Grace Under Fire is a martial arts’ drama and has attracted many audiences (include me and my mum) to watch it recently. This drama takes place in Guangzhou during the Republic China period and show that Mok Kwai Lan (Liu Xuan) how to protect 寶芝林 and spread spirit of kung fu when her husband, Wong Fei-hung (John Chiang) died.
Although it is a martial arts’ drama, it is not same as the other martial arts’ drama before. In the past, most of the protagonist or hero is man in martial arts’ drama but this situation is changing continuously in drama. From Grace Under Fire, we can see that woman act as the protagonist and hero in the martial arts’ drama, no longer man. The female status is high and they become tough in nowadays, not same as past so female audience like to watch tough and independent actress in drama and content of dramas are more and more focusing on female to attract more female audiences.
In the past, most of actress are tender, dependent and should stay in home to look after their family in old drama but producer of Grace Under Fire through this drama to break the traditional stereotype of female and let audiences have new impression on female when they watch martial acts’ drama. We can see that the role of Mok Kwai Lan reflects modern female characteristic in this drama even though its background happen in Republic China era. For instance, she doesn’t mind the age gap between her and Wong Fei Hung and only wants to marry with him even though her relative oppose her. Actually, it is not allow and children need to accept parents’ decision in the past so Kwai-lan shows the modern female characteristic, “Seek Love Bravely” and this action same as many modern female don’t care anything to seek their love.
Moreover, the role of Kwai-lan is not same as the traditional female and she is tough and independent in Grace Under Fire. After her husband died, she is still tough and brave to solve problem when Lui Kong and Tong Yuet-hang forbid Kwai-lan teach kung fu and order to close寶芝林. Compare with the other martial arts’ drama (e.g. A Fistful of Stances 鐵馬尋橋), actress usually tender or are passive to accept parents’ decision and seldom act as hero but the role of Kwai-lan is not same as them. Kwai-lan competed with Japanese and she won the competition to become hero although she is female. In the drama, the role of Kwai-lan not only show modern female characteristic, her behavior is also similar to male. She does not scare competition with Japanese and accept his challenge actively even though she may die in this competition.
In my opinion, the main female protagonists are usually acted by Yeung Yi, Charmaine Sheh or Fala Chan in TVB’s drama and it let audiences feel boring even though their acting is good. In Grace Under Fire, the producer invite Liu Xuan to act as protagonist and it can bring fresh feeling to audience. Although she is first time to act as protagonist in drama, it is still attract many audiences to watch and praise her acting. Because many H.K. people like Liu Xuan when she was gymnast and have good impression on her, it attracts her fans or people to watch the drama and they have expectation on her first time acting. Therefore, I think the producer of Grace Under Fire is quite successful to invite Liu Xuan acting in this drama, and hope that they can invite different actress to act TVB’s drama and bring fresh feeling to our audiences.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you kitty share first, that’s good drama view I am totally agreed with Kitty’s point of view.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the kung fu drama is a man's world in microcosm. In the story of the conflicts and contradictions are based on Men as the core. The fists, loyal and brave heart are men’s patents. However, the female existence is only a symbols dependent of male, rather than the spirit of independence character.
In particular, the produce in order to highlight female boxing is the theme of the story; they make the entire men heroes who have a good Kung Fu, all of them also need to kill by bad guys. At the end, Women need to take revenge for them, that’s very funny.
The review has made some good observations on the image of the main character, Mok Kwai Lan, and explored a few gender-related concepts. I agree that the tough female image can easily attract audiences, but what happened when the producers tried to portray such a non-traditional female heroic figure in the “traditional context” (the specific cultural and social background)? Can it really disturb/break the typical gender images and power relationship inherited by the society? What kinds of conflicts are involved and how are they being solved (within the drama)?
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I found Mok Kwai Lan embodies both the “evolving” cultural elements/symbols as well as many “traditional” virtues of Chinese woman (being faithful, loyal to family and partner, persistent, hardworking, etc). You may explore a bit on the later in order to analyze her character more thoroughly. Perhaps you can talk about a few supporting characters and to cite some particular scenes to illustrate your arguments too.
It’s a good approach to compare the drama with dramas of the same genre and with similar cultural background. Also, your brief introduction of Liu Xuan is very useful for decoding her character in the drama. Her history and background have certainly made the character more convincing and appealing to general audiences.
p.s. Thanks Natalie for the critical comments! I agree that the heroic elements defined are very male-centred too!