" hot and hot " is the biggest surprise in the 2024 Lunar New Year season. Those who particularly like it praise it as "beyond gender", while those who particularly dislike it give it a low score and scold it for being a hype. There are probably two reasons for scolding. First, the jokes about cheating and betrayal and the female mistress in the film are "misogynistic"; second, they use weight loss as a hype. In fact, it is not difficult for Jia Ling to get money to lose weight. She is making money from ordinary people while giving us inspirational pua.
The poster of "Hot and Spicy"
is not entirely unreasonable. The early promotion points of "Hot and Spicy" did include Jia Ling losing 100 pounds. However, the promotion of any movie does not require gimmicks, and "Fengshen" also had it during the promotion period. A man with muscular chests promotes "Dangal!" Dad" Aamir Khan also needs to gain and lose weight as a publicity stunt. After all, a movie needs a certain amount of marketing to attract audiences into the theater. Both publicity and the content itself are important, as long as the "gimmick" itself is not fake. "Hot and Spicy" knows very well that in the traffic era, audiences need intuitive visual stimulation. If we can enter the theater because of the figures of the male gods in "Fengshen", we can also enter the theater because of the physical wonders created by the actresses, otherwise we will not be able to It's just double standards.
What's more, "Hot and Spicy" does not over-market the topic of weight loss and set a bad example for teenagers. Far from exacerbating body anxiety, the theme of this movie is neglecting one's own body. The heroine Du Leying of "Hot and Spicy" did not practice boxing to lose weight or worry about her appearance. She suffered too many setbacks. She was stabbed in the back by relatives, friends, and lovers. Her pain was suppressed and had nowhere to vent. She even tried to commit suicide without success. I just decided to "win for myself" and entered the boxing gym. The fat loss was just a by-product of achieving this goal.
What is an inspirational movie? Inspirational movies are a type of movie that depict the struggle and spirit of characters when facing adversity, challenges and difficulties. This type of movie not only provides entertainment, but more importantly, provides the audience with a A kind of spiritual support and motivation to help people face the challenges of life and inspire people to pursue a better self. Le Ying, played by Jia Ling in "Hot and Spicy", went from being a submissive and pleasing personality, to building a strong body through boxing, and then to her spiritual transformation, becoming more daring to express herself and rejecting toxic relationships. Many viewers saw and inspired themselves in Le Ying.
Jia Ling talks about the film's protagonist Le Ying "fighting for herself"
Some people say that this film transcends gender, but unfortunately there are also many viewers who cannot substitute for her life experience because the protagonist is a woman. In the eyes of many negative critics, the film's faults even include not transcending class. They cannot see that the film's heroine is an ordinary low-class person, and instead wantonly vent their hatred of the rich against the actress herself as a wealthy class person.
I think "Hot" is a milestone in inspirational movies on the Chinese screen. It marks the pain and frustration experienced by the female characters being delicately captured and conveyed. Other famous inspirational movies such as "I'm Not the God of Medicine" and "The Chinese Partner" all depict the fighting spirit of men. "Hot and Spicy" not only depicts women's subjective experience but also arouses universal resonance among women from all walks of life, and breaks away from it. It breaks the stereotype that women's pursuit of love is a necessary necessity in the film tradition in recent years.
At this point, "Hot and Spicy" even surpasses the original " Hundred-Yuan Love ". Ten years ago, the end of the original "Hundred-Yuan Love" hinted that Sakura Ando has been favored by the man she likes. Men say "Let's go eat" seemed like a great gift to her. And Jia Ling in "Hot and Spicy" has given up on love. When the man who once disrespected her saw that she had successfully lost weight and wanted to get back together, she just replied lightly, "It depends on (my) mood." "Hot" is also a milestone in Chinese women's films on screen. The heroine regains her subjectivity and no longer desires love and is not saved by a man.
Le Ying is reborn
Let’s talk about whether the plot of the film depicting women’s cheating and her best friend’s leverage constitutes “misogyny”. This part of the criticism is not entirely unfounded."Hot and Spicy" is adapted from the Japanese romance drama "100 Yuan Love" released in 2014. In "100 Yuan Love", there is no scene where the sister cheats or the boyfriend marries his best friend. This may be due to the dissatisfaction of some viewers with the plot setting of "Hot and Spicy".
But I don’t think the jokes designed by Director Jia Ling in the localization of “One Hundred Dollar Love” are unfriendly to female audiences, or are misogynistic. There is no shortage of bloody plots involving female mistresses on Chinese screens, but whether they constitute "misogyny" depends on the function and purpose of these plots in the story. If these plots are used to reflect the complexity of the characters and explore the diversity of human nature and deep social issues, then they are not “misogyny.” But if the depiction is irrelevant, or shows women in a derogatory, stereotypical way, then it could be considered "misogyny."
Le Dan ( Zhang Xiaofei ) quarreled with Le Ying (Jia Ling)
The best friend played by Li Xueqin became a mistress to show that the heroine was betrayed by both friendship and love. This plot prompted the heroine Le Ying to fight with her sister and She chose to leave her original family and live alone. After being betrayed, she still attended her ex-boyfriend's wedding, which also shows how ingratiating and repressed she is. The image of Li Xueqin is not that of a traditional female mistress, nor does it have the problem of reinforcing negative gender stereotypes. Therefore, I think the image of the female mistress in "Hot and Spicy" is a true depiction of the complexity of women, and does not constitute an unfair portrayal of women. Debasement of the female image. If on-screen female mistresses such as "Lin Youyou" and "Ling Ling" once made the audience gnash their teeth with hatred and solidified the audience's stereotype of mistresses, the cheating wife (Le Ying's) in "Hot and Spicy" Sister, played by Zhang Xiaofei) has enriched the traditional image of wives on the screen. Since the role of cheating men on Chinese screens (such as "33 Days After Love" and "The Ex Series") is to show complex human nature and social ethics, the role of cheating wives The image is similar.
The outstanding performance of "Hot and Spicy" in the 2024 Lunar New Year release is also a victory for female-directed films. Mao Jian's comment on "The Myth of Love", "This is the real feminism that has a long way to go" also applies to the movie "Hot Hot". The female experiences and challenges it depicts not only help to inspire resonance among female audiences , also provides male audiences with an opportunity to understand and respect women's experiences. Director Jia Ling proved her talent with this work and brought an unprecedented surprise to movie fans.
