news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

In the recently concluded "Chang Xiang Si", the emotional entanglement surrounding the heroine Xiao Yao leaves people wanting more.

The story of "Longing" is set in the myths and legends of the ancient Shanhaijing period. The first season aired last year and triggered a craze for watching the show. The second season aired this year directly connects to the end of the first season. Some people think the plot is dragging, while others are "tortured" by the plot. The picture shows a still from the second season of "Longing" (2024).

Xiaoyao gives people the impression of being both autonomous and passive, sober and independent but indecisive. She seems to be actively involved in politics, but lacks a clear goal because of her desolate heart; she keeps verbally emphasizing that she will not take the initiative to contribute, but in fact she is working hard for male characters such as Xuanxuan, Xiangliu, and Tushanjing. This sense of contradiction does bring dramatic conflict, but also makes the audience feel "wrong".

Xiaoyao's entanglement stems from the setting that women are fundamentally disempowered. When intimate relationships become the only stage for female characters to demonstrate their subjectivity, as the weaker party, their initiative can often only be achieved through self-sacrifice. This narrative of female abuse strengthens the traditional masculinity construction of "from violence to tenderness". The female protagonist obtains "moral currency" and accumulates moral pleasure through being abused, while the male protagonist shows belated tenderness through repentance and is eventually forgiven by the audience.

However, when female audiences began to perceive the unequal power relationship between the sexes behind the narrative of women abuse and put forward higher requirements for the autonomy of female characters, what kind of heroine can show true feelings and take the initiative in a way that does not involve being abused has become a new problem. In other words, the expression of female love needs to go beyond the narrative of women abuse and explore new narrative models to reconstruct female characters so that they can show independence and tenacity in love, friendship and self-realization.

Written by Zhu Xun'er

"Devotion of Love":

Women’s “self-exploitation” or “emotional transcendence”?

The sense of tug of war in the character of Xiaoyao may stem from the fact that the foundation of her growth is a certain kind of exclusive intimate relationship. For any individual, a deep intimate relationship is an important way to self-cognition and growth, which brings a high degree of self-exposure and deep interaction with others. However, Xiaoyao is often a sacrificial "abused" role in intimate relationships, often experiencing extreme emotional fluctuations and unforgettable feelings. However, in a story based on the premise of "female abuse", should the heroine be regarded as a self-exploiting "Virgin Mary" or an experience king who has achieved "emotional transcendence"?

In the setting of "Longing", Xiaoyao is actually in a position of powerlessness. Therefore, even if she wants to make achievements, she has lost her spiritual power and cannot do anything. When women cannot show their talents in public spaces, love seems to be the only show. As Eva Illouz analyzed in "Love, Why Hurts?": "Romantic love" as a consolation for women's powerlessness in the economic and political fields, promises that women can enjoy a superior moral status and dignity. Through "romantic love", women exchange various disadvantages in society for the protection and loyalty of men. (See document 1 at the end of the article)

Love, Why Does It Hurt?, by Eva Iroce, translated by Ye Rong, East China Normal University Press, September 2015.

In the love narrative of "abusing women", the male protagonist is usually portrayed as a character who is deeply in love with the female protagonist but is delayed by "righteousness". He often hurts the beloved female protagonist repeatedly for a grand political goal. The female protagonist is extremely compassionate and humane, and transcends the harm with love. The "poignant beauty" of the love narrative of abusing women comes from the extreme tug-of-war between the pain of reality and the ideal love. "Cherish the rest of my life" accurately summarizes the characteristics of the two gender roles in this script: men are "political animals" and women are "goddesses". The core of the former is "fighting", that is, the power struggle under the grand narrative that cannot be helped, and the core of the latter is "love", that is, compassion and tolerance for individuals and all living beings, and tired of power struggles. (See document 2 at the end of the article)

