According to the article, female vigilantes played an important role in Hong Kong noir films in the late nineteenth century. They were equipped with similar skills and empathy as those males, which illustrated female consciousness and independent spirit. Although many of them owned unattainable social statuses, this kind of film still provided great opportunities for the majority of working-class women to escape from routine factory work and housework. More importantly, they served as inspirations for women to realize the importance of pursuing their own personal life separate from that of families.
However, nowadays, with the development of the film industry, there have been fewer and fewer female-centric genres. What’s worse, some female characters are just included to make the characteristics of heroes completer and more outstanding, and they are designed under the male gaze, especially in those films from Mainland China. The phenomenon seems like a big step backward, and I hope there could be more films without the gender gap, focusing more on the shaping of independent female characters.
Liu Kexin 3036098182
I appreciate your clearly structured analysis of female vigilantes shaped by Hong Kong noir films in the late 20th century. There are 2 questions worth more reflection: 1) Why did women figure as the vigilante broke the Chinese stereotype of traditional women in HK films in the late 1990s? 2) could you please give some film cases to elaborate on the phenomenon that women with a formulaic figure serve as a tool/symbol to promote plot or male-centric heroism? Furthermore, sex and gender are integral parts of shaping society, culture, and film. Recognizing and respecting gender differences might help to narrate the so-called “gender gap” in film.