Come Home Love is a modern
sitcom series broadcasted in TVB since 2012. Its story background is mainly
about the daily life of an ordinary family. In episode 489, a female stereotype
image is strongly represented in the drama. Ma Yau (acted by Florence Kwok
Siu-wan) is a working woman who is in a romantic relationship with Kau A-wik
(acted by Kenny Wong Tak-ban). Since Kau went to Australia and has been stayed
there for a long while, Ma loses her faith to him. She thought Kau breaks his
promise that he will not come back and get married with her.
With this narrative, a clear underlying message is bought to
the audience – no matter what kind of woman you are, your destiny should be
ended in marriage. The portrayal of Ma’s feminine feature is obvious. Even as
an independent woman, Ma still has her submissive side. When Kau comes back to
Hong Kong, she actually shows a big sweet smile to him which signifies her
expectation to her marriage. Her facial expression is completely like the image
of “fortune woman” which is a popular term describing a woman happily falls in
love. She is shaped as a kind of woman who has her own thought in pursuing
love.
Moreover, the dominant ideology on binary opposition of gender
is further put forward in some particular scenes. At the beginning of the
drama, there is a scene presenting Ma’s friend who is an office lady has a lady’s
talk with Ma. She expresses her perception of love. She explains to Ma that she
just want to find a man who is caring and willing to get married with her.
However, she finds it difficult to meet her perfect man. She ever doubts
herself if she is not gentle and feminine enough. Women represented by the
office lady in the drama expect themselves to play as soft and weak roles in
the society in order to attract men.
Another scene is about Ma suddenly planned to find Kau in
Australia. On one hand, she denies that she will stay there with Kau
permanently. On the other hand, she is ready to give up her everything in Hong
Kong, such as her current job, her family and friends so as to maintain her
relationship. Again, the message of ‘a good job is no better than a good
husband’ is delivered. It promotes love should occupy a significant part of
women’s life. It can be seen that the social discourse of gender role greatly
regulate women’s attitude and behaviour.
Besides, gender hierarchy is placed at home and in the
workplace in Come Home Love. It can be observed that Ma is under social
pressure from several male dominant roles like her brother Ma Fu, her nephew
John Ma, and her fiancé Kau. When she decided to go to Australia to find Kau,
her brother and nephew showed a strong reaction, objecting her idea to leave
home which ultimately made her stay at the end. While Ma always stand by Kau,
as Kau is also her boss in the café where she is working at. She helps Kau
almost everything including handling daily correspondence of his business and
even receiving delivery package of red wines at his home. Apparently, Ma is
subordinate to both of her male authority i.e. her male relatives and Kau. The
drama reflects that our society is dominated by males. They are more privileged
than females in most of the circumstance and in different places.
(584 words)
Lo Ka Po (Student ID: 10487830/ 21239164)
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