It’s not that a “political animal” doesn’t understand the beauty of the “goddess”’s humanity. It’s just that in the early stages of a relationship, his eyes are always attracted by secular power, so he treats his “goddess” lover coldly and cruelly. But when he completely loses his lover, he will definitely wake up and feel heartbroken. This is the script commonly known as “chasing his wife to the crematorium”. Corresponding to “Longing for Love”, it is the relationship between Xiangliu and Xiaoyao. Xiangliu changed from beating and scolding Xiaoyao at will and torturing her at first, to missing her every day, and after Xiaoyao died, he used his “heart’s blood” to save her life. A more typical example is the TV series “Startling by Each Step”, in which the male protagonist Yongzheng was heartbroken after seeing the female protagonist Ruoxi’s last words “Since we parted, all my hatred and obsession have turned into longing for her”, and died alone and depressed.

It is worth noting that the "wife-chasing crematorium" type of narrative strengthens the traditional masculinity construction from "violence to tenderness". In Reading Romance Novels, author Janice A. Radway points out that the ideal male protagonist who is masculine but gentle and affectionate eventually realizes the inherent value of the female protagonist, and the female protagonist then safely surrenders her self-control and no longer needs to do anything except maintain her chastity.

"Reading Romantic Novels", written by Janice A. Radway [USA], translated by Hu Shuchen, Yilin Press, July 2020.

It is this unique "passivity" that makes people unable to stop (see Document 3 at the end of the article). Although the narrative of abusive love does not pursue the "certain happy ending" required by Radway, it is also an art of "passivity". The passive "goddess" can "seduce" the other party's "initiative" while not being aggressive - the "goddess" always tolerates the "political animal" with love, and the "political animal" will spontaneously feel heartbroken after losing the "goddess".

The narrative of female abuse is limited to romantic relationships, but its charm comes from the perfect handling of the core contradiction in traditional romantic novel scripts: why and how can the heroine transform a man's cruelty into belated tenderness and affection. The male protagonist's cruelty and coldness to the heroine are attributed to misunderstandings or the necessity of grand goals. For example, when Xiaoyao and Xiaoyao first met, Xiaoxuan protected her and tortured her. All the cruelty of the male character is a prelude to regret, and will eventually be transformed into belated affection and remembrance. When he knows that Xiaoyao is his lost and most beloved sister, he not only regrets it, but also wants to be together all the time. In short, in the early stage, the "goddess" obtains "moral currency" by being abused by the "political animal", and the "political animal" in turn obtains worldly success by overdrawing "moral currency". But at the end of the relationship, the "political animal" always regrets it and is forgiven by the audience. At the same time, the "goddess" may die, but she still holds a "moral high position", and the audience who empathize with the story can enjoy a feast of moral pleasure.

Stills from the TV series "Longing" Season 2 (2024).

It is undeniable that the narrative of abusive love needs to be combined with the audience's self-abuse complex to bring the pleasure of self-exploitation. "Cherish the rest of my life" summarizes this pleasure as: the spiritual victory gained by women by indulging in being hurt and expecting the remorse and return of the hurter. Its premise is the all-round "weakening" of the heroine's situation. Because she cannot be strong, she can only admire the strong and can only passively expect the strong to share her pain. However, this is against human nature. Xiaoyao's completely powerless situation and active true love are the fundamental reasons why she shows an autonomous and passive "pull sense".

However, is it just the “abuse of women” that attracts audiences to narratives about women being abused? What cannot be ignored is that what is held high in such narratives is the “true love” of women. True love shows the truth, goodness and beauty of human nature. It is the reason why every ordinary person can break free from worldly success and failure, gain “transcendence” and become “unique”. Perhaps it is this yearning for transcendence that often makes audiences ignore the existence of unequal power relations in the secular world and the significance of self-reliance and resistance.

Xiaoyao:

The awakening and struggle of the "loser group"

Perhaps it is precisely because the narrative of abusive love not only glorifies unequal power relations but also praises true love that makes female audiences both fascinated and aware of "wrongness". At present, the way women deal with unequal power relations in love is to become independent and become the controller of their own lives. This is reflected in the creation of film and television works, where the creators strive to create the role of "big heroine" who "does business", and the same is true in fairy tales and ancient puppet dramas.

