adapted from the well-known online writer Duomu Muduo " Qingdeng Daily " has become a hit drama nowadays. "Daily Clothing in Qing Dynasty" tells the story of Li Wei, an ordinary college student from the contemporary era, traveling to the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, becoming the princess in the backyard of the Fourth Prince Yinzhen, and gradually attracting the attention of the Fourth Master and living a "happy and fulfilling" life with the Fourth Master. Under the shell of sweet pet articles, "Qing Chuan Daily" has a cruel core, presenting the fate of women without autonomy in feudal society.
"Qingqing Daily" has become more popular than 10,000
"Qingqing Daily" has made a drastic adaptation of "Qingchuan Daily", changing Qingchuan to an overview story, eliminating the cruel colors of the original work, and becoming more like a leisurely and contented "farming drama". Li Wei has an equal and free relationship with the male protagonist Yin Zheng; the fictional sisters from Jiuchuan in the play do not have to fight for favor like women in palace or occupant dramas.
"Qingqing Daily" is a complete "anti-female competition". The women in the back home have almost no malicious competition or harm. They help each other, love each other, and fight against various explicit or implicit male rights concepts together. It is this refreshing setting of "anti-female competition" that makes "Qingqing Daily" popular.
For a long time, "female competition" has been a crucial motto in the field of popular culture (especially film and television dramas). The vast film and television dramas, from vicious female supporting roles, palace dramas, to best friends’ rebellion, similar plots, themes or types, all render women fighting and hurting each other in order to win the favor of men. As "female competition" gradually becomes the creative red line for women to film and television dramas, "famale competition" is the opposite, and women will never fight each other for men's favor.
In this article, we try to answer several questions: from "female competition" to "anti-female competition", how did all this happen in film and television dramas? Does the emergence of "anti-female competition" in film and television dramas mean that the concept of women has won? Can it be effectively implemented in real life? Is there any hidden concerns about losing control in the trend of "anti-female competition"?
vicious competition for men to win the favor of men
"female competition" is derived from the Chinese Internet. Corresponding to "female competition" is "male competition". In the field of biology, "male competition" is more commonly known to people: in order to attract the opposite sex, successfully courtship, and reproduce offspring, many male animals will compete fiercely with their similar species, attracting the opposite sex through forms such as displaying calls, colors or fighting with similar species. Humans are high-level animals, but humans have never stopped competing for courtship; "female competition" refers to women fighting with other women in order to win male favor.
To clarify the kernel of "Xijing", you can simply answer three whys. First, why do women compete for? The struggle of animals is mainly for courtship, but the "heroic competition" of men in the human field can be for women, but it has never been for women - because women have long been regarded as accessories by men, and they are not worthy of men's "sacrificing" too much rights for. Men's struggle is more for the country and the world, for power and career. Just as Chizuko Ueno said in , "Men are not men who are rewarded by women, but men become men after being recognized as formal members in men's group." In the division of gender, men who are "outside" should make achievements, and men's evaluation and recognition are based on this. In contrast, for thousands of years, "female competition" has been mainly for "grabbing men". The grand career has basically nothing to do with women, because women are excluded.
Second, what are the standards for competition? The standard of "female competition" is essentially a standard for men. What qualities should an excellent woman have in the eyes of men? What is the "bad woman" in the eyes of men? It has become the standard for women to evaluate themselves and evaluate others. Women look at themselves and examine others through the eyes of men.According to the "gaze" theory, women are the projection objects of male desire, which is the first "gaze"; many women unconsciously make self-identity and subject construction through male "gaze", which is the second "gaze". For example, if a man likes a woman with a slim figure, a hall and a kitchen, and a virtuous, considerate and gentle personality, women will work hard towards this template and compare with each other based on who is closer to the template. Naturally, the "bad women" in the eyes of men will also be belittled and ridiculed within women.
Third, is competition benign or vicious? In fact, even in a society where men and women are absolutely equal, there is normal competition in the marriage and love market. Everyone may be chosen by others while choosing others. If the person you like has many suitors, there will be objective competition among the suitors. The difference between "female competition" is that it is accompanied by hostility and suppression of competitors, hating all women who may bring potential "threat" to herself; she is not afraid to guess women with the worst malicious intentions, contempt, belittle their opponents, and frame them, and do everything they can to win in the competition.
