Since ancient times, domestic costume dramas have often been criticized for treating the audience as fools. In order to create a contrast in the image of the leading actor, actresses are often arranged to dress as women, and male actors are incarnated as women, but such designs do not always cater to the aesthetic tastes of the audience.
For example, in "Beautiful Scholar", as soon as the image of Ju Jingyi dressed as ** appeared, the audience immediately felt unnatural.
The difference in height and body shape with the male actor is too obvious, Ju Jingyi's ** is close and compact, but it can't hide the S-shaped body shape of the female curve. What's more prominent is that her makeup still continues her style over the years, even if she wears **, her makeup is still the same, far from men.
This kind of scene of interacting with the male actor in the play, such as wall knocks, princess hugs, and turning circles, all feel discordant and not easy to accept.
A similar example is Yang Ying's female preplay in "Lonely Fang", which plagues the audience with the same problem. Although the makeup is light, she still retains her signature smiling lips, large areas of dark eyeliner and pink eyeshadow, which are difficult to reminiscent of a male image.
Yang Mi's female pretense in "Mrs. Huzhu" is also incomprehensible, with thick and straight eyebrows, and the overall image lacks masculine characteristics.
Moreover, her makeup changes a lot in different scenes in the play, although she plays the role of a general, she still shows off with a full set of makeup, and even smears a little dust on her face to bring out the beauty of women.
This flawless image under the medical beauty filter is far from the image of a general, which makes the character creation unconvincing. In such a situation, the audience is becoming more and more critical of the image of the actress in the costume drama, thinking that this way of interpretation not only makes people feel unreal, but also affects the texture of the whole play.
However, there are also some actresses who have successfully interpreted the role of a female presence, showing a more convincing image.
In "Yi Nian Guan Mountain", He Lan's performance caused a surprise to the audience. is obviously a fragile and crying princess, but for the sake of her sweetheart and brother, she decided to disguise herself as a ** and become a diplomatic envoy.
Although He Lantu's female image still retains her small round face, she successfully presents a vivid and unrecognizable image of a boy.
She didn't embellish too much, starred without makeup, and painted sword eyebrows that fit the male image, this simple treatment made her more masculine. In the interaction with the actors in the play, He Lantuo's image is more boyish, and when she is in the same frame with Liu Shishi and others, whether it is the front, side, or even the back of her head, it is difficult to distinguish her true gender.
This simplification of makeup makes the female dress more realistic and fitting.
In addition, the fish intestine played by Li Yuan in "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" is also a successful example of a female pretence. She cut off her long hair and showed off her head with her inch, and she also starred without makeup.
Li Yuan's facial features are angular, showing a heroic image, her lip makeup is not too forceful, and her facial features are more handsome. Her image as a female ** is very successful, and when she is in the same frame as the male actors in the play, it forms a more natural contrast.
Not only did she not deliberately emphasize her figure, but her hairstyle and costumes were more in line with the style of the actors in the play, and her overall aura was more powerful.
This clever handling of styling shows an example of an actress who is more in line with the male image, presenting a more credible character image to the audience.
Liu Meitong's successful performance in "Celebrating More Than Years" was also unanimously recognized by the audience.
Compared with the actor Zhang Ruoyun, the Zhan Doudou she plays in the play has a more handsome temperament. Liu Meitong's makeup is not too modified, the eyebrows are moderate, and the facial features appear angular.
Her female appearance benefits from the appropriate hairstyle and costume design, which makes her more in line with the male image in the play. In the interaction with the male actors, she showed confidence and calmness, which made the character image more vivid.
You Jingru also successfully created the image of a woman dressed as ** in "The Female Son". Her height and body shape avoid the feeling of being too petite, and the costume style is more in line with the standards of male actors, avoiding excessive body exposure.
In the close-up shooting, You Jingru showed a very natural boyish temperament, with light makeup and more masculine facial features.
This case of successfully showing the more masculine temperament of an actress through appropriate body shape, hairstyle and costume design has injected new vitality into the female dress ** in costume dramas.
Xing En is also one of the highlights of the female pretense in "Little Girls Don't Give Up". Her image is in armor in the play, she is relatively tall, and is not inferior to the male actors.
In the close-up shot, her masculine traits are very obvious, her makeup is simple, without too much embellishment, and her no-makeup state adds a sense of realism. This kind of case of making the actress better integrate into the male role through the moderate treatment of costumes and makeup, presenting a more credible image for the female costume ** in the costume drama.
To sum up, although there are some actresses in costume dramas who make the audience feel uncomfortable, there are also some successful cases.
He Languo, Li Yuan, Liu Meitong, You Jingru and Xing En successfully showed the more masculine side of the actress through the appropriate body shape, hairstyle and costume design.
This clever treatment of makeup and image makes the female costume more real and believable, and brings more interesting character presentation to the audience.