On the surface, it appears as though women aren’t thought of very highly, particularly in the treatment of Miao Yin (Suzee Pai); however, what Miao Yin represents below the surface is far more powerful when placed in context of the men that surround her. In many ways, Miao Yin is spoken of as an abstract concept rather than a human being. Wang (Dennis Dun), when describing her to Jack (Kurt Russell) states: “She’s going to put my whole life in order.” They’ve known each other since they were children, and Wang has worked hard to bring her to the United States. This is dangerous territory for her because she is being held up as a magical ideal that can make everything better, which does not leave her much room to be a human being. It doesn’t stop there: Lo Pan (James Hong) needs her in order to regain flesh, and speaks to her in a tone of desperation. He tells her, “I need you,” but then follows up a sentiment that may have been construed as loving with a plea to Ching Dai, the god of the East that has the power to restore his corporeal form. In fact, Lo Pan isn’t really looking for love – he’s looking for a means to an end: “The Girl With Green Eyes. The Girl that can tame the burning blade.” In that sentence, she goes from being a dreamgirl to a representation of order. Pai doesn’t get many lines as Miao Yin because she doesn’t have to speak; by nature, this character comes to represent divine order. That so many seek to possess her via marriage means that the men that surround her crave the stability and divine grace she projects. That this concept of order and divine redemption belongs to a woman is significant: it is Miao Yin that has the power to right the wrongs of the men around her. She has the ability to make them better.

In a similar fashion, the character Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) represents this as well, though Gracie is less of a concept and more of an active force fighting against corruption. When we first meet her, Gracie is helping Tara gain entry into the United States without being kidnapped and trafficked. She’s full of verbal fight, as evidenced by the fact that she’s bound and gagged once captured. However, Gracie is also a nurturing force that makes sure everyone she cares for is safe: during the initial escape from captivity, she continually stops the individual members of the group swimming by her to ask about the next missing person. Couple that with her mouthing off to and attempting to bite Lo Pan during her second capture – going so far as to refer to him as a “disgusting flesh peddler” – and Gracie establishes herself as the mother figure that protects all and fights back even when she has no chance of winning. She represents the fight against corruption, particularly the violation of innocence and the ability to live a life of free will – and she does it with sass, confidence and a burning rage directed at those who would rob others of their rights.

Put them together, and Miao Yin and Gracie come to signify the components of feminity that, when yielded properly, can achieve both the mystical and the spiritual satisfaction that Lo Pan seeks but does not understand how to yield. Lo Pan, upon his first interaction with Wang, asks questions of lineage that have nothing to do with Miao Yin as a person: what province she’s from, if her father is a holy man, etc. In the grand scheme of things, this information doesn’t matter because Lo Pan is far more interested in regaining his corporeal form. To this end, he keeps both women in a trance state in order to manage them. In a telling scene, both women are subjected to the Burning Blade ceremony, completely entranced while the men perform for them. Is it really an accident that these women look completely unimpressed? I don’t think so: when they survive the test, Lo Pan declares, “They have survived the burning blade and tamed the savage heart. I will marry both women.” In this sentence, men are reduced to something savage that requires salvation, and the women can provide that through marriage. This is where it starts to go downhill for Lo Pan: he rapidly degenerates into a selfish prick that only wishes to use them to satisfy the conditions of breaking his curse. He uses what is described as the needle of love to violently penetrate Miao Yin’s wrist in order to regain his flesh, going so far as to slice her wrist and drink her blood at one point. During the ruckus of the fight, he places his focus entirely on keeping Miao Yin safe for this purpose, completely disregarding his back-up bride Gracie. Once he regains his form, Miao Yin informs him, “I don’t belong to you,” and is then thrust aside to a disciple with the line, “Take her. Take the bitch!” Once she is no longer controlled, she asserts her autonomy, which angers Lo Pan. His next response is further evidence that he does not care for her well-being at all: with Gracie nowhere in sight, he informs Miao Yin that she must be sacrificed in order to appease his emperor. Just like that, he solidifies that he cares only for himself and does not value either woman. Who does value them? Jack, Wang and Egg Shen, who triumph over Lo Pan and his minions. In the end, it is the men that recognize their value and establish emotional attachment that win. That this action winds up saving the world from a great evil further marks Lo Pan’s actions and attitudes as something so detrimental to intragender relations that it could rip the world apart.

So what do we learn from this? While it may appear that one of the women was weak, she actually held a considerable amount of power. The other used her voice and sense of urgency to fight against the degradation and unhappiness forced upon those of her gender. Together, Miao Yin and Gracie represent something much larger: the great mother, the protector of the human race, the woman that can take something imperfect and wipe the slate clean. You have to dig a little to find the meaning in this one, but in the end, Carpenter was clear: honor them, accept them for who they are, respect that of which they are capable, let them fight, and help them when they need it. The world may depend on it.