Li Yinhe talks about sex

Chapter 55 Female Images and Their Criticism in Film and Television Works

The patriarchal society has existed for thousands of years, and the low status of women is indeed in line with the reality of life.In contrast, equality between men and women is often inconsistent with the realities of life.

The editor sent Zuo Fang a critical article on the overall decline of the image of women in film and television, let me talk about my views.I don't think much about domestically produced film and television works, so it seems that I lack the right to speak.I can only express a little opinion on the author's point of view and the phenomenon criticized as follows:
about right and wrong

Zuo Fang's criticism should be positioned as a political criticism of the patriarchal tendency in film and television works.The current film and television works she criticizes include "beautifying the irresponsibility of men", "covering the real situation of women", and "discriminating against women has become fashionable", which are political criticisms from the perspective of feminism.

I have a basic judgment, that is: our society is a society that lacks gender sensitivity, and the vast majority of people have no gender awareness.Therefore, there are many erroneous views in the West that "rats cross the street and everyone shouts and beats", but in China they can be flaunted openly, at least no one can realize that it is politically wrong.For example, misogynist views and their artistic expression.

I vaguely remember that when "The Mansion Gate" was in theaters, a reporter interviewed its director.The director made it clear that his work was written for men.At that time, I had a vague feeling that what he meant was that firstly, he thought that the current Chinese men were too wimpy and unmanly; secondly, he wanted to tell Chinese men through his works, what kind of person is a "gentleman", How to do it is called "manly".I don't know if I understood it correctly, but after reading his interview, I left such an impression.So, what is the "man" in the director's mind?The answer is: be strong, do great things, and live happily.In addition to the success of the career, this joy also includes, of course, getting a lot of women.It is best to be like the male protagonist, not only in quantity, but also in high quality: some women are jealous of him, and some women are even willing to die for him.According to the director, this is the old man.

I know that many Chinese men more or less agree with this director's values, but they feel a little "long lost" to such values.Because after liberation, the Communist Party has been talking about equality between men and women, so that everyone has gradually forgotten and become unfamiliar with this view.Let this director mention it, and everyone thinks it is quite new (violating the cliché of equality between men and women). The protagonist of "The Mansion Gate" also makes people feel "unconventional" (a formulaic male protagonist cannot discriminate against women).

However, what is new is not necessarily all new, nor is it necessarily the right thing.For "now", "past" and "future" are fresh and different.Discrimination against women belongs to the "past", it is "rising from the dross", it is old, traditional, and is the dross of Chinese history. "Same, is disgusting.And it's politically incorrect.It is wrong to discriminate against the underprivileged in society Women are the underprivileged in our society.

People are not used to criticizing film and television works from the perspective of disadvantaged groups such as women.This is one of the reasons why Zuo Fang's article aroused great repercussions.In my opinion, such criticisms are too few and should be more.All kinds of vulnerable groups are not only women, but also ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, and all disadvantaged groups relative to the powerful groups in society. bully.Monitor closely all politically incorrect statements, including their representation on film and television.For example, there are media monitoring organizations for gay groups in foreign countries, which specifically focus on the speeches and works that discriminate against homosexuals in various media, and name and criticize them.I remember that not long ago, a director of our modern drama in China made such a statement that women are used in bed. If such a statement appeared in Western media, the person who said it would have been drowned in spit.For such "politically incorrect" remarks, we must of course criticize them bitterly to set the record straight.

about truth and falsehood

However, what is politically incorrect is not necessarily artistically incorrect.Taking Mr. Bai again as an example, he married four wives in the era when concubines were allowed, which was the real situation in society; the women around the pioneer director were only "used in bed" and maybe it was also the real situation in his life.The patriarchal society has existed for thousands of years, and the low status of women is indeed in line with the reality of life.In contrast, equality between men and women is often inconsistent with the realities of life.

There is nothing wrong with art depicting the reality of life, we must not appreciate false art.Zuo Fang said in her article that radio, film and television works suppress women’s issues in every possible way, untruthfully reducing their role in the family and society, and women are described one-sidedly and vulgarly belittled...” This statement is somewhat biased. If women in a certain period If a place is inferior, then it is not "unreal" to write about that inferiority. We cannot ask all writers to write about the period of equality between men and women, and not to write about the period of patriarchy; nor can we ask all Most writers write about the relationship of equality between men and women, not about the relationship between men oppressing women.

Some people may say: the work does not describe all the realities, because some relationships between men and women are equal, it does not describe these equal relationships, but only unequal relationships.However, I think we cannot ask all writers to write about equal relationships and not write about unequal relationships; nor can we ask all writers to write about unequal relationships and not write about equal relationships in all their works.Such a request is a bit excessive.

Some people may say: You must have a correct attitude towards true descriptions. Regarding the relationship between men oppressing women, you can write if you are against it;I think such a request is also inappropriate for a writer.In other words, we cannot require all writers to be "politically correct."If every writer is required to be "politically correct" every time they write a play, then it is better to directly ask them to write political essays, or let them simply publish a political manifesto.The absurdity of such a demand is obvious—it would abolish all literary and artistic creation.

what should we do?
The philosopher said: I firmly oppose your point of view, but I firmly defend your right to express this point of view.The Constitution protects freedom of speech, and politically incorrect speech also has the freedom to publish; politically incorrect works also have the freedom to publish; politically incorrect film and television works also have the freedom to perform.Therefore, I think that for all kinds of politics in film and television works

Politically incorrect views, the correct attitude is: on the one hand, we want to criticize your views, but on the other hand, we must defend your right to express wrong views and your right to create.

To sum up, I think that Zuo Fang's criticism is meaningless in literary criticism (it does not belong to the category of literary criticism), and it is a feminist political criticism.In other words, it is right as political criticism and wrong as literary criticism.From the perspective of political criticism, we can say that women are in a weak position in our society, and these works are just a reflection of the social reality of male domination and women's humiliation.Works may reflect an aspect of social reality, but this reality is bad and should be criticized.However, we cannot say that these works portray women as inferior and therefore untrue.

There have been film and television works with politically incorrect stances in the past, there are now, and there will be in the future.Some of them are artistically real, some are not.In a nutshell, measured by the two coordinates of political stance and artistic truth, film and television works can be divided into four categories: the first category, politically correct, artistically true; the second category, politically correct, artistically not True, for example, writing a concubine in the old society like a female cadre today; the third category, politically incorrect, artistically true—for example, writing about a woman who is clearly a man’s slave, but is very happy in her heart, Special enjoyment, there are such people in reality, so the works may be real; the fourth category is politically incorrect and artistically unreal, such as the works describing class struggle that filled the literary world in the past, old landlords destroying dams and so on , they are politically discriminating against minorities, and artistically untrue.

what should we do?We admire the works of the first category; despise the works of the fourth category; criticize the artistic distortion of the works of the second category; and criticize the political incorrectness of the works of the third category.Looking at Zuo Fang's critical articles by this standard, her political criticism of those film and television works is reasonable, but her artistic judgment on them may not be pertinent.

(End of this chapter)