I haven't seen the one where she's suspended over something and he bursts in, but I have seen the one where her hair is loose and he grabs the sword. That's actually right after her saving him a bunch (and completely rejecting the idea of women being self-sacrificing to save their men) and the person she's fighting is her EXTREMELY estranged mother who, at that point, refuses to acknowledge San Niang as her daughter. Her mother isn't trying to kill her, but to stop her from leaving, and what he's actually doing is trying to stop the situation from getting worse. There is an element of "saving" in there, but a person of one gender throwing hirself between two people of the other gender at the risk of bodily harm/death to stop their relationship from being irrevocably ruined is SO gendered as women endangering themselves to save men's relationships thast I forgive any problems there.
I'd say she's actually saved/rescued him more, though I can't actually think of a time when he's had to rescue her. (He actually seems to think she's suprememly competent and can handle any task ever, which is flattering, but also potentially dangerous for her as she's still a single person, not an army.)
Which is not to say it's perfect re: gender. There's the fridging, where the dead wife literally exists only is the male gaze that places her on a pedestal, and the third arc has the person they're helping treats his wifer terribly-at the most generous, it borders on both physical and mental abuse-but we're supposed to root for them to work things out because they do love each other, and he's acting like that because of stress. And while I do think their problems were exacerbated by the other things going on, I get the feeling that he didn't appreciate her at all and was still mean to her before, and even so, it was very much putting his needs before hers in the narrative. (EVERYONE hates this guy, as near as I can tell. But he probably will be better now.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-06-22 11:33 pm (UTC)I'd say she's actually saved/rescued him more, though I can't actually think of a time when he's had to rescue her. (He actually seems to think she's suprememly competent and can handle any task ever, which is flattering, but also potentially dangerous for her as she's still a single person, not an army.)
Which is not to say it's perfect re: gender. There's the fridging, where the dead wife literally exists only is the male gaze that places her on a pedestal, and the third arc has the person they're helping treats his wifer terribly-at the most generous, it borders on both physical and mental abuse-but we're supposed to root for them to work things out because they do love each other, and he's acting like that because of stress. And while I do think their problems were exacerbated by the other things going on, I get the feeling that he didn't appreciate her at all and was still mean to her before, and even so, it was very much putting his needs before hers in the narrative. (EVERYONE hates this guy, as near as I can tell. But he probably will be better now.)