The De-Sanctification of Motherhood: The Mother-Daughter Relationship and Female Subjectivity in the Movie Her Story

School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

^* Corresponding author: shuyuetang391@gmail.com

Abstract

In recent years, the awakening of female consciousness and the rise of gender issues have brought the long-sanctified role of “motherhood” back into the spotlight of public discussion. This article takes the female director’s work, Her Story, as the research object and analyzes three dimensions: the presentation of the mother’s image and the mother-daughter relationship, the breaking of the traditional image of motherhood, and the integration of value transmission and market-oriented orientation. This article analyzes and concludes that while Her Story breaks the myth of “great mothers”, it presents the possibility of women’s autonomous expression and equal dialogue between generations through daily narratives, and constructs a “de-sanctified” narrative paradigm of motherhood. Meanwhile, it also responds to the influence of the remnants of social discipline on individual women and attempts to complete the inheritance and recreation of female subjectivity through “female writing”. In addition, the film integrates the expression of values with a light narrative. Although it has triggered differentiated evaluations among different audience groups, it still provides beneficial inspirations for the narrative exploration and commercial expansion of Chinese women’s films.