The Beauty of Strength: Sports Movies and Feminism Collide
In recent years, a wave of feminism has swept the world - the "Me Too" movement; "The Silence Breaker" on the cover of "Time" magazine; "Three Billboards", "The Shape of Water", "Bird" in the film and television awards season "Miss", "Ordinary Woman" and other popular films have presented images of women who are independent and diverse, and feminism can be said to be in the limelight.
Recent sports films like "Wrestling! Films such as "Dad" and "I, Queen Over Flowers" contain more radical feminist issues. The viewing experience of the new film "Queen of Figure Skating" is more warm and inspiring in comparison. The radical confrontation of the patriarchy and the rendering of the conflict between the sexes have disappeared, replaced by a gentle dialogue between the sexes. This genre film directed by a male director can serve as a successful model, showing us the current spread, translation and correct opening of feminism.
"The Queen of Figure Skating" is based on true events and shows the career of female skater Nadia Lapushna in figure skating in the current social environment of the fighting nation Russia. The heroine is an orphan from a poor family. She integrates into the society through the pursuit of sports, changes her destiny, follows her own heart, relies on her own struggle and struggle, and finally obtains inner peace and strength, and achieves true happiness.
Russia is a big country in figure skating. This sport is beautiful and cruel, but it is a high-risk occupation. Many athletes are forced to retire due to injuries and disabilities. The situation of the characters in the story is quite typical and representative, reflecting the difficult living conditions of the female figure skaters group.
Advance and retreat life: a warm and heart-warming female perspective
In sports films, the fierce confrontation with opponents in each game is often the focus, but in "Queen of Figure Skating", the upgrade of each game is accompanied by a survival mode for men (that is, single confrontation and competitiveness) The continuous dissolution of women's personal inspiration and self-redemption is highlighted. There is something to give, Nadia Lapushna faces each problem with an optimistic attitude of never giving up, and finally realizes the control of her life through constant choices. The narrative center of the film focuses on female subjectivity and agency, truly conveying the demands of contemporary women. It includes discussions on the themes of the relationship between the sexes, the relationship between women and society, and the relationship between women and themselves, and there are many contradictions in family, emotions, interests, desires, and dignity.
Some heavy scenes are handled lightly, with restrained humor, anti-routine and anti-Mary Sue. The description of the adversity of life is not bloody or sensational. In what state should women and men coexist? The film gives the answer: women should bravely release their emotional and interest dependence on men and pursue gender equality. The result is not a zero-sum game, but a harmonious win-win situation. The sincere love of evenly matched, mutual achievement, and mutual support fills the screen with a real sense of power and human fireworks. After all, in these days, it is not easy to find true love without taking some risks and experiencing ups and downs.
Scenario Blending: A Passionate Poetic Audio-Visual Style
The scene is the externalized extension of the emotion, and the emotion is the cumulative internalization of the scene. Thanks to the director's many years of experience in shooting commercial blockbusters, there are many rhythmic and visually impactful montage paragraphs and scene designs in "Queen of Figure Skating". Express your feelings. For example, revisiting the old place after falling out of love. Cool and warm tones are intertwined and parallel clips are used to contrast the different moods before and after. On playgrounds, buildings, and rooftops, there are shadows of lovers everywhere. The happiness of the past has become lonely and bitter in the present, and Sasha's inner entanglement and pain are fully revealed.
In addition, Nadia participated in many competitions and performances with their own highlights. The championship was ice ballet, so the costumes in the scene were elegant. The atmosphere of the celebration party was relaxed and happy with the soundtrack of Bassa Nova. The energetic ice and snow show used rock music and nightclub style. Lighting.
The following is the dividing line for minor spoilers~
Turning a Cocoon into a Butterfly: Mature and Tough Female Image Building
When Nadia was a little girl, round-shouldered, weak, and afraid of falling, she was turned away by her coach, and her mother convinced her that she was "a born champion". Girls in single-parent families can only live with their mothers. The vast frozen sea, the hard and boring training, the slow heartbeat, the world has become pure, only the dream sparkles in the silence.
Misfortune soon came, and with the death of her mother, Nadia was taken care of by her aunt. It was snowing on the ice rink late at night, and the stubborn little Nadia practiced the movements for a week and a half again and again, and finally moved the coach.
During the stumbling assessment period, I hadn't slept well for five years. A wonderful montage briefly explained the girl's growth and transformation. When she became an adult, she appeared on the pas de deux. When dancing on the ice, the posture is graceful, and when controlling the difficult movements, it is in one go.
With each game, there are also difficult love paths. A technical error by the scumbag dance partner Leonav brought a devastating blow to Nadia's career. She was lying on the hospital bed with a lumbar spinal cord injury, holding The mobile phone, the information sent out is sinking into the sea, as if it has been abandoned by the whole world. Nadia in love always insists on defending her dominant position, and swallows blood silently when she knocks out her teeth.
It is worth mentioning that the director's subversion and deconstruction of male mythology runs through the whole film, and men are no longer in the position of salvation and dominance in the world of women. On the contrary, the harm caused by men's lack of responsibility for women is constantly mentioned and emphasized: Nadia's family has an absent father, and the two male dance partners show their weaker characters, one is stupid and cowardly, the other is hypocritical and selfish .
At this time, another key female role played a crucial role - coach Shatali. The single female coach showed a calm and powerful face from beginning to end. She arranged for Sasha, a seemingly neurotic but gentle and humorous ice hockey player, to help Nadia. As we all know, athletes will become coaches after retiring for some reason, and Shatali has experienced vicissitudes to be able to empathize with the situation of young female players. The blow of the heartbreaker, the agonizing physical and mental pain, and the fear that there is no possibility of turning over in life, these repeated tragic experiences have destroyed how many figure skating women who were desperate for their careers and honors?
No acquaintance, Sasha invented a set of funny "ice hockey therapy" for Nadia's rehabilitation, and "The Force Awakens" never left his mouth. After a long recovery training, Nadia came out of the slump and returned to the game with love for Sasha.
The ending of the film is wonderful, and the performance of women's independent individual consciousness is not out of the way - the ending may not be perfect, but the game is won or lost. Nadia's journey of striving and chasing her dreams is so precious. She went against the trend and grew up with hardships. She glowed with the light of happiness like rebirth after a catastrophe, full of self-confidence, strength and beauty, which moved people. Don't judge a hero based on success or failure, don't live in the expectations of others and society, just be yourself, this is the real queen.
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