Recently, a comparison photo of Jia Ling taken under a professional camera lens and a smartphone camera during a brand event went viral online, sparking discussions across social media platforms. The image taken by the professional camera showed Jia Ling with a well-proportioned figure and in good shape, while the one captured by the smartphone at the same moment and angle made her appear notably larger. On August 28, the topic “Jia Ling’s Appearance on Camera Seems 10 Pounds Heavier” trended on search engines.
Jia Ling recently appeared as a brand ambassador at an offline event for a certain brand in Shanghai. On that day, she wore purple shorts paired with a T-shirt and a jacket, emitting a sporty vibe. With a neat high ponytail hairstyle, she looked lively and energetic. Upon her arrival, Jia Ling enthusiastically greeted the fans and journalists at the venue, saying, “Sorry for the wait, sorry for the wait!”
During the event, the witty and humorous Jia Ling continuously interacted with the audience below the stage, showing no diva behavior. When asked about her impression of Wang Shun, the swimming world champion with whom she recently did rope skipping and played tennis, she jokingly described him as broad-shouldered and tall, resembling the character “Rukawa Kaede” from the Japanese anime “Slam Dunk.” Her words elicited laughter from everyone present.
The on-site photos revealed Jia Ling being interviewed with media reporters using smartphones to film beside her. This coincidental “side-by-side comparison” between the camera and smartphone lenses created a magical illusion of the “real vs. altered Jia Ling,” where Jia Ling in the smartphone footage appeared visibly larger than in the professional camera shot.
This comparison once again brought Jia Ling into the spotlight of public discussions. Some netizens mistakenly thought she had “gained weight again,” exclaiming about how quickly she seemed to have bounced back. However, those who have seen celebrities in person clarified that in reality, stars are often very slim, and the camera can be overly critical of slightly fuller figures. Many lamented, “So all our comments on stars getting fat or slim might be just the camera ‘tricking’ us!”; “Jia Ling and all artists are truly miserable, victims of optical distortion.”
Discussions surrounding Jia Ling’s body changes have surpassed mere debates on weight. Since her weight loss journey, opinions have been divided: some feel that she has lost some of her humor and seems like a different person post-weight loss, missing her former friendly and comical image with a curvaceous figure. On the other hand, others praise her clear muscle definition as a “badge of discipline” and believe she has challenged the singular aesthetic standard of “thin equals beauty.”
As previously reported, during the filming of “Hi, Mom,” Jia Ling gained 40 pounds to fit the role requirement, shooting the first half of the film at 210 pounds. Overcoming loneliness, pressure, and the plateau of weight loss, she then shed 100 pounds within 8 months, equivalent to shedding half of her weight for the film’s second half, effectively transforming into the character “Du Leying,” a boxer, in a groundbreaking manner.
Jia Ling once said that even now, she still feels that “there will never be an experience like ‘Hi, Mom’ again… this process was truly terrifying for me.”
At the end of last year, Jia Ling made headlines for reportedly regaining weight. In response to all the feedback, Jia Ling has consistently emphasized, “Being thin is not the ultimate goal; I want to showcase positivity and self-love.”
After the comparison photos of Jia Ling under a professional camera and a smartphone camera were exposed, some netizens conducted a scientific explanation, stating that behind the comparison images lies a “focal length trap.”
According to this perspective, professional cameras typically use telephoto lenses and powerful algorithms to correct edge distortions, aiming to restore the true proportions as much as possible. On the other hand, regular smartphone lenses with shorter focal lengths, especially when using wide-angle or specific screen ratios like 16:9, may produce noticeable “barrel distortions,” akin to funhouse mirrors, stretching the contours and limbs at the edges of the image horizontally, creating a sense of inflation. In other words, it’s not your eyes playing tricks; it’s the physical laws that make Jia Ling in the smartphone footage appear to have “gained a whole round.”
Beginning her career with crosstalk and sketches, Jia Ling has achieved success in recent years with self-directed films like “Hi, Mom” and “Hello, Li Huanying,” setting records in both box office and critical acclaim. According to the professional data from “Maoyan,” the box office champion of 2024 was the New Year film “Hi, Mom,” directed and starred by Jia Ling, accounting for 8.1% of the total annual box office, making Jia Ling the first female director in Chinese film history to win the annual title.