"Poem" is a film made by Korean director Lee Chang-dong inspired by a piece of social news. It won the Best Screenplay at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival and is also deeply loved by Chinese audiences. The film's protagonist, Miko, is a 65-year-old woman who makes a living by caring for paralyzed elderly people and takes care of her grandson who is still in high school. On the one hand, Meizi loves poetry and devotes herself to studying poetry; on the other hand, she has to face the cruel reality that her grandson and friends sexually assaulted a female classmate, causing her to commit suicide, and she gradually develops dementia. In the film, the six boys' sexual assault on the girl is a serious crime, and the handling of the incident by the boys' fathers, schools, and the media shows the oppression of women by male power. Although director Li Changdong never claimed to be a feminist, the film "Poetry" focuses on the living environment of women, showing the bullying and plight of women, and has a strong feminist color.
An overview of feminist film theory
Feminist film theory refers to a part of the new feminist ideas in film theory and criticism that emerged in Europe and the United States in the late 1960s. Feminism, also known as feminism, refers to transcending classes, races and regions in all human beings, breaking the superiority of men and women, and realizing equality between men and women. The feminist movement can be traced back to France at the end of the 18th century, when women in Paris stormed the Palais de la Farsay and demanded the same suffrage as men in parliament. . Generally speaking, the 1890s to the 1920s are generally regarded as the first climax of Western feminism, and the feminism that emerged in the United States and European countries in the late 1960s is regarded as the "second wave". Call it "New Feminism". 1 Building on the political and economic rights demands of the first feminist movement, the second feminist movement focused on literature and art and the representation of women in the mass media. As an important communication medium, film has become the object of discussion and research by feminist scholars, and also provides a new perspective for the development of film theory.
"Contemporary film theory formed and flourished after the 1960s, becoming an important part and frontier of post-structuralism and post-modernism theory; another important phenomenon during this period was that some film theories began to feed back into artistic and literary creation. , and even have an impact on humanities research.” 2 Feminist film theory, which comes from the fusion of feminist theory and film theory, not only promotes the development of film theory, but also feeds back research in the humanities such as psychology and women’s studies. There are many feminist film theories, which can be divided into two categories according to the research ideas. One is the empirical research method represented by American scholars, such as "Popcorn Goddess: Women, Film and the American Dream", "From Awe to Rape: The Making of Women in Film", etc., which focus on the subjective perception after watching a film feeling, lack of reflection on the theoretical framework of its connotation; one category is the theoretical construction and reflection represented by British scholars, whose representative works include the anthology "Women's Film Review" edited by Johnston and Laura Mulvey in 1973. His paper "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" was published in 2008. Molway believes that cinema attracts the audience's unconscious in two ways: one is voyeurism (Scopophilia), the pleasure of active viewers comes from looking at passive objects; the other is narcissism (narcissism), that is, the self will idealize The combination of self and screen image leads to other identification. Molway explains in detail how men consciously and unconsciously control the production and reception of film, creating images to satisfy their needs and unconscious desires. According to the differences between the sexes, the viewing experience is based on the active (male) audience controlling the passive (female) screen object. The combination of scene and narrative on the screen drives the audience to a cinematic position dominated by a male unconscious state of mind. 3
The shadow of patriarchy
In the movie "Poem", there are mainly six types of male characters appearing, they are the boys who commit crimes, the boys' fathers, school representatives, reporters, Miko's caregivers, and policemen. Except for the upright police, other men have bullied and oppressed Miko and the sexually assaulted girl to varying degrees. As the famous feminist Simone de Beauvoir said in her book The Second Sex, "Although women are as independent and free as all human beings, they find themselves persecuted by men in this world. , had to take on the identity of 'The Other'". Men are in control of this society from the family, school, public opinion and government levels, and men's aggression against women has become a reality that can be silenced.
1. Boys involved in sexual assault
In the movie, Meizi's grandson is a student in the third year of high school. Her father is missing, and her mother entrusts her to her grandmother to take care of her. His grandmother indulged him endlessly, and would never clear up after eating snacks. He was addicted to TV entertainment programs and loud music, and he was also impatient with his grandmother who loved him. He also has no remorse after gang-raping a girl of the same class with his friends. After the girl who was sexually assaulted committed suicide, the boys were only absent-minded for a while, and then continued happily watching TV, eating snacks, and playing games. It seemed that the suicide of the girl had nothing to do with them, and the adults would take care of everything.
2. The boys' father
Faced with the vicious incident of his son gang-raping a girl, the five families without exception, all came forward by the father. The first time they did not apologize, but discussed how to settle the girl's mother with money. Talking about the motives of their sons, they thought that "it was voluntary by the girls, and they were short and ordinary. I don't know what the children liked." Regarding the girl's suicide, they felt that "the dead child is pitiful, but we must act together". Sexual abuse of one girl by six boys is a very bad behavior in the eyes of ordinary people. It not only violates laws and customs, but also touches the moral bottom line of human nature. But the five fathers only felt a little regret, and for the sake of their sons' future, they should quickly cover up.
