Coping with Suffering and Constructing Subjectivity: A Comparative Study of Survival Strategies between Li Baoli in Thousands of Arrows Piercing the Heart and Antonia in Antonia’s Line

Taking feminist theory as the core framework, this study adopts text analysis, parallel comparison and cross-cultural comparative research methods to conduct a qualitative investigation of two female figures: Li Baoli from the Chinese film Thousands of Arrows Piercing the Heart and Antonia from the Dutch film Antonia’s Line. Focusing on the dual dimensions of “coping with suffering” and “constructing subjectivity”, this paper analyzes the “confrontational survival” and “constructive survival” strategies adopted by the two women respectively in the family field dominated by patriarchal discourse in China in the 1990s and the tolerant social context of the Netherlands after World War II, revealing the differences in paths for women to realize self-worth in different social structures. Drawing on Simone de Beauvoir’s concept of “otherness” and feminist utopian theory, the study finds that Li Baoli’s confrontation falls into a cycle of “individual breakthrough-external suppression” due to the lack of systematic support, as her subjectivity is perpetually confined by the “othering” of family ethics and patriarchal order. In contrast, Antonia transforms individual suffering into collective strength by establishing a women-led family community—an embodiment of feminist utopian practice—realizing the intergenerational transmission and utopian construction of subjectivity. The differences between them not only reflect the shaping of women’s living space by Chinese and Western social cultures (while acknowledging intra-cultural diversity) but also provide a cross-cultural reference for understanding the diverse paths to women’s subjectivity.