Author(s)
I wanted to explore the reasons why women, specifically female beauties such as Moxi, Daji and Baosi were villainised and pinned as scapegoats in Chinese history. What I wish to convey to my audience is that the villainisation of women was a method employed to undermine female authority and maintain the stability of the patriarchy. Since I am telling some of the most popular stories about villainous women, I opted for the most iconic form of Chinese storytelling – shadow puppetry. My project format is a parody of the Lienuzhuan, as instead of encouraging women to conform to the Confucian standard for women as per the purpose of the novel, it encourages women to be like the three femme fatales from the Lienuzhuan and exaggerates the extent to which women can supposedly topple the dynasty.