After Netflix's last variety show called "Call of the Siren: Survival on Fire Island" (hereinafter referred to as "Call of the Siren") was launched, it gained a very high reputation on Douban, with a score of 9.6 points. This is an all-female survival competition variety show. The program invites 24 female contestants, who come from 6 occupations including firefighters, policemen, soldiers, security guards, athletes, stunt performers, etc., to an uninhabited island of 30,000 square meters for a 7-day "weak meat and strong food, life and death" competition. "Survival competition" can be called "female version of survival in the wild".

"Call of the Siren: Survival on the Fire Island" poster

The program divides people of 6 different occupations into 6 different groups, and each group has its own base on the island. The competition system of the program is divided into arena battles and base battles. The arena battle is a duel of power in an arena similar to the Colosseum. The winner can obtain some special benefits in the base battle.

duel in the arena

It is the base battle that decides life and death. Each base has its own flag. Once the base flag is pulled out, it means that the base is occupied and all members are eliminated. At the same time, each team member also has a personal flag behind him. If the flag is pulled out by others, the team member will be eliminated in this base battle.

In layman's terms, pulling out the flag is equivalent to "tearing the name tag" in the running men's variety show. If the name tag of a team member is torn off, they will be eliminated in the base battle; Players are eliminated directly. This also means that each base must not only protect the base flag, but also must find ways to pull out the opponent's flag.

The rule of "pulling the flag" is somewhat similar to "tearing the name tag"

Although the rating of the program is very high, frankly speaking, in the survival competition variety show, the competition system of "Call of the Siren" is not novel, nor can it even be called "science". The setting and environment of different bases are very different. Some bases that have so-called concealment advantages but poor living conditions have no concealment at all. This also leads to a huge gap in the difficulty of attacking and defending different bases. Some bases are difficult to attack Income, some bases are "leakage everywhere", which makes the starting point of competition "unfair".

The offensive and defensive conditions of different bases are too different

Survival competition variety shows compete not only for physical strength, but also for brain power, but "Call of the Siren" is a variety show that mainly focuses on physical strength games. Which team has the best physical fitness, who has the best fighting ability, and who has formed an alliance? Whoever has the most people is basically likely to win. Although many team members work hard to strategize, listen for intelligence, and set traps, these efforts have little effect on the outcome of the showdown.

This led to the fact that although the program invited 6 different professions, there was no way to fully utilize the advantages of different professions. Some professions were eliminated early with little performance, which is a pity. The relatively single physical game also led to a slight weakness in the middle and later stages of the show. As for the "resurrection match" set up by the program, it is still a physical competition, and the competition system is too simple and perfunctory.

The rules of the Easter match turned out to be just rolling stones

Although "The Siren's Call" has shortcomings in the competition system, it is still warmly welcomed and praised by female audiences. In the final analysis, it is really difficult for us to watch and feel the power of women in such a concentrated and shocking way in other variety shows, such as "The Siren's Call". In the past, survival competition variety shows were basically dominated by men; at the beginning of this year, Netflix’s another hit survival competition variety show "Physical Fitness: Challenge of a Hundred People", although there were also female contestants, they were almost reduced to men's foils, almost There is little room for expression. This time "The Siren's Call" is different, all women participate, present the power of women in an all-round way, and shatter all kinds of stereotyped perceptions of women from the outside world.

First, remove labels and let women walk independently.

There are not many all-female variety shows on the market, but many female variety shows are almost stereotyped in the lead film, or in the interview after the female guest, introducing her family, career, marriage and childbirth, etc. It is almost inevitable that the show will explore how women balance family and career, and how the female guests once again ride the wind and waves to get support from their families, and so on. The program group intentionally or unintentionally bound the female guest with her family, marriage, and children, which also shaped the public's stereotyped perception of "women fighting for careers"—she must be supported, or she must pay What kind of sacrifice, thus increasing the psychological burden of "women fighting for their careers".

The treatment of the opening chapter of "The Siren's Call" is clean, neat, and refreshing, and the most important thing is to let each woman "walk independently". The program does not introduce the personal information of each contestant. How old is she, is she married, does she have children, and what kind of career dilemma does she have... nothing at all. After a 10-minute general introduction by 24 people, they immediately entered the "welcome race" - the 1km quagmire ranking race. The program abandons inertial thinking and purely presents the struggle of women as independent individuals.

There is no cumbersome introduction at the beginning of the program, and the contestants are directly asked to participate in the 1km quagmire ranking competition

The second is to eliminate prejudice and defend women's right to choose careers.

The six occupations selected in "The Siren's Call", soldiers, guards, policemen, firefighters, etc., are all male occupations in the traditional sense. When we talk about these occupations, our conditioned reflex is also male. The proportion of men is also much higher than that of women. From the perspective of physiological structure, men are generally higher than women in physical fitness, but this by no means means that women should be excluded from these occupations. For a long time, many outstanding women have participated in these professions and made indelible contributions.

