Guardian 镇魂 - watchers I need your advice!
So...anyone out there who has watched Guardian 镇魂, tell me: does the show’s presentation of women get any better? So far I’m 8 episodes in and seriously considering giving up on the whole thing because the way the show uses/talks about its female characters honestly kinda sucks.
To give Guardian 镇魂 its due, there are at least more female characters present in each episode (1-2 on average) than some fantasy/sci fi shows I could name (looking at you Supernatural) but none of them are exactly good portrayals of women. So far we have:
The Secretary Archetype: our heroic team contains two female officers (Zhu Hong and Wang Zheng) whose sole purpose so far seems to be to answer the phones and be The Damsel in Distress™. Zhu Hong also seems to be being set up as the Ignored Enamoured Underling™ as well.
Assorted helpless women who are in some way victims of the case of the week. (More on this in a moment).
Two ‘hysterical-woman-is-a-villain’ bad guys.
8 hours of screen time and not a single female character who has been written well. Nor do any of the other characters seem to have much respect for women? Our hero (Zhao Yunlan) and his team routinely comment on how women are weak and/or useless. (Side note – I did wonder if this was an issue with translation but having watched episodes with subtitles from various different sources now the translations all do seem to agree with the general sentiment if not the precise words). Also, the third episode that dealt with sexual assault handled it … badly to say the least. Not that I was hoping for much (I often think the way sexual assault is handled on television lacks nuance) but I did take serious issue with the fact that the entire tone of the episode seemed a breath away from victim blaming the whole time. None of the characters ever came out and said that – there was even a single line that made a vague attempt at blaming the rapists for their actions (the writers kindly acknowledged that rape as revenge for a bad grade is a bad thing) – but I didn’t like the way the episode focused on the idea that what was taken from Zhang Ruonan was not, in fact, her choice, but her “purity”. (Again, perhaps an issue with translation there but … bleugh).
I like the world building that has gone on so far. I like the dynamic between Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei. But I’m not sure my investment in those two elements is enough to keep me watching a show with such terrible writing of female characters.
It’s a shame because everyone seemed to really be recommending this show, so if someone can assure me that woman stop being dumped on quite so heavily in the show, I’ll probably keep going. But I would love someone else’s perspective before I invest any more time in Guardian 镇魂.
Edited whilst watching episode9 to acknowledge that Zhu Hong at least has now had a badass moment (even if Wang Zheng’s character arc still seems very Damsel in Distress). So maybe there’s hope?
