"Her Mythologies" emerges from the urgent need to deconstruct gendered violence embedded within East Asian cultural narratives. Our central idea challenges how traditional myths, legends, and romantic stories have systematically erased or romanticized female suffering. Through five short films: Daughter of Storm, Tomb of Butterflies, Part of Four, Through the Looking Glass, and Sheroism. we aimed to expose the "lowercase" history of women by transforming familiar cultural touchstones into revolutionary spaces.
Our primary goals were threefold: First, to unveil how beloved stories like Liang Zhu (Butterfly Lovers) actually perpetuate feudal violence against women by glorifying female suicide as romantic sacrifice. Second, to reclaim creation myths by repositioning women as autonomous creators rather than vessels for patriarchal desires. Third, to demonstrate how contemporary spaces from Olympic arenas to mirror labyrinths can become sites of female empowerment when viewed through a feminist lens.
Each film functions as a prism refracting different dimensions of female awakening from mythological deconstruction to athletic resurrection. By fusing alchemical symbols, traditional ink-wash aesthetics, and cyborg body politics, we transform the womb, tomb, and ocean into revolutionary metaphors. Our ultimate objective was to create a visual manifesto proving that when women shatter the altars of cultural expectation, new genesis becomes possible. This series challenges audiences to question why East Asian romanticism consistently beautifies female tragedy as butterflies, demanding instead that women's pain be recognized as the foundation for radical transformation.
Bringing "Her Mythologies" to life required dismantling each film's source material and reconstructing it through radical feminist interpretation. Our execution strategy centered on visual subversion using the aesthetic languages of traditional art forms to deliver contemporary critiques.
For "Tomb of Butterflies," we stripped away the romantic veneer of the Liang Zhu legend by setting the narrative primarily within a tomb. Using dual narrative structures, lyrical "shadow" sequences employing traditional Chinese painting aesthetics versus claustrophobic "reality" sequences with suffocating sound design—we exposed the millennium-old lie. The greatest challenge was balancing cultural respect with necessary iconoclasm. We overcame this by using maggot-eaten wedding contracts as metaphors for feudal marriage systems, ensuring the critique targeted structures, not culture itself.
"Part of Four" reimagined the Nuwa creation myth through alchemical transformation. We constructed a maternal universe using uterine dome architecture and vascular mountain landscapes. The self-delivery climax, where the protagonist performs cesarean rebirth, challenges traditional birth narratives. Technical challenges included creating four symbolic male "vessels" representing societal desires (sex, wealth, power, spirituality) that would visually dissolve into the creator's androgynous form.
"Sheroism" faced unique execution challenges, mapping Olympic rings onto Wu Xing elements while avoiding orientalist clichés. We combined synthetic imagery (digital landscape wingsuit descent), holographic projection (Taiji-patterned skier), and underwater cinematography. The "memory wall" constructed from historical debris required extensive practical effects coordination.
"Through the Looking Glass" exploited identical twin performers to materialize Lacanian mirror theory. Our palindrome structure, identical forward and reverse playback, demanded precise choreography and Penrose staircase production design. The technical innovation of reversible narrative viewing challenged conventional film temporality.
"Daughter of Storm" required constructing a mythological courthouse where mother-as-Themis judges daughter-as-Lilith. Baroque aesthetics (blood-smeared scales, placental arches) demanded extensive art direction. The challenge was avoiding melodrama while depicting intergenerational trauma through visceral sacrifice imagery.
Throughout production, we encountered resistance to our feminist interpretations of beloved cultural stories. We overcame this by ensuring that our critiques targeted patriarchal structures rather than the cultural heritage itself. Our unique approach lies in utilizing traditional East Asian aesthetic vocabularies, such as ink wash painting, five-element theory, and mirror philosophy, as vehicles for contemporary gender politics.
The series' uniqueness stems from its cultural specificity combined with universal feminist themes. Rather than Western-imposed feminism, we excavated feminist potential within existing East Asian philosophical frameworks. Each film serves as both an individual artwork and a component of a larger ideological project: proving that women's liberation requires not just political action, but also fundamental mythological reconstruction.
"Her Mythologies" successfully achieved our primary objectives of cultural deconstruction and feminist reconstruction. The series has sparked significant dialogue within East Asian art communities about the relationship between traditional narratives and contemporary gender politics. Our goal of exposing the "lowercase" history of women has resonated particularly strongly with young female audiences who recognize themselves in these reinterpreted myths.
Critically, the series has been recognized for its innovative approach to cultural critique. Director Yiwei's work with the collection led to exhibitions at prestigious venues including the Grand Palais in Paris and the Louvre, validating our strategy of using high art aesthetics to deliver radical feminist content. The films' technical achievements, particularly the palindrome structure of "Through the Looking Glass" and the elemental transformations in "Sheroism," have demonstrated that experimental narrative techniques can effectively serve political messaging.
Most importantly, we've succeeded in creating what we term "revolutionary mythology" stories that maintain cultural authenticity while challenging oppressive structures. The series has inspired other East Asian filmmakers to examine their own cultural narratives through feminist lenses, suggesting our work is catalyzing a broader cultural shift.
The positive reception from international film festivals (with several films achieving world premiere status) indicates we've successfully translated culturally specific critiques into universally relevant feminist discourse. Our ultimate measure of success lies in the conversations we've initiated: young women are beginning to question why their cultural heroes are often women who die for love rather than live for themselves.
