Gender Roles in films- Women in Martial World

 Martial arts films have for many years have had male lead characters in movies like Shaolin Temple, Way of the Dragon and Drunken Master where the prowess in martial moves were depicted in both villains and heroes in the films. Male lead characters have been always the heroes in martial art block with female characters given passive roles and not involved in heroic stances. This influence can be traced to Chinese family or community perceptions on males and females role and personality representation in community dynamics. Men from the past have been given the duty of defending their communities and families in actual sense with women having the submissive role of caring for their families. This has inevitably spread to the movies, but a new wave of female lead characters has taken the martial arts movies to a different level which has brought different conforming and departing opinions in essence of the character roles. Movies like Samurai Princess and Charlie’s Angels have female lead characters which have added a different angle to female starring in martial arts film bringing different opinions on gender challenges in Chinese films (Shuqin, 2003).

The Raging Phoenix is an awesome and fascinating martial arts movie having a female lead character. It is a story about a young female rocker, which is played by the role of Jeeja Yanin who observers are quoting her to be Thailand’s toughest woman, where she is caught up in a ring of ruthless kidnapping. The women in this action scene are abducted, drugged and whisked away from the streets of Thailand to a conspicuous secret laboratory hidden in the city’s sewage system which is termed the temple of doom. Consequently, the motives of the kidnappers are to harvest women’s tears which are being used by the gang leader scientist to concoct a powerful medicine for some eccentric and evil billionaire. The only hope for these captives is the force of the lead female character who leads a small group of fighters who are drunken vigilantes to fight the villains and rescue the abducted women. Raging phoenix fighting scenes are unique and elaborate.

Both male and female gender roles have been show cased in this movie with the female role of Jeeja Yamin being reinforced as a woman takes action against villains who oppress women and using them for laboratory tests for their boss benefit. This movie has placed great task on the drunken vigilantes to save the day by suppressing the evil forces normally a role which in the past would have taken by a male character, example Bruce Lee. This has slightly departed from the norms the Chinese community would view a heroine, but the trend is gradually accepting the role of female character as the lead starring. The villains in the Raging Phoenix are given the male role character which normally conforms to most roles of evil masterminds associated with kidnappings and drugging innocent civilians for evil schemes that  benefit their boss’s and wealthy billionaires.

The final scene of the movie showcases the duel between the lead character and the boss of the Temple of Doom where Jeeja Yamin saves the day after series of fighting. As the role character, she plays only to help the devastated women which is challenging as she encounters villains in her quest. This movie has reinforced the conventional idea of women to take protective measures that would hurt their loved ones. Women have been given lesser roles than being lead actors but the trend is changing with more movies in martial arts embracing women roles departing from the past common role of male heroes.

Reference:

Shuqin, C. (2003). Women Through the Lens: Gender and Nation in a Century of Chinese Cinema. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

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