However, these "female protagonists" often lack ability, personality, and emotion, and are unable to take charge on their own. They always need the help of the male protagonist to complete the task. For example, in this year's popular TV series "One Thought Guanshan" (broadcast in November 2023), although the female protagonist Ruyi is set as the top martial arts master, she is forcibly weakened at many key points of the story line, including rescuing her adoptive mother, and is always waiting for the male protagonist to save the situation.

Stills from the TV series "A Thought Across the Mountains" (2023).

Although the ancient puppet drama of Xianxia has constructed a world different from reality, its core value should be consistent with the trend of the current era, so it should draw on fresher ideas to shape female characters. In his book "Battle Princess, Working Girl", Shintaro Kono proposed a double portrait of contemporary women, trying to summarize the situation of "awakened women". He classified and analyzed "awakened women" based on the animated film "Frozen" released in 2013. The protagonists of the story are two princesses of the Kingdom of Arendelle, the elder sister Elsa and the younger sister Anna. They represent the "winner group" and "loser group" of "awakened women" respectively. The choices of Elsa and Anna symbolize the two modes of women's "running away".

Many TV dramas that revolve around sexual relationships and use the "female protagonist" as a gimmick often try to unify this dual portrait in the heroine. This narrative model tries to cater to the audience's expectations of independent women, but it does not completely break away from the traditional gender role setting. It is as complex as the audience's emotional resonance.

Elsa represents the "winners". From the beginning, heterosexual love was not in her life plan. Her choice is just like the theme song of this film, "Let it go". She not only escaped from the indescribable patriarchal system, but also did not have any emotional connection with any man afterwards. She only wanted to build an ice empire, and in the end, she was only moved by Anna's sisterhood.

Screenshot from the animated film "Frozen" (2013).

In real life, the "winners" are the so-called "awake people". They usually present the status of "winners in life", such as Sheryl Sandberg, the author of "Lean In". Her works and life have constructed an intertextuality, showing "the ideal life of awakened women". This is the "Nora" who successfully ran away. In their vision, "love" is not even an important option. They see through the essence of most love is just power relations, so they focus on developing their careers in the public domain. Under the discourse of online feminism in China, the ultimate version of the "winners" is the so-called "beautiful, powerful and not involved with men" awakened women. This overly stringent requirement may make it a new template for regulating and disciplining women.

Anna corresponds to the "loser group". The "loser" here seems to be a judgment of life achievements, but in fact, it is mainly about the failure of "running away". Anna initially expected the "Son of the Righteous Man" like every ordinary Disney princess, so she met the clichéd "Prince Charming" character Hans. Anna angered Elsa for Hans, but driven by sisterhood, she started her journey to find Elsa. Later, the two met but could not resolve their past grudges. At the same time, Hans' true intentions were exposed. His real purpose of approaching Anna was to occupy her kingdom. At this moment, the "true love narrative" between heterosexuals was declared bankrupt.

The true love Anna pursued was false, and she failed to bring Elsa back. Her "runaway" failed, which symbolizes the situation of most ordinary women. More precisely, when the mind is not fully liberated, "runaway failure" is the norm in life. Because a successful "runaway" requires not only "economic independence" and "personal independence", but also "emotional independence", that is, whether in love or not, one can be enriched and self-sufficient. The excessive beautification and dependence of women on love today not only reflects their lack of "emotional independence", but also makes it difficult for them to achieve "emotional independence". However, facing loneliness alone is the most challenging thing in life, so this kind of "failure" is not shameful.

However, if you don’t seal your heart and lock your love, are you a “loser”? Or more specifically, can the creation of fairy-tale ancient idol dramas be limited to the “loser group” narrative? In fact, showing the examples of “winner group” and “loser group” alone cannot provide a reference for contemporary women. The answer of “Frozen” is to achieve reconciliation through sisterhood - Anna gave up the “true love’s kiss” to save Elsa and turned into an ice sculpture, and Elsa “called back” Anna’s life with a hug.