"Female competition" is sad, and the "female contempt" of men leads to the "self-loath" of women themselves. Women are downgraded to male accessories, and they engage in worthless internal friction in order to compete for male favor. internal volume .
cannot be used as a cause, and believes that "female competition" is a manifestation of women's emotional, "vicious" and good at internal strife - these statements are all "misfeebs"; in the final analysis, "female competition" is a product of patriarchal system, and women involved in "female competition" are all victims in a broad sense. The patriarchal society is dominated by men, recognizes male ideas, and is centered on men; men are dominant in society, and social life is a privilege that only men enjoy. "No matter in the fields of politics, economy, law, religion, education, military, and family, all authoritative positions are reserved for men." Women do not have the right to participate in social life. They are the private property of men, just like houses and land, and can only exist with dependent on men. Male mercy determines the living situation of women. Especially in the feudal society, when men control the allocation of resources, who can win the favor of men, or who can gain the advantage in resource allocation, "female competition" occurs.
0 第一统口: "Female competition" essentially means that women have no survival resources. When their survival resources come from men, they have to fight around for men's favor. The point is the resource, but it happens to come from men.
The "female competition" that is rampant in films and TV series
has entered modern society, and feudal dregs such as " Three Obediences and Four Virtues " have been vigorously abandoned on the surface, but the patriarchal thinking is deeply rooted and to a certain extent still affects the value judgments of many people. Popular culture represented by film and television dramas is a projection and reflection of the public's subconscious, and "female competition" is widely seen in film and television dramas and is also popular among audiences, which is enough to show that there is still a market for patriarchal thinking.
The "female competition" in film and television dramas has three typical expression forms. One is the "vicious female supporting role". They are willing to think about the male protagonist, but the male protagonist has a special liking for the female protagonist. In order to compete for favor, the "vicious female supporting actress" tries every means to stumbling the female protagonist and frame the female protagonist ruthlessly. "Viral Female Supporters" will not end well. They will not get sincerity from the male protagonist, and will also suffer the consequences and cause destruction when the truth in the second half of the plot is revealed.
Looking back, the "vicious female supporting role" in ancient idol dramas is almost the standard feature of the series. For example, the popular Korean drama "Eve's Temptation" in China, Xu Yingmei , " The Ladder of the Kingdom of Heaven ", the Han Youli , the "The Star of the Sheep" in Taiwan, and the Ou Yaruo , and the Clear Wife Li Weien are all so bad that it is impressive.In ancient idol dramas, the heroine with ordinary appearance, ordinary ability but kind heart always gets favored by the tall, rich and handsome male protagonists, which largely reflects the dependence of women who desire men to "save", which is the source of "female competition"; and the existence of a vicious female supporting role further strengthens the thinking of "female competition": men can only save one woman, and they must seize the opportunity.
When ancient idol dramas seem outdated, fairy tale dramas have become "fairy dramas" and become a new form of domestic idol dramas. Domestic fairy tale dramas are rich in vicious female supporting roles, from Ninien Tian in " Flowers and Thousand Bones ", to Su Jin and Xuannv in " Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms ", to Suihe in " Ashes of Frost ", to Wuhuan in " Eternal Love of Love " last year, the firefly lamps in "Agarwood and Frost" broadcast this year, and the "vicious female supporting roles" produced wholesale are almost all stereotyped images. They have clear tool attributes: in order to show how bad a woman can be, in order to create obstacles for the heroine, and ultimately bring the audience the pleasure of watching the drama with twists and turns and evil retribution.
"Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" Su Jin
"Female Competition" The second typical form of "female competition" is palace fighting drama. Palace dramas are the condensation and amplification of the situation of women in feudal society, the peak embodiment of "female competition", and the culmination of "vicious female supporting roles". More than ten years ago, it was the peak period of domestic palace dramas. " Palace Locking Jade ", " Step by Step Heart ", "The Emperor of the World", "Beauty World", "The Secret History of Wu Zetian", and "The Legend of Zhen Huan" all had good ratings. "Story of Yanxi Palace" and "Han Xi Jinping" in 2018 became the "master singer" of palace dramas. Palace fights gradually transformed into "house fights" with lower scale and lower competition, and continued to appear in domestic dramas.
