Where I ramble largely on feminism in Delightful Girl Chun Hyang (+ a few comments on other dramas)
I think Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang is one of the most positively feminist dramas I've seen, and Chun-Hyang one of the most feminist heroines out there. Dramas are often populated by boy obsessed, cheerful scatterbrains. There is nothing wrong with that, as they can be adorable. But it's so nice to see a clever, strong heroine that isn't any less charming than the most fairy-tale princess in need in rescuing, and who is appreciated for what she is.
She is shown to be someone very intelligent: she is the best student in school and she is the one who gets MR admitted to college. She is brave and doesn't think anything of fighting back. And she is incredibly strong-willed. Mong-Ryong does not have to rescue a princess on a regular basis. They rescue each other (he rescues her from a bunch of thugs, she later rescues him from jail etc etc). And she is no coy damsel. She doesn't play emotional games.
In fact, she is the one who performs the major sacrifice in the drama, she is the 'active' in the crisis and MR the 'reactive.' When Byun Hak-Do (grrr, I want to stab him in the face) puts the horrible choice in front of her: in order to save MR from going to jail as an attempted rapist (grrrr, that is why some people shouldn't have too much money. That way they wouldn't be able to find people to frame innocent third parties) she has to give MR forever. Chun-Hyang is faced with the course which mandates her to break her husband's heart at the time he needs her the most.
And she proceeds to carry it out, to tell the bewildered MR she doesn't want or love him after all. You know what I love? Even though it's killing her, she gets through this with her dignity. Not for her long useless sobbing. She does her crying in private and her grief will not interfere with what must be done (and which keeps getting more horrible, as MR won't give up and stop loving her). She remains fiercely her own person with the slimy Byun. During the whole horrible ordeal she breaks down only once, quietly begging Byun to let her out of this. But when he refuses, she stops and doesn't try any more.
One of my favorite scenes ever is after he's made her break up with MR, she is in the car with him and all she does is tell him quietly 'I am going to hate you for this for the rest of my life.' No grand histrionics, or weeping, or pleading, or weakness. Just a calm, final statement.
And she manages to escape from his clutches, to make a quiet efficient exit not to be tracked. If Byun thought he found a toy, he was wrong. CH can never be 'made' to be someone's. She can give her heart, but as an equal and purely voluntarily.
And you know? Even though this is her biggest set-back, something that would break a lesser person, she manages to pull herself together. Chun-Hyang pulled herself together after her college dreams evaporated (twice), after her mother ran away, and after she had to give up the love of her life. And without the air of martyrdom or anything but a no-nonsense attitude (lest the above make you think of CH as some sort of prig, she is adorable and fun, not some stern embodiment of virtue).
One of the most positive things about the drama is that both CH and MR go on to be productive members of society after these horribly traumatic events. Neither lose focus or drive (in fact, MR acquires more). MR becomes a DA for Seoul and CH starts and runs a successful jewelry factory. Their lives are emotionally incomplete, but they are not wallowing in misery.
That is why I love the OTP so. They are very functional people who need each other to be happy: neither of them is really enjoying life without the other, they are incomplete. But they need each other, not a 'man to take care of me' or a 'woman to cook for me.' Chun-Hyang never really is relaxedly happy except with MR and MR is never as alive as when he is with CH.
And another thing I love? Chun-Hyang is very intelligent, fiercely opinionated, and physically intrepid. And? She does not make any effort to conceal any of these qualities, to be a 'proper girl.' One of the best, feminist things in DGCH is that Mong-Ryong does not love her despite these qualities, he loves her because of them. He is proud of his bossy, fierce wife, even as he is completely uncowed by her.
I keep thinking of that scene in episode 17, when Chun-Hyang is briefly taken hostage by a bunch of gangsters. Instead of sitting as some sort of dainty damsel, she starts fighting them. And then, when the ambulance is taking both her and MR to the hospital (she fell off the edge of the building and he fell with her, it's a whole other topic that he just doesn't think about it), and he asks her, holding her hand "have you no fear?" and it's not angry or annoyed but loving, and a little proud.
