A standard Chinese New Year film is usually inseparable from a few elements: mahjong, temple mouth, martial arts, etc., but what if there is a movie today that can integrate the costume queen and gender issues into the plot, but without losing the tone and funny aspects of the New Year comedy?
"Boy King" is a particularly innovative work in many Chinese New Year films, which integrates into the above issues without losing humor and interesting song and dance. However, this does not mean that "Boy King" handles gender issues perfectly, and there are also many narrative and script problems in the film.
Although "Boy King" may not be produced in the direction of "New Year films", but the film company ranks it in the New Year slot, therefore, the author still sets this work as a new attempt to make the New Year movie file, and "Boy King" does go a different path from the previous New Year movies, this article invites readers to put down their usual serious mood and enjoy the fantasy journey of Qiming (Li Guohuang) due to middle-aged unemployment.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-center-line" > gender division of labor and binary opposition</h1>
The journey of the whole "boy king" begins with the protagonist Cao Qiming, who is unemployed in middle age but does not dare to tell his family, and this typical opening is related to the gender division of labor in the old era (1950s to 1960s) that we are now familiar with, and the typical gender division of labor (male and female) family in which Qiming is located is the epitome of many families at that time.
This gender division of labour, on the one hand, deepens the situation of male-dominated economic status in patriarchal structures, and on the other hand, directly leads to potential social pressure on women, such as the reverse belief that women must put the family first, and the problem of job productivity disruption caused by the assumption that women must conceive and have children in the future. Of course, the film does not intend to criticize or ask questions, but to use this as a wedge, so that Qiming has the opportunity to enter the boy king and become a drag queen.
The man in the brokerage office is a very special presence in this film, in the first half of the plot he suggests that Qiming sell his assets to solve the urgent problem at hand, here his views seem to be very much in line with the mainstream values of society, and the interview company that was previously matched by Qiming Media should also be a more "mainstream" job in society compared to the disguised queen at first glance.
However, the broker finally gave an offer to the boy king of Qiming, and then gave a positive evaluation to Qiming after singing and dancing in the later part of the film, he is the only role in the play that does not fall into the various dualistic opposites deliberately created by the script, and plays a kind of buffer lubricant in the whole journey of Qiming.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > is magnified from the family to the discrimination and prejudice of society</h1>
On the whole, there is a conflict in any movie, and the conflicts in the past New Year films often revolve around game, gambling, temple brotherhood or family affection, but the conflict of "Boy King" can be divided into two aspects: First, the personal aspect, the family between the family because of unemployment, the wife's dissatisfaction with qiming life suddenly becomes sneaky to the final deeds are exposed, these conflicts are microscopic and very personal, belonging to the core role must face and deal with the problem, and this is also the conflict that will occur in the general New Year film.
But behind these problems is actually a great relationship with the overall society, which is the second aspect of the conflict - social structure, the film constantly creates a cross-dressing queen, the conflict between gay and heterosexual hegemony, usually we can quickly recognize that this conflict comes from heterosexual discrimination against comrades, officials or the entire LGBTQ, coupled with the social atmosphere is also relatively conservative, "Boy King" points out the discrimination and prejudice of the overall society against comrades in the standards of the New Year film is quite enough.
And Feng Jie played a very annoying role in the film, she knows the benefits that the gay circle can bring, and she also enjoys the performance of the boy king to some extent. However, in the middle of the paragraph, she uses the discrimination of the above-mentioned social structure against comrades to "retaliate" against Qiming, in fact, the author believes that this character has been very unsuccessful, and its motives for revenge are unknown, coupled with the continuous oppression of Qiming and the boy king with power in the play, and the final reconciliation, and even through the absurd check to eliminate the serious harm she caused to the Qiming family. If the script wants to create a situation of power oppression, it really should not use such a crude character design, which adds a lot of doubts about the plot advancement in the later part of the movie.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-center-line" > song and dance performance and adaptation of lyrics</h1>
The most fascinating thing about "The Boy King" is the constant song and dance scenes in the film, although the movie never explains why Pearl does not sing, but overall the song and dance pictures and performances are very exciting. We can also see That Qiming secretly changed the lyrics to ridicule comrades in the initial tail tooth performance to later adapt "Woman Flower" to sing the bitterness and discrimination of the cross-dressing queen, these song and dance performances not only satisfies the gorgeous and interesting scene presentation of the New Year film, but also reflects the change of Qiming's state of mind in each performance.
In addition, the film creates a contrasting picture, that is, Qiming performs in the boy King and plays Mulan at the school corresponding to his son Mason, for Mason, what he does not understand is why Mulan is lying? But for the current Qiming, he is experiencing a very complex self-wrestling in his heart, not only his own gender identity with others, but also the male pressure caused by the division of labor, tearing apart his male self-esteem that has long been socially constructed. This contrast was answered in a conversation between Qiming and Masson, when Qiming explained to Masson: "People are often involuntarily and have unavoidable suffering. At that time, he not only let go of the past oppression of society, but also gradually reconstructed his gender identity.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > towards a more diverse genre of Chinese New Year films</h1>
It is not difficult to find that although "Boy King" still generally follows the format of the past New Year films, it has made many new attempts in both the script and the role performance. Of course, the latter part of the film is not clear about the laying of the plot turn and the final reconciliation of the husband and wife, and the loopholes in these plots are not hidden, and the author still maintains a very happy mood when watching the movie.
Jumping out of the previous Asian New Year film genre, "Boy King" does not want to strongly condemn or criticize the current mainstream gender consciousness through movies, nor does it want to make a very powerful and heavy movie. Any social action or structural change often requires a beginning that can attract the attention of the public, and "Boy King" is more of a light and interesting way to expose to the public that there are still such a group of marginalized communities in society that are suppressed by mainstream ideology.
When the public begins to know, naturally some people will begin to understand, pay attention to, and even begin to act, joining groups that are already working for drag queens and LGBTQ, bringing more changes to society. It is expected that "Boy King 2", which has been previewed at the end of the film, can arouse the spark of more different ethnic groups for society and open up the possibility of changing the different routes of The New Year films.