" The Legend of Zhen Huan " poster
In the palace drama, many women living in the deep palace revolve around the emperor, a man. The emperor controls the distribution of all resources and also has the power to seize life and death. Women must strive to be accepted by the emperor in order to win limited resources, and mutual exclusion seems inevitable. The palace drama reveals how many women fight each other in order to gain the favor of the emperor, plots such as intrigue, poisoning, frame-up, and intrigue are performed one after another. Palace dramas have the most vicious and disgusting side of "female competition", which almost destroys the love and trust between women and fully releases the evil of human nature.
It is worth mentioning that some creators of palace fighting dramas have a clear critical consciousness about "female competition". They are not only addicted to the dramatic pleasure of women fighting each other (after all, this has ratings), but also show a strong anti-feudal color, revealing the tragedy of "female competition".
The third typical form of "female competition" in film and television dramas is the plot of the best friend turning against the man. Unlike vicious female supporting roles and palace dramas, "best friends turn against each other" is closest to the lives of female audiences, and most women have their own best friends; the film and television dramas exaggerate the "female competition" between best friends, and the audience is also willing to pay, reflecting that "female competition" has caused female audiences to panic and anxiety about female interpersonal relationships. For example, the series " My First Half of Life " adapted from Yi Shu's novel of the same name has jaw-dropping changes: Zijun, after the counterattack, "snatched away" her good best friend and elite woman, Tang Jing 's tall and handsome boyfriend He Han . "Fire prevention, theft prevention, best friend prevention" once became a popular saying on the Internet, and the close sisterhood may be affected by the suspicion of being a soldier.
Female girlfriends eventually "break" because of men
In short, the popular culture field once flooded and portrayed "female competition", and the audience was used to it and did not observe it, which shows that many viewers still agree with the logic of "female competition", and it also shows that the patriarchy has never completely died.
The necessity of "anti-female competition" and the innocence
patriarchy is ultimately on the road of death. As women's work participation rate continues to increase, more and more women are financially independent and spiritually independent. They are not dependent on men and have huge consumption capacity, and they must also require that there be works in the entertainment field that can show off their values and present their lives.
Sociology has the saying "cultural delay": the change of material culture (such as the level of economic development, etc.) always precedes intangible culture (ideology, concepts, etc.). The good news is that the development of intangible culture will always keep up. Over the years, films and TV series that exaggerate "female competition" have become increasingly unfavorable by female audiences, and the "anti-female competition" trend has emerged. 2016's " Ode to Joy " was an important turning point, allowing the audience to see the possibility of "sisterly friendship" among women. However, the portrayal of several female protagonists in "Ode to Joy" also exposed the creator's "dislike of the poor and love for the rich" and has also been widely criticized. Later, female group dramas that used the character relationship template of "Ode to Joy" and tried to maintain "correct" in terms of values emerged like mushrooms after a rain. Although there were many mediocre works of follow-up style, "sisterly friendship" became a common theme, and showing that women help each other rather than exaggerating "female competition" became a common creative direction.
The conceptual water level rises little by little, and there is a complete "anti-female competition" "Qingqing Daily". Almost every female image and every group of female relationships in the play are written on the hearts of female audiences.
Does this mean that the "anti-female competition" work has been accomplished? It can be foreseen that with the success of "Qingqing Daily", female-oriented film and television dramas with similar patterns, similar themes and similar expressions will soon emerge, just like the female group dramas that gathered together a few years ago. It is certainly a good thing to express more "anti-female competition" in the field of popular culture, but to what extent it can change the "female competition" phenomenon that exists in real life has to be questioned.
