I took a look at the bookshelf of the female lead in "Good Stuff". What books is a contemporary independent woman reading?
On November 22, the new film "Good Stuff" by Shao Yihui, the director of "B for Busy", was released. Up to now, the cumulative box office of the film has exceeded 200 million yuan, with a Douban rating of 9.1 and more than 330,000 reviewers.
In this film where no "male gaze" can be felt, whether it is Wang Tiemei (played by Song Jia), a single mother who used to be a journalist, Xiaohair (played by Zeng Mumei, Mei Ting's daughter), a daughter in primary school, or Xiaoye (played by Zhong Chuxi), a love-struck neighbor, they all have extremely vivid and three-dimensional female images. They are not full of bitterness and hatred, nor are they supporting roles who exist only to please men, but rather, from a gentle and delicate female perspective, they speak sharp and witty lines that have never been heard in Chinese-language films:
What's wrong with menstruation? Half of the people in this world are bleeding.
How does a girl play the drums? How you play, that's how a girl plays.
Which thing in this world is not more important than men?
Why does everything have to be done well? Even if it's messed up, where could it go?
......
Among them, the line "I'm upright, brave, and well-read. What's there to pity about me?" spoken by the mother and daughter together is particularly impressive. As a former senior investigative journalist, books are also an essential prop in shaping the character of Wang Tiemei. Director Shao Yihui mentioned in the podcast "No Ideal Editorial Department": "The books on Tiemei's bookshelf are carefully selected by me. I have read them all and only included those that fit the character."
So we found that "a real bookshelf that doesn't make people feel out of place" from the stills, and identified 66 of them by magnifying and blurring the spines. These books also present us with a typical contemporary intellectual female image, who pays attention to the narrative of female subjectivity, devotes herself to thinking about society and the world, and has a good artistic taste in her personal profession.
The following are 20 books that we have sorted out and recommended in three categories: female narrative, artistic creation, and humanistic speculation, If you want to get the complete book list, you can scroll to the end of the article to view it.
There are also books of the same style as Tiemei's at the bottom as a gift.
● Wang Tiemei's bookcase in the movie and the location of these 20 books in it
Female Narrative
01 "Love and Trouble"
Author: Alice Walker (USA)
Douban Rating: 8.2
"Love and Trouble"
This book is the first short story collection by the first African-American woman writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Alice Walker, who uses a simple, concise, and almost sketch-like way to tell the stories of 13 black women living in the last century. Different from the stereotypical blind and obedient black women in that era, the women in the novel resist domestic violence, either holding a chainsaw or engaging in writing, and fight against gender and racial discrimination in various ways.
Just as people commented on "Good Stuff" that "women not only need to have a seat at the table, but also need to eat well and be full", Alice also wrote in the book: "I want to sit at the welcome table and speak out my troubles loudly".
02 "A LITTLE PRINCESS"
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett (USA)
Douban Rating: 9.2
"A LITTLE PRINCESS"
A Cinderella-style children's novel with a fairy-tale beginning and ending.
The British little girl Sara Crewe in the book originally lived a princess-like life in an upper-class boarding school, she was noble, elegant, and privileged. However, due to the death of her father, she suddenly fell and became a maid at the mercy of others, doing rough work, not having enough to eat, and being abused by others. But none of this crushed Sara's optimistic heart. In the midst of hunger and cold, she remained strong and hopeful. She believed: "Even in ragged clothes, I can be a princess in my heart".
03 "The Story of a New Name"
Author: Elena Ferrante (Italy)
Douban Rating: 9.2
"The Story of a New Name"
"The Story of a New Name" is the second part of the Neapolitan Quartet written by the female writer Elena Ferrante, and the other three are "My Brilliant Friend", "Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay", and "The Lost Child".
This literary work, which was rated as "a female epic" by The Atlantic, tells the life stories of two little girls, Elena and Lila, who were born in the poor suburbs of Naples after World War II. Since they were 6 years old, they have started this kind of friendship that "regards each other as respectable opponents", supporting each other, but not willing to fall behind, until the end of their lives.