The current strategy of Xianxia ancient puppet dramas is to combine the independent consciousness of the "winners" and the true feelings of the "losers" in the heroine. However, the over-reliance on the backward sadomasochistic emotional logic centered on heterosexual romantic love has led to the image of this type of heroine always being shaky or full of incoherent stitching, but this may also reflect the awakening and struggle of the audience. The audience's complex reaction is what should be taken seriously. Their "struggle" is not only reflected in their expectations of the character image, but also in their thinking about the development of the plot and the relationship between the characters.

Ancient idol "big heroine":

Fear of love, desire of love

Fundamentally, ancient idol dramas with “female protagonists” actually carry the dilemma of “love and desire” of contemporary women. The problem is, when the power relationship between the sexes is obvious and love is no longer the only option to show female subjectivity, how to create a woman who desires to be loved and is independent?

Stills from the TV series "Longing" Season 2 (2024).

From another perspective, TV dramas such as "Longing" that tell sadomasochistic romantic stories now seem to be trying to construct a "new Mary Sue" story that revolves around a female perspective. Perhaps we need to first correct the name of the "Mary Sue story", after all, it was once stigmatized as a crude and lame fantasy of women. In fact, there are many excellent works in this genre that build "Role Models" for girls. "Mary Sue" is an imported concept, and in English it is "Mary Sue". After experiencing local development in China, it can be simply understood as a "charming and all-round female protagonist".

Pat Pflieger, in his article “Too Good to Be True: 150 Years of Mary Sue”, combed through the transformation of the Western Mary Sue image from “a passive object of worship by others” in the 19th century to “actively using her abilities to win applause” in the 20th century. (See Document 4 at the end of the article) The image of Mary Sue in China is also constantly evolving. Zhang Shaoyue believes that the development trend of this type of story reflects “the contradiction between women’s rising self-awareness and the patriarchal order of real society”. (See Document 5 at the end of the article) To a large extent, Xiaoyao is a representative of a kind of “autonomous Mary Sue”. In the early stage of her wandering in the secular world, as Xiaoliu, she ran a clinic, cured diseases and saved lives, and protected those around her. Later, when she restored her true appearance and became a princess, she was involved in political struggles and was also brave and resourceful. Unfortunately, the core of her life is only “true love”, without any reality.

It is also worth praising that "Longing" has also made innovative efforts in the creation of male characters. This innovation is mainly reflected in the creation of the ideal male protagonist and the change in the emotional interaction between the two sexes. According to Zhang Shaoyue's research, the image of the male protagonist in the Mary Sue novels popular in the 21st century can be divided into two categories: "authoritarian" and "devoted". The former, as the final destination of the heroine, is often portrayed as a tyrant who is destined to "chase his wife to the crematorium". Xiangliu is a typical example of this type of character; the latter is gentle and considerate, and devotes himself to the heroine, but often quietly withdraws from the emotional competition after the hero obtains the corresponding position.

To a certain extent, both Tushan Jing and Yuxuan have made some innovative explorations based on the type of roles. Yuxuan is an "authoritarian" male protagonist, but his bond with the female protagonist is mainly shown as a kinship relationship rather than a sexual relationship, showing another possibility for the two sexes besides romantic relationships. Unfortunately, this relationship once again falls into the narrative mode of "political animal-goddess", and Xiaoyao is destined to be abused. Tushan Jing is a "weak man" who has been stripped of "toxic masculinity". He is timid and sensitive, but respects others, and his empathy for the person he loves is no less than that of Xiaoyao. Most importantly, he can truly listen to and understand Xiaoyao's demands, instead of domineeringly insisting on "I think". In Tushan Jing's case, the "true love" that Xiaoyao wants is the most felt and resonated.

