Feminism in Korean Multimedia

Confucianism

My Mother is a Daughter-In-Law (2015)

Confucianism has been used as the guiding ideology for a number of tools adopted for female oppression. KWDI’s Lee says, “Men have enormous power in the Confucian tradition. Beating wives was considered a way of discipline.” Under this tradition, a double standard in treating women has been the norm. In all stages of life, women became answerable to the men in their life. Whether it’s to their father as a young, single adult; to the husband as a married woman and finally to her son as an old widow, she found herself constantly justifying her decisions and choices. Women could only hope to find a sense of control and power within the limited confines of patriarchal society. It was due to this that a number of Korean soap operas and dramas focus on the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. A mother-in-law, in such dramas, exercises great control on the freedoms of her daughter in law which becomes the cause of many issues in the family. Interestingly, all these powers and interactions of the mothers seem to revolve around the powers given to them in relation to a male family member. A strict separation of the public and private life in Confucianism was instrumental in creating this subculture of mothers controlling the keys to the house and the granary. The drama My Mother is a Daughter-In-Law typifies some of these mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships that trace their roots to the Confucian teachings.

Korean TV Dramas

Socioeconomic Status (SES) and Marriage

My Lovely Sam Soon (2005), started a sensation breaking typical character development in K-dramas

Historically, the dramas portrayed the story of two lovers who had to fight the familial and societal forces to be able to stay together. The story line would either culminate in a happy ending resulting from the union of lovers or end tragically where the lovers would be forced to drift apart. The male character usually belonged to a rich household while the female character would be from a poorer family. The difference in their wealth would subject the female to much ridicule, with many labeling her a gold digger. This was driven by the idea that a woman was only interested in a man who could financially provide for her, with her having thoughts of perhaps one day climbing the socioeconomic ladder. The concept of a career driven female who was independently wealthy was still in its infancy but things would slowly improve for the better as society came to be more comfortable with feminism. The new wave of Korean dramas are less about the imbalances in male-female relationships and more about the changing perceptions of Korean society. Female characters now place a higher value on their career, with marriage becoming more of an afterthought. This was due, in part, to the changing ground realities for Korean women for whom marriage didn’t hold the same importance as before. This pushed the feminist ideals further in the society and launched a movement that brought forth more complex female characters and story lines, helping the broader feminist movement in South Korea.

Progressive Depictions of Relationship

Coffee Prince (2007) ended with a high viewing rating of 27.8%

The drama My Lovely Sam Soon was one such media product that aimed to turn the differences between men and women on its head. Sam Soon was a bigger woman who could overpower men both in size and spirit. This was a refreshing change for a society that over time had gotten used to men being the bigger and more dominant ones. The fact that the drama openly talked about Sam Soon’s premarital sexual intimacy with her ex-boyfriend was a big departure from the conservative narrative that the Korean media had depicted for decades in this conservative society. This not just opened up new discussions in the society but also gave a sense of acceptance to women previously judged by their sexual relationships.

On the other hand, the drama Coffee Prince discusses a number of topics considered forbidden for TV audiences. These topics range from homosexuality, cohabitation without marriage and premarital sex. Eun-chan, the character in the show, has a rendezvous with the male lead which further normalizes such actions, especially in a society that has evolved with time.

Korean Films

Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 (2019)

Challenges to Feminism Friendly Media

The advancement in gender rights through the feminist movement has brought forth backlash that has presented itself in a variety of ways. Feminist films, like Kim Ji-young: Born 1982, have seen its ratings go on a roller coaster ride on the Korean search engine Naver. Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 got rated extremely negatively by the male demographic who rated it 2.99 out of 10. This was in direct contrast to the female audience who rated it 9.47 out of 10 on average. It stands to reason that the low rating given to the movie could be tarnish the feminist movement as a whole. Still, the film continues to have a cult following that appreciates its message. This visceral reaction by a section of the society to Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 points to the term “feminism” having a negative connotation in the minds of a subsection of Korean men. In a survey, around 50% men responded that they “support women’s rights but not feminism” with only 33% voicing support for feminism. This was in stark contrast to 31% female respondents supporting “women’s rights but not feminism” and over 55% throwing in their support for feminism. This underlines how for many men, feminism is still seen as a movement built around hating men.

Female Career Life in Korean Society

The changes brought forth by this wave of feminism has positively impacted female representation in the workplace, which incidentally is reflected in the increased average age at which women are choosing to get married “The increasing number of women participating in the labour market has brought some changes to traditional ideas about women’s role in Korean family and society”. The movie Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 started many conversations within the Korean society around gender expectations and roles. Kim Ji-young’s journey navigates through the expectations of a conservative society in a patriarchal South Korea. It helped the men understand the challenges that South Korean women face in a society built by men. Prof. Lee of Chung-Ang University describes how “Korean women in their 30s…were told they could do it all. So they grew up studying hard, working hard and playing hard. But reality set in as their careers progressed,” This discussion highlighted how South Korean women still make 63 cents for every dollar that Korean men earn for the same work.

Beauty Standards

Knowing Brothers (2015)

Values in Korean Society Leading to Plastic Surgery

The Korean Variety Show Knowing Brothers, found itself receiving much criticism for its treatment of female guests on the show. It was common for the all-male cast of the show to get over-excited whenever female K-pop idol groups would come visiting. The accusations against them range from the cast making comments that were downright offensive to some comments bordering on sexual harassment. The show has also had a history of treating women differently based on how objectively beautiful they are. While the crowd of the show goes crazy for traditionally pretty celebrities, it shows little or no enthusiasm for those who are not. A common question in the show centers around asking the women celebrities who, among the male cast members of the show, would they hypothetically marry. The women, forced in a position to answer, with the eyes of the nation watching, usually reply by answering the name of a married cast member to avoid further intrigue in their personal life.

Sunny (2011)

The movie Sunny highlighted the pervasive desire for objective beauty and the ever popular plastic surgery industry in Korea. A character Jang-mi always found herself discriminated against for the way she looked and desired to change her appearance. Her obsession is centered around getting a double eyelid surgery, a procedure common in the Korean beauty industry. It is common for high school students to receive the double eyelid surgery as a gift for their graduation. The state of affairs is such that simply receiving a double eyelid procedure is considered insufficient in a competitive marriage market. A character Jin-hee also uses the “miracles” of plastic surgery to her advantage by becoming aesthetically pleasing and using that as a stepping stone to marry an individual who is financially well off. Films play a big role in making women feel dissatisfied with their bodies and it's this combination with the expectations of a patriarchal society that leave many women vulnerable to the clutches of the plastic surgery industry.