Just like the British feminist protesters who were arrested and imprisoned by the police a century ago in the movie, in 2015 five Chinese feminist activists Wei Tingting and Wang Man were arrested and detained by the authorities for planning an anti-sexual harassment activity on the bus. During his detention in the detention center, he was subjected to torture and insults in various ways, including not letting him sleep for a long time and irradiating his eyes with strong light.
At the same time, due to the social instability caused by the serious imbalance between men and women in Chinese society and the promulgation of the second-child policy, government proposals calling for women to go home have become more and more popular in society in different ways. From various official media high-profile publicity on the importance of women’s family roles as "kind mothers, filial daughters, and good wives", to the rejection of female graduates by various recruitment agencies at major college graduation job fairs, and then to be homes all over the country. Violent women filed divorce cases that were forcibly reconciled by the court. The women’s liberation movement that “women can hold up half the sky” that started in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China encountered numerous obstacles under the forcible intervention of this government. The modern Chinese women who have finally entered various jobs in society still live the life of Maud Watts (played by Carey Mulligan), the laundress in the movie, to some extent: working hard in the workplace but holding the same The salary of men in the position is low, and when they return home to take care of the children and take care of the housework, they will be reprimanded for doing things that the husband does not agree to do. There is no right to speak, no right to choose, no personal space and freedom, and individual value is only reflected and positioned in the relationship with the husband. And more women (whether it is the laundresses who work with Maud in the movie or the women in the current Chinese society), watching their compatriots fight for their rights and encounter misfortunes, they also join the ranks of ridicule and insult, or It is to keep silent.
I think this may also be one of the reasons why the director made "The Voice of Feminist Rights": 100 years after British women won their voting rights with tears, sweat and blood, there are still too many countries in the world, including China. Of women are fighting for equal rights with men in different ways. The history of women fighting for their rights is repeated in greater or lesser degrees across the globe; and when feminists are vilified or even demonized to varying degrees, when every step of the struggle is so heavy and even painful At the price, there are still these feminist fighters who bravely stood up and made their own voice: "We don't want to break the law, we want to make the law!" For Chinese women, 2015 was the most (perhaps) The only thing that is gratifying is the passage of the "Anti-domestic Violence Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft)", and not only experts and scholars in various related fields, but also non-governmental nongovernmental organizations such as "new media women" are fighting for this draft. Government feminist organizations, countless Chinese female netizens who have followed and put forward their personal opinions on this draft.
Just like so many women in our lives who don't know what rights they can really exercise, Maud in the movie has begun to repeatedly deny her identity as a suffragette. And when she accidentally entered the parliament to testify for the right to vote, she could not systematically use professional language to explain the purpose of her testimony. She could only say "I think maybe, in this life, there can be a different life." Such a meaningless idea. What changed her was not only the occasional feminist rallies, but also the unbearable experience of witnessing the 12-year-old daughter of a worker who was sexually harassed by her boss. Perhaps the fatal blow was that her husband was merciless when she was released from prison for the second time. When she went out and deprived her of custody of her son as a mother by the British law at the time, Maude personally experienced the pain of unfair laws enacted by men. To some extent, Maud is a projection of every woman in our real life, and such Maud also reminds those women who still deny their feminist status-in an unfair society, no one can escape oppression , Become a relaxed bystander. Regardless of whether the individual has a clear political consciousness or not, everyone will be a victim of injustice for life.
What the film brings to women in the world is not only a historical experience of feminist struggle, but also the awakening of rights consciousness. As Mr. Lu Xun said, “Being a slave is unfortunate, but it’s not terrible, because knowing that you struggle, after all, there is hope of breaking free; if you find beauty from the life of a slave, you will be admired and intoxicated, and you will be an eternal slave.” Feminist The Voice also appeals to all women in the world in this historical narrative way, knowing that being oppressed is not the most terrifying, because we still uphold the pursuit of equality and will fight for it; what we fear is to be intoxicated by all kinds of things. You can't extricate yourself from the oppression of patriarchy in the form of numbness and even become a terrible accomplice. With the arrival of 2016, I hope that this movie, with hundreds of millions of women in China and the world, will continue to strive for their equal rights within their power.
View more about Suffragette reviews