In addition, there are two types of limitations in the creation of autonomous female characters in Xianxia ancient puppet dramas. On the one hand, the unique vitality and potential for change of women overlap too deeply with the oppressed situation of women, and most Xianxia ancient puppet dramas lack the awareness of separating the two. However, Huang Rong, written by Jin Yong, has shown a good demonstration. With the patriarchal society as a prerequisite, the audience can see the complete perspective of Huang Rong and start thinking from this: the reason why Guo Jing can become Guo Daxia is because in the patriarchal society, Huang Rong needs a "talker" like Brother Jing to display her ambitions.

On the other hand, perhaps both creators and audiences should realize that "true love" is not just about love, and intimate relationships are not just about relationships between the sexes. Women's perception and experience of same-sex friendship are also worthy of in-depth portrayal, rather than just a formality. Women's attitude towards interpersonal relationships seems to carry a direct sense of trust. They care about each other's real lives and hope that each other can "live well" rather than pursuing some romanticized concept related to "dying together". Female friendship is more about "perceiving" this emotional bond and immersing in this equal and sincere experience, rather than deliberately "proving" it. Their friendship does not emphasize heroic sacrifice under grand narratives, but focuses more on sincere companionship and mutual support in daily life.

Stills from the TV series "Startling by Each Step" (2011).

In female friendship, the so-called "natural" sense of equality and sincerity is not simply determined by physiological characteristics. In fact, it is more likely to be derived from the profound impact of power relations on individuals. For example, although "Startling by Each Step" also contains the logic of abusing women, it provides a unique imagination and interpretation of "true love" from a female perspective, which is worth learning from. Zhang Xiao, a modern woman who traveled through time as a noble lady Ruoxi, has always insisted on treating others with an attitude that has not been alienated by feudal power. The impressive true love happened between her and the palace maid Yutan. When Ruoxi treated Yutan, who was in a lower position of power, she showed a sense of self-restraint and equality - restraining herself from being eroded by the feudal hierarchy. This "true friendship" is rooted in "equality" and is a genuine trust that transcends instrumental rationality and directly perceives the existence of others. Ruoxi and Yutan "unthinkingly" take care of each other, listen to each other's goals, and seriously think about each other's well-being.

There is a gentle and profound equality flowing in Chinese female friendship, and true love is placed at the highest position in interpersonal communication. This does not mean that the shaping of female characters can only be limited to establishing same-sex friendships, but it inspires creators and audiences to shape and understand multiple relationships beyond sexual relationships. This may be the way out of the dilemma of "love and desire" - loving and being loved has nothing to do with gender, but only with true love and equality. On the premise of showing true love, abandoning the narrative of female abuse can better focus on the real initiative and decision-making power of women, and portray a more sincere and self-consistent female self.

references:

Eva Iroce, translated by Ye Rong, Love, Why Does It Hurt?, Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2015, p. 15.

[Where does the pleasure of "abusing women" come from? Why are we obsessed with "self-abuse" and "chasing wives to the crematorium"? Let's talk about the inseparable complex of abusing women and self-abuse in domestic film and television dramas from "Longing"] https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1xu411J7zq?vd_source=afbb0cc81b8265b7dc68ec377d1329f4

Janice A. Radway, translated by Hu Shuchen: "Reading Romantic Novels: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature", Yilin Press, 2020 edition.

Pat Pflieger，“Too good to be true”: 150 years of Mary Sue，American Culture Association conference, March 31, 1999.

Zhang Shaoyue, Trajectory, Character, Theme: Online “Mary Sue” Novels from 2005 to 2010 [D], Central China Normal University, 2023.

This article is exclusive original content. Author: Zhu Xuner; Editor: Zouzou Xixi; Proofreader: Liu Jun. You are welcome to forward it to your circle of friends. The cover picture is a still from the second season (2024) of the TV series "Longing". The end of the article contains an advertisement for the 2023 edition of "Beijing News·Book Review Weekly".

Recently, the WeChat public account has been revamped

Everyone remember to download "Beijing News Book Review Weekly"Set as Star

Don't miss every wonderful article~

Buy the 2023 edition of Beijing News Book Review Weekly now~