Ode to Joy(<<>> ),a 42-episodes TV series, is about five young women living on the 22nd floor of Shanghai's "Ode to Joy" high-rise community. They become friends while pursuing love and career advancement. Since its appearance on April 18, Ode to Joy has been praised for its realistic description of the hidden struggles of city life. "The audience can relate to the characters since their experiences can be traced back to real life too," commented the Dahe Daily. "Even better, female audiences can find themselves in one or two of the characters because the characters _ feminine archetypes  found throughout the society."But the idea of following a group of women as they lead a city life is hardly a pioneering concept. In many ways, Ode to Joy resembles American TV series like Sex and the City (1998-2004) and Desperate Housewives (2004-2012). These two series were praised for their feminist themes, but they also employed well-known female archetypes to illustrate the range of dilemmas women face. Deborah A. Macey, a communications professor at Saint Louis University in the US, divides these archetypes up into four ways: the iron maiden, the sex object, the child,and the mother. "The iron maiden is portrayed as masculine and career-oriented. The sex object owns her sexuality and genuinely loves her body. The child archetype is naive, optimistic, and dim-witted. The mother archetype connects the characters in the series and serves as the dominant storyteller," Macey said on the online media forum "In Media Res". Sounds familiar? Yes, these features can be seen in the characters of Ode toJoy. Andy (Liu Tao), for instance, partly embodies the iron maiden role. She's super smart, rational and direct. She moves from the US to Shanghai and takes the position of CFO at a top Chinese company. Fan Shengmei (Jiang Xin) can be seen as the "mother" in the series. Despite the fact that she s in charge of her own family issues,she takes her friends under her wing and stands up for them. Qu Xiaoxiao (Wang ziwen), the sexy and beautiful girl born with silver spoon, perfectly illustrates what is bitter-sweet relationship between friends and lovers. With that being said. Ode to Joy doesn't lack creativity. It assigns the "child" role to two characters-the straightforward, naive Qiu Yingying (Yang Zi), and the good-tempered, hard-working Guan Ju'er (Qiao Xin). But this category of TV series has its risks. Having five main characters means the drama isn't story-driven but character-driven. "It's not something you often see in Chinese TV dramas," Yuan Zidan, Ode to Joy's screenwriter, told Changjiang Daily. "But we want to challenge the norms." What can we infer from the passage?
Ode to Joy is the first TV series to show a group of women's life in the city. Ode to Joy is not a traditional Chinese drama because it is character-driven. The characters in Ode to Joy arc the same with those in Sex and Cify and Desperate Housewives. Andy fully illustrates the iron maiden who is both masculine and career-oriented.