Just like from "Qing Chuan Daily" to "Qing Qing Qing Daily", many viewers criticized the drama for being too "naive" and lost the heavy power of the original work. Unlike the famous Qingchuan novel "Sharp Heart", "Qingchuan Daily" does not focus too much on the court power struggle of " Kowloon Fighting the Throne of the Throne of the Emperor". It has a strong " Farming Text " style. The backyard is Li Wei's main activity space and her only world. As some readers say, "I feel sweet when I watch "Qing Chuan Daily" for the first time, but I feel sour when I go the second time, I feel bitter when I go the third time, and I feel horrible when I go the fourth time." Although Li Wei was favored by the Fourth Master, she was also equivalent to the Fourth Master's pet dog. She had to please the Fourth Master step by step. She knew that her status was seriously unequal and that she could only please and cater to the Fourth Master in front of the Fourth Master who held the power of life and death.
Back to real life, with women's economic and spiritual independence, women no longer need to rely on men to obtain resources, and the "female competition" around men gradually loses the market. But if women still get much lower resources through the same efforts than men, if women must experience more cruel competition with their same kind to be promoted, the internal friction of women's competition for resources will still be widespread and will not disappear because of the "anti-female competition" in film and television dramas.
In 2014, a large-scale poll of nearly 23,000 women and more than 2,000 men in the UK concluded that more than half of women have been bullied or harassed in the workplace, and women who bully them are usually women. Women who are bullied by the same-sex said that they feel that it may be because their ability threatens senior colleagues, which will become targets of exclusion. In 2018, a survey conducted by the University of Arizona showed that women were 14%-21% more likely to report bullying from their same-sex colleagues than men. When women are more confident at work, such as expressing opinions, assigning and taking responsibility for tasks at meetings, they are more likely to report being treated uncivilized by other women at work.
This is more or less a deviation from some people's cognition, but it also shows that "anti-female competition" is a complex and arduous task and cannot be achieved "naively" like in TV series. In addition to giving women fair opportunities and room for growth, American female psychologist Rachel Simmons found in "Girls' Underground War: Revealing the Hidden Attacks in Interpersonal Communication" that "anti-female competition" also starts with our cultivation of girls and breaking the expectations of "good girls". Our culture should encourage girls to bravely participate in competition and express their desire to win frankly.
"Girls' Underground War" cover
Simmons pointed out that during the growth of a girl, the image of "good girls" expected by society, parents, and education systems deeply suppressed them. "People expect 'good girls' without anger. Attacking damages relationships, affects women's ability to care for others and show 'friendliness', and is contrary to society's expectations for girls." At the same time, "When girls adapt to society, we do not teach and support them to express their desires and participate in competition healthily. We throw them into a culture that refuses to put chips on the table and see what kind of people a girl will become... Are we willing to give girls the freedom that boys enjoy? If our culture has not yet determined the weather vane, most girls naturally cannot be sure of it. If girls cannot clarify what kind of people they want to be, they will release their anxiety about each other, control each other, draw a prison, and find the answer by punishing each other, oppressing and quarreling on their own." When girls' stigmatization of competition and desires prevents them from having a healthy emotional reassuring guide, and cannot give them the right to be straightforward and truthful, they can only conduct "secret attacks" against their kind, which leads to unhealthy and indecent "female competition", and the spread of rumors and secret bullying among women comes from this.
can be seen that the "anti-female competition" in film and television dramas is just the first step in the Long March, and there is still a long way to go to become a universal reality.
"Anti-female competition" should not become a new shackle
Not only in film and television dramas, the concept of "anti-female competition" has appeared earlier in online public opinion. "Anti-female competition" has gradually become the mainstream concept, which means that the concept of women has completely won?
is not exactly the case. It should be seen that conflicts and struggles of different concepts always exist. Many times, people's cognition is mixed or even chaotic, and they may have made progress at a certain level and are in a state of being in place at a certain level. This reminds people of the hit " Menghualu " in the first half of this year. It clearly emphasizes the sisterly friendship between several heroines, but inadvertently caused Zhao Paner to "should" Song Yinzhang. In Zhao Paner's view, Song Yinzhang used sex to serve and gained favor from powerful men, "the arrogance came up", and she looked down on Song Yinzhang in her words.