Women can also shine in these professions

"The Siren's Call" presents the strength, wisdom, courage and professional strength of many female practitioners to the audience, defends their sense of existence in the so-called traditional male-only professions, and also inspires those who are interested in these professions off-screen women.

Third, go to "baiyoushou" and wantonly publicize the power of women.

Since the current all-female variety shows on the market are dominated by all-star lineups, female stars are generally popular with "white and thin" aesthetics, and in many cases, we will think that although female stars are not young, they are still very young, Or the strict control of female stars on their own body, to demonstrate the "self-discipline" of female stars, and promote it as a positive template. Self-discipline is a virtue, but aesthetics should be diverse. Women can be "white and thin", but women should never be framed by the single aesthetic of "white and thin", and even mistakenly think that "white and thin" is the only embodiment of female beauty and self-discipline.

At this point, "The Siren's Call" has subversive significance. It completely shatters the "white and thin" female aesthetics, and completely discards the dogma that women should be delicate, gentle, and elegant. The female guests are a lineup of amateurs. They chop wood, chisel, put out fire, dig soil, climb, break windows, and fight hand-to-hand. They present completely different female faces: Kongwu is powerful, domineering, ambitious, resolute and vicious, and inviolable...

The power and beauty of women

They are also beautiful like this. This is a kind of beauty that is different from "baiyoushou". It is the beauty of strength, the beauty of publicity, and the beauty of breaking through the shackles.

Finally, "go to perfection" and take back women's right to self-definition.

The current all-female variety shows more or less hope to speak for women. Such a standpoint sometimes leads the producers of the program to fall into a "beautification" thinking trap, that is, the program hopes to show the good side of women, and hopes to highlight the virtues of women, so the program will try to Avoid exposing women's flaws and weaknesses. Unknowingly, women are "moralized", just like the "moralization" of mothers. It is always a mother's love, and mothers give everything for their children. It seems to be a kind of praise, but it is actually a kind of moral instruction—— No ego, no selfishness, no flaws.

But no one is perfect, we should also accept a basic fact: women are not perfect. Women can also be arrogant, selfish, betrayal, jealous, aggressive, and intrigue; women's sisterhood is not entirely affectionate, it can also be: I hate you, but when you need help, I I am still willing to help you, when you are lonely, I will still feel pity in my heart...

There are also women's jealousy, hatred, hostility, and hostility in the show

This is one of the bold points of "Call of the Siren": the women on the show are "imperfect." Because of the positioning attribute of survival competition, in the battle of survival of the fittest, weak meat and strong, and "life and death", some people are still very loyal - this is of course a virtue, but some people believe in "there is no morality on the battlefield, just attack"... For example, the program The military team in the movie was questioned by many people, especially Sergeant Jiang, who was arrogant, aggressive, and rude...

Those who support Sergeant Jiang will defend her on the grounds that she was a soldier. During the long training, the thinking of the soldiers is that "everyday is wartime". On the battlefield, you die or I die, so they don't regard this as a game, but as a battlefield drill, and their words and deeds naturally treat each other Be an "enemy".

The question is, if they are not soldiers, can we not accept when they show "imperfect" arrogance?

In fact, we should allow women's "imperfection" to exist instead. Of course, this does not mean that "imperfection" is right, and women have natural moral immunity, but that women have never had a reason to carry a heavier moral burden, and there is no reason why women cannot have certain temperaments. Today's public opinion tends to have higher demands on women, and even women will be accused of being "ambitious", because "ambitious" is considered to be exclusive to men, and women are accused of being "imperfect" when they try to possess. Therefore, if women want to regain their right to self-definition, they might as well start from not being afraid of "imperfect" evaluation.

On the Douban homepage of "The Siren's Call", there is a short comment that makes people feel sad, "If I grew up watching such female elders grow up." It is undeniable that a woman has to experience much more discipline than a man in the process of growing up, tangible and intangible, self-aware and unconscious. Many women grow up in the discipline and internalize the discipline as their own Part of them, they were also confused and painful, but they didn't know the direction and possibility of breaking through, and they couldn't find more role models.

"The Siren's Call" is a bit shocking to them, because the women in the show are "anti-female" (deviating from the female template in the patriarchal society), however, "anti-female" is beautiful and free. This kind of "different beauty" and "freedom to be yourself" is what many women have been longing for, and "Call of the Siren" finally showed it.

It's time to break free from the definition and constraints of "female"! Don't be afraid of the accusation of being "anti-female". Women should be an open concept, and the right to define is not in the hands of others. The success of "The Siren's Call" has also reminded the all-female variety show productions on the market that it is time to update the production concept.