Okay, I had a thought and I just wanted to put it out there.
I know there are folks who aren’t big on the feminism aspect of LOTFG, and I can 100% understand and see why it feels very shoehorned in. Like, yeah it's very in your face with the whole "women can do all things" and it hella feels like the 2000s all over again with the female empowerment thing. I agree that shows like Story of Minglan definitely does that aspect much better in a guzhuang setting, but let me just tell you why it sorta works for me in the LOTFG context.
[I'm writing this from episode 21 which is where I am at while making this post]
He Yan has been a woman in a male dominated field even before everyone else knew she was a woman in a male dominated field
He Yan has, canonically on the show because I haven't read the novel, been told to set aside womanly things (i.e. not celebrating her mom's birthday)
It has probably been brow-beaten into her all her life that she has to "be a man" and "act like a man", lest she gets the whole He family into trouble by her slipping up [oof-- the stress!]
Is it any wonder that she develops a very "we women can do things as men do"?
In her second life, she has not only gotten the regard and respect of Dudu (if not clear and obvious affection) but she's actually being encouraged to pursue the womanly pursuits (i.e. dress up, get the dough doll made in her likeness, BEING ACKNOWLEDGED AS A WOMAN BY THE MAN SHE RESPECTS)
And this is all WITHOUT being asked to give up her pursuit of her ambitions and is actively being supported to achieve her ambition of being a female general openly
Sure, she has not been able to do the womanly things as well as others (i.e. the embroidery, the cooking) but she's trying and people around her are acknowledging it and encouraging her tries, not disparaging her for her lack of 'womanly' attributes
Consider this.
How many of us who were born and raised as female have had to "dim" our feminine attributes just to "succeed" in a field that was more male dominated? We get told to "not cry" to "stay strong", "be tough", "lean in". How many of us get disparaged for "trying" to learn, to get better at cooking, at cleaning, at sewing?
More than that, how many of us give up because we aren't being supported in our womanly pursuits? Looked down on because we didn't learn fast enough, didn't do it the right way?
Or worse, how many of us are expected to be both unimpeachable in womanly virtues and impeccable as women in male dominated spaces? We hold such lofty standards and yet the goal post keeps shifting and shifting. Isn't it enough to just exist? I've been tired for ages, are you?
Is it not okay just to enjoy this one female character onscreen who "preaches" these feministic sentiments that are out of place in that time period and era, because it's just a show and we can just enjoy this one lady learn to be comfortable in her own skin, in her own way, and is still loved by those around her?
