The first thing that caught my attention when watching this movie was because of the Chinese translation of the movie's name. Chinese translation means "sisters of the brothel". I don’t know who translated this name in the first place. I don’t know why the Madeleine Sanctuary was labeled as a brothel, because the Madeleine Sanctuary was regarded as a religious place to accommodate women with degraded morals and was used by the translator. Brothel took its place. Therefore, I want to start thinking with this question in the review writing of the whole movie.
First of all, what is this place-Madeleine Sanctuary? This is a real place, not a fictitious environment. The Madeleine Refuge, also known as the "Madeleine Laundry", is a for-profit organization run by Irish Catholics. In this place, Catholic nuns are managers because they arrange and teach women to do laundry work there. The nuns are supervisors because they monitor the women’s work process and state work rules, such as "not talking at work". The nuns are not only teachers but also part-time hairdressers, because they cut their hair when they try to educate women. The nuns are also game judges because they ask women to stand in a row naked and comment on women’s breasts and pubic hair. The nuns are still movie lovers in a sense, because they play movies about nuns to celebrate Jesus' birthday, and everyone needs to watch them there. So, in the Madeleine Laundry, what role is impossible for nuns to play? There is one answer I am more certain-they are not morally depraved like other women working there. why? Maybe it's because they believe in God, or because they dedicated their lives to a sacred cause, or maybe because they don't seem to have sexual contact with anyone, or you can tell me another reason.
Next, I want to compare the Madeleine Laundromat with the "bromish building" to try to understand the translator's point of view. Brothel is in Chinese culture, and the'old bustards' are place managers and teaching experts because they arrange prostitute work and train skills. However, they will not stay in the same room and supervise the entire process of the prostitute's work. They are not hairdressers, maybe a bald prostitute won't make much money for them. But they can be the referees of the game, and the game may be similar to that played by nuns in the Madeleine Laundry-judging the private parts of the female body.
From the perspective of profitability, the Madeleine Laundry is a brothel, and women in the management class use women in the working class for more benefits. However, at the time of writing this article, I found that the Chinese name of this movie may have another interpretation, because "Bronze House" was not originally regarded as a brothel.
In Chinese culture, one of the original meanings of "bromish building" refers to a place where people with beautiful decoration and high social status live. The women living in the brothel are a group of talented people. It seems that the "brothel" began to be closely associated with the brothel after the Tang Dynasty. Compared with the original meaning of "Bronze House", the Chinese name of the movie-Sister Flower of Brothel House, sounds more inappropriate, because the women in the Madeleine Laundry are not privileged people or women with special talents and gifts.
So who are the women in the Madeleine laundry? They may be just an ordinary village woman, unfortunately, raped at the wedding of their relatives;
They may be a young mother, even if the child’s father "disappears", she still decides to give birth to a child and hopes to raise the child to grow up;
They may be adolescent girls who like to flirt with boys;
They may be women who seem to behave differently, but do not pose any threat to others. On the contrary, she is eager to help others. These are some examples of women in the Madeleine laundry. They were taken into the religious complex and locked up. why? What brought these women to the Madeleine Laundry? The answer is that they are "moral." Even if the village woman rebelled against the rapist and tried to tell other family members to seek justice; even if the young mother tried to take care of the newborn baby alone and begged the parents not to send the baby away; even if the teenage girl did not actually Have sex with anyone. So what exactly sent these women to the Madeleine Laundry? My understanding is the society's prejudice against women. For some people, this answer may be obvious. Why are rape victims despised by the social atmosphere? Why are struggling single mothers spurned by family honor? Why is a girl in a period of sexual curiosity subject to religious regulations biologically sanctioned? There may be different explanations, including gender bias.
From this perspective, the Chinese name of the film itself can be considered gender bias, because the women in the Madeleine Laundry are not sex workers, nor do they belong to the upper class. I’m still trying to understand the translation’s point of view and come up with this potential explanation-did the translator try to point out that the women living in the brothel may actually be a group of talented women, but they must use their talents to entertain or serve senior people , This kind of service and entertainment gradually included their bodies. Under this understanding, I feel that from the perspective of people outside the wall, there is a kind of pity for women in the brothel. But this kind of mercy also makes me feel a sense of hopelessness, because this kind of mercy is a proof that the higher class can exploit the lower-level people, and only the lower-level class will be judged and pityed. In this way, gender prejudice is magnified in class prejudice.
Finally, what I want to say is that I may not be able to figure out the intention of the translator. In fact, I don't care about the intention of the translator. The author is only angry, because the Chinese translation not only fails to reflect the true meaning of the movie, but the starting point is precisely the prejudice that the movie resists. But this name may not be terrible. It can attract more people to go to the movies. For example, I was attracted by this name first. Think about it, "Sister Madeleine" is not too boring. ?
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