A Portrayal of Female Characters in Chinese TV Series and its Impact on Audiences' Identification : A Case Study of “Heroes in Harm's Way”

Abstract

The research aims to examine the portrayal pf female characters in Chinese main melody TV series “Heroes in Harm’s Way”, which tells the story of the anti-epidemic in China. In research, the male characters were mainly about helping to solve problems, while the female characters played so few roles that it has led to talk of whether the TV series devalues female characters or undervalues female in Chinese society. Despite the fact that women make up two-thirds of the health workers working in Wuhan, and more than half of the medical staff are women and 90% of the nurses are women. Until it brought criticism and expressed viewers' dissatisfaction with the presentation of such content, this is a reason for the interest in studying the rportrayal of female characters in tackling the COVID-19 epidemic in China and analysing the role of female directors in Chinese main melody series.