And "The Story of a New Name" describes the youth of Elena and Lila. The book contains their respective experiences of love and loss, confusion and struggle, as well as the will and belief to resist social injustice in the feminist movement at that time. More than one reader commented that "This is a good book that makes you want to give up halfway through reading, but after finishing it, you think it's really great"!
04 "Starting from the Margins"
Author: Chizuko Ueno (Japan)
Douban Rating: 9.0
"Starting from the Margins"
Just like the question asked in the movie "Good Stuff": "How many books by Chizuko Ueno have you read?" There is a copy of "Starting from the Margins" on Tiemei's bookshelf. This book took a year to complete and records twelve correspondences between two feminist pioneers, Chizuko Ueno and Suzumi Seiri (a Japanese sociologist, entertainer, writer, and former AV actress).
Including 12 themes such as work, intimate relationships, men, sex, marriage, independence, and freedom, although they are 35 years apart and have completely different life experiences, they jointly conducted a huge self-analysis through words. Ueno frankly said in it: "I have also walked through a life full of shame and failure".
05 "Still Crazy"
Author: Sandra M. Gilbert (USA) / Susan Gubar (USA)
Douban Rating: 8.1
"Still Crazy"
Remember that book "The Madwoman in the Attic"?
Forty years after its publication, authors Gilbert and Gubar once again collaborated, focusing on female writers since the 1950s, telling the story of the second wave of feminism (beginning in the 1960s, covering a wider range of areas: sex, family, work, reproductive rights, and legal and everyday inequalities that have always existed in society).
By sorting out the feminist literary history of this period, the authors examined the relevant history, politics and culture, fully demonstrating the 70-year journey of women in pursuit of freedom and equality, as well as the misogynistic culture that has persisted along with the struggle.
06 "Born a Woman"
Author: Hallie Rubenhold (UK)
Douban Rating: 8.6
"Born a Woman"
"Jack the Ripper" was the murderer who brutally killed at least five women from the lower classes in the East End of London in 1888. For more than 100 years, the victims are often mentioned briefly as "prostitutes", while the killer has instead become the focus of the story, and was even once sought after by people.
Author Hallie Rubenhold, by collecting a large number of historical archives, trial materials and witness testimonies, and combining the background of that era, restores the full and tragic lives of the five victimized women. The book states: "They were daughters, wives, mothers, sisters and lovers." They were killed not because of their indiscretion or moral impurity, but because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The translator Xiaoshui also believes: "The significance of this book lies not only in uncovering an unknown page in history, but also in demonstrating what is truly fair and objective historical writing."
Artistic Creation
07 "Eric Rohmer: A Biography"
Author: Antoine de Baecque (France) / Noël Herpe (France)
Douban Rating: 8.6
"Eric Rohmer: A Biography"
The French New Wave film master Eric Rohmer shot a total of 25 feature films in his lifetime, most of which were written, directed and edited by himself. His films are also always filled with literary and philosophical thinking, and it doesn't feel out of place to hear any professional philosophical terms in them.
At the same time, Rohmer in life has another name - Maurice Schérer. He is low-key, mysterious, and lives a life completely unrelated to being a film director. Even his mother thought her son was a middle school teacher until she died.
The authors use more than 140 boxes and up to 20,000 materials left by Rohmer as the main materials, sorting out the life of this artist with a complex personality, and writing this biography of Rohmer, which is almost the most detailed one to date.
08 "Rhinoceros"
Author: Eugène Ionesco (France)
Douban Rating: 8.1
"Rhinoceros"
Eugène Ionesco, the king of absurd theater, regards "life is absurd" as the background of his creation.
"Rhinoceros" is his surrealist drama masterpiece in his prime, depicting the story of people gradually losing their personality and being infected with the "rhinoceros disease" and turning into rhinoceroses under absolute rule. The protagonist, Berenger, was originally a small character at the bottom of society. However, this abnormal mutation made him clear-headed. He struggled and resisted, and never followed the crowd.
Although the theme is surreal and the content is absurd, Ionesco uses an artful fictional writing technique that seems real. He believes that "It is not any social system that makes me feel absurd, but human beings themselves".
09 "The Pessimism Trilogy": "Rhinoceros in Love", "Amber", "Soft"
Author: Liao Yimei (China)
Douban Rating: 8.9, 8.1, 8.4
