"The Light"
Poster Designed by Jiacheng (Tiffany) Wang
"The Light" is a short film produced, screenplay, filmed and edited by me to tell a female's adventure to break gender stereotypes. "The Light" satirizes the norm “pink for girls and blue for boys”, and encourages the audience to step beyond social constraints. The audience initiated a social movement on the Chinese media by creating a hashtag “#IAmMe” based on my script.
Watch "The Light" at:
Work Process
Poster and email sent by me to encourage students to join my project as actors
Schedule with actors
I "bribed" my actors with bubble tea
Audience's Responses
The audiences' responses touched my soul and became the fuel that motivates me to continue to create work that will impact the world and inspire others.
I have created both the Chinese and English versions of my film, publications, and designs
in order to communicate my intended message with a larger group of the audience without a language barrier.
Chinese Audience's responses
Comment sections of my film
on Chinese Social media (Weibo & Bilibili)
The audience freely expressed their thoughts and feelings after watching my film online.
I translated these expressions into English:
"We are all those beams of light."
"Even a tiny beam of light can light up the whole land."
"We are all those beams of light.🌈"
"Beautiful colors, and beautiful light.
Courage, all we need is courage."
"Watching this made me run into tears. I am nobody else but myself. "
"This world is in rainbow colors 🌈 "
"....Just because I am a 'pink' (female), why do I have to apologize for my choices beyond the norms?
People in this world use the hidden 'gender rules' to restrict themselves and others. Perhaps we can not change the world in one night, but at least we can let more people understand that this is not how our world looks like originally."
"IamMe"
I published my film on the Chinese video-sharing community 'bilibili', where the audience can add commentary subtitles on the video while watching.
The audiences posted the subtitle 'I am me' multiple times in different colors, corresponding with my film's central message.
The audience also initiated the hashtag "#IamMe" voluntarily
on the social media 'Weibo', and expressed the context in reposts and comments.
"I am me."
"I am just myself."
"I am myself first."
A Chinese student studying abroad shared it with American peers on western media, furthering the conversation.
"It is so great to see that a lot of people can pay attention to the issue..."
"The current environment is kind of harsh. (I have conducted some projects and research in school about the issue of stereotypes and realized its connection with our current society)"
"Your work is so great, that it has such a strong pulling force and tension."
"I was empowered to share your work with my peers."
Thoughtful reflections,
educational interactions, and criticism
more responses online
"Everyone should not be limited. Does woman have to be crazy for dresses and pink colors all the time, and to sacrifice their passions in order to return back to the family get married? Are boys supposed to be taught as strong, and not allowed to cry as a 'man'?
Girls have the strength within them, and boys hold tenderness within their hearts too.
Really appreciate Tiffany's film and its context."
Obstacles & Solutions
The project did not go smoothly and successfully all the time. I spent months thinking about how to express my intended messages and be responsible for the issue as an artist.
As a leader of the project, I have experienced many obstacles but ultimately overcame them uniquely.
I was concerned about how to communicate my messages visually for the audience in ways they could perceive my messages clearly.
I wondered if the setting of my story was too unconventional and vague.
I was uncertain of how my experimental narrative can impact others because my work does not belong to any existing film genre.
I faced technical issues since my school does not have proper film equipment.
I doubted my ability to complete the project and balance my time on it with my rigorous schoolwork.
I feared my project to be unworthy.
My peer questioned my beliefs, too, claimed that realistically, my project will not help solve the issue, and the gender norms rooted in Asian Cultures may take centuries’ effort to defy and revise.
However,
I told my friend that we could do more than that.
Looking back, I can improve my work in many aspects, but I was most proud of myself holding onto my beliefs firmly and solving problems innovatively.
When in doubt, I chose to communicate my imaginations fearlessly and experiment with my ideas;
When there were no resources, I borrowed a projector in the classroom, used colored paper filters over iPhone flashlight to project visuals,
and turned table cloth into actors’ costumes and scenes’ backgrounds;
When the actors said they don’t have time to be involved, I persuaded them via individual conversations about my intentions and asked them to speak their beliefs authentically.
I looked into their eyes and said:
“If we are the ones who have constructed the norms, then we have the power to change the norms.”
But still, WHY did I create?
What am I doing this for?
It took me a long time to realize and find my voice and step beyond norms.
My mom was distressed during her pregnancy when she found out that I am a girl via a gender test.
My whole Chinese family wished I was a boy.
I was born in a patriarchal family and a country where stereotypes and practices against self-identities are rooted in cultural norms. However, it was when I studied abroad, I learned what does the word “stereotype” means and began to shape my own identity.
I observed that female rights activists are condemned on Chinese media for targeting males as the common enemy causing inequalities, and female voices were ignored and not represented on the media stage.
My friend told me that in her Chinese school, boys are not allowed to take dancing courses and wear dresses “like a girl”:
any defiance toward gender norms will be punished in such an educational system.
Despite cultural norms, I observed that the norm “pink for girls, and blue for boys” is universal, and it impacts our lives globally.
I conducted research on the history of the norm in American society and found that the gaming industry has assigned genders and colors to their products as a marketing strategy. I felt the urge to make a change, and this restlessness drove me to complete the project.
I was also stoked to see how my effort and passion impacted people’s lives.
a viewer I’ve never met wrote me a letter thanking me for presenting her inexpressible struggles via film to the world and inspiring her:
Translation
Anonymous audience: " I clicked to watch 'The Light' with the intention to prevent my tears from watching your previous films, but I did not expect that I cried tumultuously. The allusion of 'pink' and 'blue' in the film as social norms hit me right into my heart. Be myself, and do what I wanted to do. Be a light. These messages are calling and striking the deepest and the softest part of my heart, again and again.
The messages from the film are the emotions that I never know how to express in the past, and it was a surprise that every angle and every shot of the film expressed these emotions genuinely. It was a true surprise that I have never expected. The moment when I see my own reflections in the dark scene in the end, I can't handle my emotions any more before knowing that you intended to insert dark footages for us to see ourselves as the light, followed by the question 'who's the light'.
I am not good at speaking my mind and communicating but thank you, thank you so much, truly. You have done so well.❤️ "