Another thing I really love in DGCH's portrayal of a strong heroine is that unlike in a number of dramas where the heroine is an intelligent high-achiever, she doesn't have to end up with some sort of a lower-status domestic type guy, as if no intelligent and strong-willed man would want to have "competition." DGCH portrays a relationship of equals. Mong-Ryong is never a weakling. He is someone who is so secure in his sense of self (if I was talking gender politics, I'd say in his 'maleness') he sees no need to prove anything. If he truly wants something and it's important, he will have no problem fighting Chun-Hyang on it (as with their reunion years later, he knows she loves him and so he won't back down), but he sees no point in trying to get his way just to prove his superiority.
He is very alpha, if you think about it. He has the traditional hallmarks of a very masculine hero: when we first meet him, he is running away from a bunch of thugs but when he is cornered he (in a very fed-up manner) fights them quite expertly. (I think it's very emblematic of MR. He changes and grows with the years, but even this early on, he is not someone who is looking for trouble but someone who will deal efficiently with it if it comes up). He rides a motorcycle. Later, when grown-up, he becomes a hot-shot DA for the city of Seoul, facing the Mob with sang-froid.
And yet he is someone who doesn't think twice of 'submitting' to Chun-Hyang. He is a laid-back guy who has nothing to prove to anyone. One of the most wonderful little moments to me is at the end when they discuss marriage and she says she wants to go travel and study abroad. He offers to give up his job and to go with her (something she rejects etc etc).
In some ways, there is an interesting 'traditional gender role' reversal in this drama: Mong-Ryong is the more impulsive one, less driven achiever one, and he is the more emotionally open one. After all, it's Chun-Hyang who has to pretend not to love him, and Mong-Ryong who keeps baring her heart to her: she is the one who holds it together in the airport scene and he is the one who ends up physically collapsing.
Anyway, enough of the ramblings. :)
Oh, and I bring you this awesome MV from DGCH (there are a lot on youtube it seems).
And this short one is more funny than anything. heeee.
In other news, I got my shiny DVD set of Karei-naru Ichizoku with yummy, angsty, be-suited Kimura looking at me. Yay.
Also, I just found a new drama I must watch (blame meganbmoore). It's Chinese Handsome Siblings. 40 episodes of Nicholas Tse with long hair, sword and angst? Thank you, Drama TPTB!!!
She is shown to be someone very intelligent: she is the best student in school and she is the one who gets MR admitted to college. She is brave and doesn't think anything of fighting back. And she is incredibly strong-willed. Mong-Ryong does not have to rescue a princess on a regular basis. They rescue each other (he rescues her from a bunch of thugs, she later rescues him from jail etc etc). And she is no coy damsel. She doesn't play emotional games.
In fact, she is the one who performs the major sacrifice in the drama, she is the 'active' in the crisis and MR the 'reactive.' When Byun Hak-Do (grrr, I want to stab him in the face) puts the horrible choice in front of her: in order to save MR from going to jail as an attempted rapist (grrrr, that is why some people shouldn't have too much money. That way they wouldn't be able to find people to frame innocent third parties) she has to give MR forever. Chun-Hyang is faced with the course which mandates her to break her husband's heart at the time he needs her the most.
And she proceeds to carry it out, to tell the bewildered MR she doesn't want or love him after all. You know what I love? Even though it's killing her, she gets through this with her dignity. Not for her long useless sobbing. She does her crying in private and her grief will not interfere with what must be done (and which keeps getting more horrible, as MR won't give up and stop loving her). She remains fiercely her own person with the slimy Byun. During the whole horrible ordeal she breaks down only once, quietly begging Byun to let her out of this. But when he refuses, she stops and doesn't try any more.
One of my favorite scenes ever is after he's made her break up with MR, she is in the car with him and all she does is tell him quietly 'I am going to hate you for this for the rest of my life.' No grand histrionics, or weeping, or pleading, or weakness. Just a calm, final statement.