When it was time to negotiate with the girl's mother, the five fathers asked Meizi to intercede, saying, "You are all women, so it's easier and more suitable than us. A poor grandmother who raises her grandson alone can intercede and talk while crying." After the school, the media, and the teenage mother were settled, the five fathers held a celebration as if to get rid of a trouble. In the subconscious of the five fathers, it is only a pity that an innocent girl is sexually assaulted. The pain of the girl's mother can be healed with money, and the grandmother who raises her grandson alone can cry and plead for mercy. Whether girls, mothers, or old women, they are all weak. They can cry when they are violated, so they can be bullied arbitrarily.
3. Director of School Instruction
When such a vicious incident occurred in the school, the director of the school's education had to come forward, and he was still a man. He cautiously warned the boys' parents, "Everyone must prepare the money. This is not only related to the children's future, but also the school will jump around." There is no sympathy, it seems that it is none of your business. He didn't mention the responsibility of the school, nor did he have any plans for psychological counseling and legal education. He just wanted to calm down as soon as possible.
4. Journalists
After the gang rape case, a local male reporter approached Meizi and hoped to find out. At this time, the audience seemed to have a glimmer of hope, and felt that the reporter's exposure of the case could win the support of public opinion. However, the reporter was quick to silence after receiving the hush money and helped the fathers connect with the mother of the suicidal girl. It can be seen that the media does not always stand on the side of justice, and the pursuit of truth is sometimes inferior to the temptation of money.
5. The old president
Miko made a living by taking care of an old president. Although the old president was paralyzed and unable to move, he kept staring at Miko while Miko was cleaning, and expressed her desire to have sex with Miko. Miko bathed and did housework for the old president, but the old president still treated Miko in a playful manner, hoping that she would always smile to himself. The old president did not directly hurt Miko, but he never really respected Miko, and only regarded Miko as an object of "staring" and consumption.
6. Police
The only positive male image in the film is the policeman Miko met when she was studying poetry. He originally worked in Seoul and was transferred to the locality for reporting corruption by his boss. He has a straightforward personality and likes to make dirty jokes at poetry readings, causing Miko's displeasure. However, when he saw Miko crying, he took the initiative to inquire about the situation, and in the end arrested the boys who committed the crime.
In a campus sexual assault, the aggressor, the parents of the aggressor, the school, the media, and the police all appeared one after another. They were all men, and they held most of the power in Korean society. In the family, they are the head of the family and a symbol of authority; in the school, male staff members come forward as representatives to solve problems; reporters who investigate social news are also occupied by men; in the workplace, successful men have accumulated a lot of wealth and old age After the retirement, of course, as the executor of the power of the national government, the police are naturally male. Men build an invisible barrier to protect themselves and the next generation of men. Therefore, when a group of boys bully a girl, they don't feel guilty, they don't even panic, they just ignore it. They know that their fathers, teachers, journalists will protect them and become their guards, and the patriarchy of the whole society will become their protection net.
The women's counterattack
The famous film scholar Dai Jinhua once said: In the gender order of society, "woman" is a series of fixed roles, if you reject these roles, you must pay the price. The main female characters in the film "Poem" are Meizi and the sexually assaulted girl, who have made a serious and decisive counterattack in the face of men's assault on them. Facing the sexual assault of five boys, the girl chose to commit suicide by jumping into a river; facing the indifference of her fathers to crime, Meizi chose to expose the facts.
1. Revolt against patriarchy and patriarchy
Meizi was financially strapped but independent, her husband did not appear, and her only daughter divorced and left her grandson to leave. Meizi raises and takes care of her grandson alone, she is strong and optimistic. Meizi dresses stylishly and pays attention to cleanliness. She told her grandson, "To keep your body clean, only a clean body will make your heart clean." When she learned that her grandson was involved in the gang rape, Meizi was both shocked and ashamed. She hoped that the grandson could explain why she did it, but the grandson just Hiding in bed to avoid grandma's scolding. After the girl died, the mother chose to accept the compensation even though she was sad. The boys were indifferent as if nothing had happened. The boys' fathers quickly raised money to quickly settle the matter. Only Meizi, with an uneasy conscience, bravely reported the crime to the police and sent the boys who had no repentance to prison. This is because Miko, who is also a woman, has empathy for the girl who has been abused, and feels guilt and compassion. At the girl's funeral, Miko saw the female students staggered out of the church in fright, and when she saw the pictures of the girl's pure smile, she felt dizzy and burst into tears. Compared with the hypocritical and shameless father of the boys, the director of education, and the reporter who collects hush money, Miko is righteous and brave. She dares to face up to her fault in education and tries to make up for her mistakes; It is kind and noble, and will never cover up the sins of grandchildren for the so-called future.
Although the girl's face shot appears at the end of the film, it has been driving the development of the film's plot. The girl's family was in difficult circumstances, her father died early, and her mother worked alone to raise her brother, a monk who was in elementary school. In the school laboratory, six male classmates sexually assaulted her, and she was powerless to resist. In the end, the girl stood on the bridge with a desperate and determined look, and then threw herself into the gurgling river. This was a tragic and decisive counterattack by the abused girl.
