Throughout the film, there are umpteen numbers of scenes one can be put faced to the blatant sexual objectification of not some, but all female characters in the film. The very first glimpse of such objectification can be seen through the character of Xiao Mei. Although not a main and significant character in the film, Xiao Mei was one of the younger masseuses working in Lin Dong’s parlour. She too, like Pingguo and her husband, had come to Beijing from a small village town with the hopes and dreams of living a better life. Being a young girl, she too knew that she was only as valuable as far as her beauty would go and as sexually available she was. This can be seen when she is discussing a date that she is supposed to go on with a young boy, with her friend Pingguo. She asks Pingguo “how can I trick him into thinking I 'm a …show more content…
The lady being more on the heavier side of physiques tells Wang Mei “Women like us aren’t easy to get laid.” again going to show that a women must look appealing to a man’s gaze in order to get any kind of attention from a man. It also shows that in this man’s world, a woman’s body is her best asset that is the main signifier of her worth and also the thing that will help her get by in life.
Through the film Lost in Beijing, we see how the male gaze and the sexual objectification of women portrays women out to be a commodity in today’s modern society. Her emotions and self worth and esteem have no value and her body is her best “selling point” which helps her move forward in this patriarchal society. At the end of the day, her worth is determined by a man based on her physical appearance and beauty and her emotions and thoughts are considered pretty much nonexistent in a society that is supposed to be modern, evolved and open