In recent decade, the issue of leftover
women is one of the major public agendas in Hong Kong society. If a female
fulfills particular conditions, such as unmarried, independent, aged over 30
years old, having princess sickness, equipping with high educational
qualifications and high demanding, she can be labeled as leftover women in Hong
Kong context. In 2013, TVB broadcasted Bounty Lady as to portray the distinctive
qualities of leftover women. This online review will use Bounty Lady to explain
the hypodermic needle theory (also known as magic bullet theory) and analyze
how TVB encode the representation of leftover women in the drama. Furthermore,
the formation of this term will be elaborated at the end.
The hypodermic
needle model is frequently used to explain the high influential abilities of
media. This theory assumes that the information recipients are seen as passive
and helpless victim of media impact. Thus, the intentionally set values, ideas
and attitudes from media are directly decoded and injected into the mindset of
individuals (Fourie 2001, p.294). Bounty
Lady explicitly intensified the meaning of leftover women through Jennifer Sing
Fa Lui 盛花蕾 (acted by
Kate Tsui), Windy Yuen Sam 袁琛 (acted
by Elena Kong), Yam Mo Lin 任慕蓮
(acted by Grace Wong) and other female roles.
The characteristics
of leftover women, which mentioned at the beginning, can be observed from these
roles. This online review will use Windy as an example to portray these
qualities. Windy in Bounty Lady is at around 40 years old and works as a freelance
writer with stable high income. She deems that women should not depend on men
and all of her publications advocate celibacy. Even though she finally
meets her Mr. Right and gets pregnant, she still refuses to admit who the
father is and claims that she got artificial insemination from foreign country.
During her progeny, she relies on her niece (Yuen Huen 袁萱) to take care of her instead of the real father (Heung Sing Nam 香善男).
The formation of leftover women
can be traced back in about two decades ago. Since early 1990s, women have started
looking for gender equality. They are not satisfied with taking the subordinate
role and being domestic housewives at home. They have started entering the job
market as to gain the sense of identity. From late 1990s, a significant number
of women have taken this approach and some of them even reach senior positions
as males at around 30 years old. Due to their aggressive working attitudes, most
of them are not married yet. They have started to challenge the social norm
that why women should depend on men. With the help of Internet, stories of
these women have been spread over different forums and Internet users have
started using the term “leftover women” to describe these women. At that time,
TVB also broadcasted a TV drama named La Femme Desperado (女人唔易做) to praise these women.
To conclude, the media always use exaggerating
technique to portray the social affairs happening in Hong Kong. The audiences
tend to accept these content and extensive discussions have been formed on
Internet. Thus, the corresponding ideologies can be formed and spread widely.
References
Fourie, P.J., 2001. Media Studies: Institutions, theories, and
issues. Claremont: Juta and Company Ltd.
TVB, 2006. La Femme Desperado. [online] Available
at: < http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/la_femme_desperado/frontpage/index.html >
[Accessed 16 April 2014].
TVB, 2013. Bounty Lady. [online] Available at: <
http://programme.tvb.com/drama/bountylady> [Accessed 16 April 2014].
Word Count: 542 words
Name of Student: Edward
Pui Hei YEUNG
Student Number: 21234073/
10488697
No comments:
Post a Comment