2. Redemption in nature
In the 1970s, the French feminist Francesva de Auponi published "Feminism · Destruction", which first proposed the theory of ecofeminism, and received important development in the 1990s. Ecofeminist theory believes that women are closer to nature, and like nature, they become the "other" in the eyes of men, and are oppressed and degraded arbitrarily. Ecofeminism seeks to use feminist critical theory on the basis of ecocriticism to explore the issues of environmental awareness, interpersonal and social equality and justice, and the conquest, domination, and oppression between man and nature, and between men and women, as reflected in literary works. and governance issues. Ecofeminism also advocates changing the idea of man ruling over nature, criticizing the cultural values of patriarchy, and praising the essence of women. The goal is to build a utopia that follows the principles of ecologicalism and feminism. "Poem" profoundly demonstrated the connotation of ecofeminism.
In "Poems", the teacher of the choir told Meiko that it is most important to observe everything in the world carefully. Only by observing from various angles can she write poems, so Meiko carries a notebook wherever she goes. At the twenty-sixth minute of the film, Meizi sat under the tree and looked at the tree. The neighbor asked her why she looked at the tree. She said, "Because I want to look at the tree, what is the tree thinking, what is it saying to me? I want to hear it. ". In the thirty-sixth minute of the film, when Meizi learned that her grandson was involved in the gang rape, she walked out of the restaurant and took notes next to the cockscomb. A boy's father asked her what she was doing, and she said, "I'm just taking notes, a red flower like blood. I know. What is the flower language of cockscomb? It is a shield, it looks like a shield, the shield that protects us.” At the 71st minute of the film, Miko came to see a doctor in Seoul and saw the camellia in front of the window of the doctor's office, she muttered to herself, "I especially like camellias, winter flowers, red flowers of pain. White flowers are pure, yellow flowers are It's an honor." At the ninety-sixth minute of the film, Miko came to the victim's house and saw a group photo of the girl and camellia. After that, she went to the field to find the victim's mother, listened to the bird's chirping, and sighed at the fallen 100-day red Charm, picked up the fallen apricot, and wrote "Apricot gave up and ran to the earth, split and trampled, just for the next reincarnation."
It can be seen that life is cruel to Miko, but Miko still has nostalgia for nature and poetry, which is the natural closeness of women to nature. The male characters in the film all have traces of industrialization, implying aggression and plundering of the natural ecology. The grandson relies heavily on entertainment electronic products such as mobile phones, TVs, computers, game consoles, and stereos; the father of Ji Fan (one of the boys involved in the sexual assault) uses a car to travel, and he is also deeply puzzled by Meizi's behavior of writing poems; male reporter When Xiang Meizi inquired about the news, there was a camera hanging around his neck, taking pictures. Men are accustomed to the modern industrialized world, and they subconsciously believe that the use of machinery can control the world, including nature and women.
At the end of the film, Miko writes a poem "Song of Argonius": What is it like over there? How quiet will it be? There will still be sunset in the evening, can you hear the birdsong flying into the forest? Can you still receive the letter that cannot be sent? Can unspoken confessions be conveyed to you?
This poem has no gorgeous rhetoric, is plain and simple, uses a lot of natural things as imagery, and contains Miko's sincere repentance to the girl. The humiliated girl jumped into the river and fell asleep on the ground. Miko, who was trapped by the case, repented to the girl, searched for poetry in nature, and achieved self-redemption. At the end of the film, the voice of reading poetry changes from Miko to a suicide girl, and the two women merge into one. "Jane Arcosella believes: 'The understanding and empathy between women is quite morally progressive, it breaks egocentrism and enables difficult, emotional exchanges that mark the deepening of sisterhood and the establishment of women's groups' ". 4 Miko and the girl are both women, Miko understands the pain of the girl, this understanding prevents her from perfunctory like the boys' fathers, but allows the boys to get the punishment they deserve. This is women's empathy for women, women's understanding of women, showing the unique sisterhood of women.
summary
South Korea and China belong to the East Asian cultural circle and are deeply influenced by Confucianism. In the long-term development of this unequal relationship between the sexes, many people do not realize that it is unfair to treat women in this way, and they are used to women's sacrifice and enjoy women's contributions. The film "Poetry" directed by Lee Changdong revealed the hidden disease of Korean society. Boys sexually assault girls, but they are directly or indirectly shielded by the patriarchy of the whole society. At the same time, in order to silence the victim's mother, the parents persecuted the old woman Yang Meizi twice. However, the girl's suicide and Miko's report show the women's resolute and tragic resistance. This is the kindness, justice and mutual understanding in the heart of women. Yang Meizi's love for nature and poetry also shows the concept of eco-feminism and realizes the self-redemption of women.
Notes
1. Qin Xiqing. "Western Feminist Films: Theory, Criticism, Practice" [M]. Beijing: China Film Press: 2
2. Cai Manyuan. The biographical film "Frida" from Mulvey's feminism [J]. New Film 2019(03):76
3. Ying Yuli. "The History of Women's Film" [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House: 16
Dai Guiyu. Research on Subject Identity from the Perspective of Ecofeminism [M]. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press: 59
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