Chapter 326
Film Review: The Answer to the Gaze (See It as Words)
[The plot line of "Dragon Slayer" is relatively simple, and subverting the traditional story is another Hollywood routine. But if that were all, the movie would just be a popcorn thriller and would hardly sustain a narrative length of more than two hours.
Its success lies in the fact that it does not simply reverse the good and evil characters. Various "anti-xx" works essentially replace bad guys with good guys, and good guys with bad guys. They just swap the audience's standpoints and cheat codes, and there is no innovation in the core of the story.
In "Dragon Slayer", Monica is clearly not a character that can be defined by the label "good" or "bad".
Adventurers' impression of her is largely influenced by illusion, and the setting of illusion in the movie is very interesting. Monica mentioned in her conversation with the Knight that she was just satisfying his imagination.
Following this logic, if she never wove illusions for anyone, but simply let them see what they wanted to see, then in this film where reality and fantasy are intertwined, these two parts of Monica's image need to be viewed separately.
The fantasies that the male characters in the film have about her are actually very consistent with the four female images in structuralist narrative research, namely the earth mother, the slut, the witch and the victim.
The Earth Mother represents motherhood, order and protection, the slut represents feminine charm and promiscuity, the witch symbolizes wisdom, irrationality and destruction, and the victim is synonymous with purity, innocence and tragedy. [1]
If you compare them one by one, you will find that Monica's appearance is a standard image of a victim. She brings news to the townspeople and leads the way for adventurers, but she is so frail that she may fall on the road to slaying a dragon at any time. If she really died, the tragedy caused by her life would inspire the warriors to have the strength and determination to move forward.
This setting sounds familiar, and in fact it is often used in various film and television works. The above four categories can basically summarize all the female characters in works written from a male perspective. In "Dragon Slayer", these are also all the adventurers' fantasies about Monica.
They wanted her to be the perfect victim, preferably a specimen encased in a glass case so that she could remain pure and flawless forever. She should be pure, beautiful, and always be aware of devoting everything to them. She is the sacrifice, and they are the gods who enjoy the offerings and fanatical worship of believers.
They also hope that she will take on the role of a mother, be tolerant and understanding of all their mistakes like a mother, and gently say that everything will be fine. She would take care of them meticulously, show concern for them, provide spiritual breast milk for these adventurers who had not yet been weaned, and revolve around them wholeheartedly;
Spiritual comfort and emotional value are not all they want from Monica. When they have sexual needs, she will also take the initiative to seduce them.
It's definitely not that they can't control their lower body, but that she is dissolute and promiscuous. She willingly and eagerly wants to have sex with them, and the great adventurer is just going with the flow.
If she failed to do this, if she made them discover the difference between reality and fantasy, it would not be the adventurers' fault. They won't reflect on themselves, and Monica will immediately become hideous.
She turned into an evil witch, and used a series of conspiracies and tricks to deliberately sow discord among them. She also wanted to kill them and take all the dragon's wealth for herself - which was also what they most wanted to do to their companions.
When they judged her "evil deeds", they tried their best to emphasize how destructive she was and what serious consequences she brought, which provided them with sufficient reasons for their subsequent attacks.
And when they did attack her, they acted so rashly and confidently. The more confident you are when you make a move, the more embarrassed you will be when you go offline.
The contrast here is quite ironic. They say she is an evil witch, but subconsciously they firmly believe that she is vulnerable. So do they really think she has the ability to do evil? If they believed she had, why did they take her so lightly?
She can be powerful, but when the hero shows up, she must be defeated. Perhaps the adventurers still held on to this fantasy of being strict with her when they attacked her.
Rather than saying that these are four images, it is better to say that they are four types of tools that meet various needs of the male perspective. "Dragon Slayer" shows it in a straightforward and ironic way. The adventurers' fantasy about Monica is part of the male gaze that has long been imposed on many female characters.
In this respect, Dragon Slayer shows its feminist color. If you only look at these, the film's advocacy of women's rights is very mild.
Instead of choosing a background close to reality, it is set in an imaginary medieval town. It never mentions any concrete rights for women, but only focuses on the male gaze fantasy of women. The adventurers bring about their own destruction, while the heroine Monica does not make her case or resist.
So, the point of the movie is just to expose it and satirize it? If you shift your focus away from the fantasy part and focus on Monica herself, you will make new discoveries.
As mentioned earlier, Monica cannot be defined by labels like good or bad. If she must be classified into a camp, I think she does not belong to any side in the secular concept, but is more like a condescending bystander.
She is neither a good person nor a bad person, strictly speaking, she is not even a human being (not in a derogatory sense).
Here we have to introduce a question that is being discussed all over the Internet: What is Monica’s true identity? Is she a dragon who can perform illusions, or a person who pretends to be a dragon?
The answer in my mind is the former, and I also think that the movie wants to express the former, because Monica's mentality is not like that of a human when she is on this dragon-slaying journey.
