Mist-Shrouded Beauty: The Subversion and Reconstruction of Female Criminals in She's Got No Name

Abstract

Throughout the long history of crime films, the image of female criminals has remained shrouded in mystery. Their complex humanity and behavioral logic are often obscured by gender bias and narrative conventions, rendering them elusive flowers in the mist within traditional storytelling. Directed by Peter Chan, She's Got No Name employs a groundbreaking narrative strategy to subvert and rewrite this classic motif. Through three innovative approaches, a multi-perspective, jigsaw-like construction; symbolic expressions of bodily narratives; and an open-ended conclusion that leaves room for interpretation, the movie successfully deconstructs and reconstructs a complex individual embodying both perpetrator and victim. This subversion and reshaping of the character not only enriches the character arc dimension of crime genre films but also directly challenges the simplistic judgmental paradigm of traditional judicial narratives and social discourse toward female criminals. By advocating for the complexity of female offenders, it offers an enlightening narrative path for penetrating superficial appearances and exploring the human abyss and societal pathologies underlying female criminal behavior.