If interpreted in the logic of "female competition", Zhao Paner looked down on Song Yinzhang's "female competition" because of "anti-female competition", but her contempt for Song Yinzhang inadvertently constituted a new "female competition". "Anti-female competition" has actually become a new "female competition".
in popular vocabulary - it is also a window of social mentality. This contradiction has long been exposed. It is very typical of the continuous changes of Internet buzzwords such as "green tea bitch" and "Fu Yuan" that belittle women. As an oriental drink, green tea itself is a symbol of beauty, purity and elegance, but "green tea" and "bitch" combine to form "green tea bitches" to refer to those women who look beautiful and pure but are actually pretended, and everything is to better "sell" to men. The so-called "bitches guide" is even popular on the Internet, which summarizes their characteristics for the public, such as "the makeup is generally made of BB cream, contour powder , thin eyeliner, light brown eye shadow, looks plain, like to go to nightclubs, have many male friends, speaks in a small voice, is very sensitive to the opposite sex, is very literary, can do anything for your own interests and ambitions, and then pretends to be completely unaware of it and leave quietly." The domestic film "The Best Life for a Coquettish Woman" starring 2014 Zhou Xun and Huang Xiaoming has even more concreteized the "green tea bitches", as if they are indeed common and widespread.
"The Best Life for a Sexy Woman" Stills
Many people's disgust with "green tea bitches" is that they judge that "green tea bitches" are essentially creating "female competition", and "green tea bitches" self-materialize and also materialize other women, so they have to be criticized.Some time ago, derogatory words such as "Fo Yuan" and "Disease Yuan" appeared again. The public's stigmatization logic is consistent with the stigmatization of "green tea bitches". They subjectively believe that these socialites pose and pose regardless of the occasion is actually to cater to men's poses, so they have to criticize and oppose.
It is not difficult to find that "anti-female competition" has gradually become a powerful tool for some people to suppress women. It is like a woman who engages in "female competition". She is morally corrupt and has a degraded personality. She loses the right to self-dispute. She can only accept the various moral sticks attacked by public opinion, and we can easily push her into a place that will never be restored. There is also a saying online: The best way to mess with a female celebrity is to write a "small essay" saying that she stole someone else's boyfriend/husband. There are indeed many celebrity storms that support this.
But the problem is that the criteria for judging a female "female competition" are quite subjective, quite unreasonable, domineering, and quite heartbroken. A person's motivation is the hardest to prove. For example, the so-called "Bitch Appreciation Guide" believes that women who are delicate in front of men are betrayal of women, and also believe that women lose weight, women have long hair, and women want to have a convex figure, which is to cater to male aesthetics; but how should women "prove their innocence": Maybe they are so cute? Can't they keep their figure to "please themselves"? Take a step back and say that as long as these women have not hurt others, why bother with an arrogant attitude to point fingers at their choices?
When "anti-female competition" becomes a weapon, it goes from one extreme to another: in women's aesthetic preferences, if they happen to be consistent with men, they must give up their aesthetic pursuits. They should oppose and abandon what men like, otherwise they will become peers of the patriarchy and will be criticized. At this time, an embarrassing phenomenon occurs: some women even discriminate against women more than men and are more harsh on women than men.
"Anti-female competition" can certainly become a creative trend, but it should not become a weapon to suppress women. Women should not deprive women of their right to please themselves on the grounds of "anti-female competition" to form new disciplines against women. Otherwise, when women stigmatize another group of women on the grounds of "anti-female competition", it objectively has caused new conflicts between women and formed a new "female competition" - whoever "disgusted with men" is more thorough in competition, and whoever is not thorough in the competition will be unlucky. Such "female competition" also causes deep depression and harm to women.
In short, the field of popular culture can advocate more independence and equality of women, write more "sisterly friendship", and completely avoid the presentation of malicious competition launched by women for men. These are all manifestations of "anti-female competition". However, "anti-female competition" should become a revolution in concept and a revolution that breaks the shackles of women, rather than on the contrary, it will become a movement to examine and judge women's personal lives. We must be especially wary of our words and deeds under the banner of "anti-female competition".