Putting aside all the fantasy parts, Monica's emotions are always stable. There was rarely any expression on her face, and her eyes were often unfocused due to distraction.
She would not panic when encountering wild beasts, and remained calm when encountering avalanches. When this group of vicious people prayed devoutly for good weather tomorrow, Monica seemed to be listening, but yawned out of boredom the next second.
In an era of relatively backward productivity, Monica showed no respect for nature. The fact that she doesn't worry about the weather or disasters, or whether she'll have her next meal, is enough to prove her non-human status.
Moreover, even though she knew the dirty thoughts of these adventurers, she did not show any disgust or offense at all.
Ling Suisui performed very well here. She remained calm and just glanced over there curiously. At this moment, a squirrel slid past her feet, and her attention was instantly attracted, as if the incident just now did not cause any waves in her heart.
This one glance perfectly illustrates the careless contempt of the superior.
No heckling, no name calling, and certainly nothing worthy of an elaborate counterattack. Monica picked up the squirrel and stroked its fluffy tail. Her eyes and expression in this scene were actually very similar to when she was comforting the knight in the cave.
Of the 90% copy-paste, 10% is probably because people think squirrels are cuter. Ling Suisui has always had a vivid grasp of details. Since there are too many articles analyzing her acting skills and the quality is so poor, I will not join in the fun for now. If you are interested, you can search for more keywords.
The dragon Monica observes humans as humans observe ants. As long as you put yourself in this perspective, you will find that "Dragon Slayer" is the counterattack against the male gaze.
This can be understood as how ridiculous and insignificant the gazes of the adventurers are in the face of powerful force, and how they are more refreshing when eaten with popcorn; it can also be understood as her overturning the card table and making new rules.
She didn't follow their scripts or routines at all. It is impossible to slay a dragon, the treasure is a lie, and it is impossible to be a hero.
By the way, I think that when Monica's identity was revealed at the end and the knight wanted to stand against the whole world for love, but found that the townspeople were not afraid of the dragon at all, his expression could be shortlisted for the annual joke award.
Whenever Ling Sui-sui’s work is reviewed, there is a phrase that has been overused: after she has performed a role, the audience can no longer imagine how anyone else would play the role.
Although it may seem a bit lazy to use this sentence again, I still want to say that Monica is Monica because of Ling Sui's performance.
This role is really difficult. How can I perform this kind of nonchalant, overlooking feeling? If you move forward a little, you will fail because of exaggeration; if you take a step back, it will seem like a self-consoling method of spiritual victory.
Not caring can't be expressed by words, it can only be shown by acting. She can't even act arrogant. How can a human being find a sense of superiority over an ant?
But she can act, and she acts very well. To this day I still don't understand it. I have watched "Dragon Slayer" three times. How did she act out this feeling that made me want to worship her outside the screen just by looking at the camera?
The actors in crime films act so well that some viewers will ask to check this person carefully to see if he has a criminal record. I know this is a joke, but I also want to ask someone to test Ling Sui's DNA now.
Is there a possibility, I mean what if - what if she really is a dragon? 】
…
After reading it, Ling Suisui asked Li Mingxu if he really intended to send it out directly like this?
There are many words and tones used here that are completely unlike his perspective and habits, and some of the words are not something he can say in his capacity. Not to mention his fans, even passers-by who know him a little would find it awkward.
Li Mingxu said awkwardly: "No, I just wanted to show it to you first, and then revise it before posting it..."
However, if he were asked to make changes, there would probably be too many things to change.
He admitted his mistake to Ling Suisui, saying that he just acted like that because he was angry at the moment. Even if Ling Suisui didn't scold him, he would probably give up this idea during the modification process.
That's fine, not too stupid.
Ling Suisui asked him to find the original author and let him publish the film review himself. After all, Li Mingxu did not reveal his identity when he was looking for someone, so he just treated it as a paid commission.
Li Mingxu said it was no problem, and asked her when the filming of "Kung Fu Master" would be completed, and he would treat her to a meal when she returned to China.
With the box office performance of "Dragon Slayer", it was very likely to win the annual championship in mainland China, but by the time she finished filming, the result would have been out. If you want to make an appointment with her at that time, you will definitely have to queue up, so it’s better to get a number in advance now.
Humph, who said he was stupid? Li Mingxu thought he was very smart.
Ling Suisui thought for a moment and said, "If you want to get together, you don't have to wait until the filming is finished. I will be back at the end of the month."
The Hundred Flowers Awards ceremony will be held at the end of the month. "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" has already earned her nominations for Best Actress in the three major mainland film awards. As for whether she can win the grand slam, it all depends on this time.
The author has something to say:
[1] Regarding the four female images in structuralist narratives, the most information that can be found on the Internet is that Professor Dai Jinhua once quoted this statement. The source that can be found is Professor Constance Penley’s paper. If there are any errors, please point them out.
Penley, C. (1976). Cries and whispers. In Nichols, B. (Ed.). Movies and methods, Vol.1, pp. 204-208. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
