more we will feel that Okafina is cute and precious, not only because she can digest and reverse this malice more and more calmly, but also because she is doing more and more brilliantly, living more and more beautifully, without backhand, it is already a slap in the face of these arrogance and stubbornness.