And she manages to escape from his clutches, to make a quiet efficient exit not to be tracked. If Byun thought he found a toy, he was wrong. CH can never be 'made' to be someone's. She can give her heart, but as an equal and purely voluntarily.
And you know? Even though this is her biggest set-back, something that would break a lesser person, she manages to pull herself together. Chun-Hyang pulled herself together after her college dreams evaporated (twice), after her mother ran away, and after she had to give up the love of her life. And without the air of martyrdom or anything but a no-nonsense attitude (lest the above make you think of CH as some sort of prig, she is adorable and fun, not some stern embodiment of virtue).
One of the most positive things about the drama is that both CH and MR go on to be productive members of society after these horribly traumatic events. Neither lose focus or drive (in fact, MR acquires more). MR becomes a DA for Seoul and CH starts and runs a successful jewelry factory. Their lives are emotionally incomplete, but they are not wallowing in misery.
That is why I love the OTP so. They are very functional people who need each other to be happy: neither of them is really enjoying life without the other, they are incomplete. But they need each other, not a 'man to take care of me' or a 'woman to cook for me.' Chun-Hyang never really is relaxedly happy except with MR and MR is never as alive as when he is with CH.
And another thing I love? Chun-Hyang is very intelligent, fiercely opinionated, and physically intrepid. And? She does not make any effort to conceal any of these qualities, to be a 'proper girl.' One of the best, feminist things in DGCH is that Mong-Ryong does not love her despite these qualities, he loves her because of them. He is proud of his bossy, fierce wife, even as he is completely uncowed by her.
I keep thinking of that scene in episode 17, when Chun-Hyang is briefly taken hostage by a bunch of gangsters. Instead of sitting as some sort of dainty damsel, she starts fighting them. And then, when the ambulance is taking both her and MR to the hospital (she fell off the edge of the building and he fell with her, it's a whole other topic that he just doesn't think about it), and he asks her, holding her hand "have you no fear?" and it's not angry or annoyed but loving, and a little proud.
Another thing I really love in DGCH's portrayal of a strong heroine is that unlike in a number of dramas where the heroine is an intelligent high-achiever, she doesn't have to end up with some sort of a lower-status domestic type guy, as if no intelligent and strong-willed man would want to have "competition." DGCH portrays a relationship of equals. Mong-Ryong is never a weakling. He is someone who is so secure in his sense of self (if I was talking gender politics, I'd say in his 'maleness') he sees no need to prove anything. If he truly wants something and it's important, he will have no problem fighting Chun-Hyang on it (as with their reunion years later, he knows she loves him and so he won't back down), but he sees no point in trying to get his way just to prove his superiority.
He is very alpha, if you think about it. He has the traditional hallmarks of a very masculine hero: when we first meet him, he is running away from a bunch of thugs but when he is cornered he (in a very fed-up manner) fights them quite expertly. (I think it's very emblematic of MR. He changes and grows with the years, but even this early on, he is not someone who is looking for trouble but someone who will deal efficiently with it if it comes up). He rides a motorcycle. Later, when grown-up, he becomes a hot-shot DA for the city of Seoul, facing the Mob with sang-froid.
And yet he is someone who doesn't think twice of 'submitting' to Chun-Hyang. He is a laid-back guy who has nothing to prove to anyone. One of the most wonderful little moments to me is at the end when they discuss marriage and she says she wants to go travel and study abroad. He offers to give up his job and to go with her (something she rejects etc etc).
In some ways, there is an interesting 'traditional gender role' reversal in this drama: Mong-Ryong is the more impulsive one, less driven achiever one, and he is the more emotionally open one. After all, it's Chun-Hyang who has to pretend not to love him, and Mong-Ryong who keeps baring her heart to her: she is the one who holds it together in the airport scene and he is the one who ends up physically collapsing.
Anyway, enough of the ramblings. :)
Oh, and I bring you this awesome MV from DGCH (there are a lot on youtube it seems).
Click to viewAnd this short one is more funny than anything. heeee.
In other news, I got my shiny DVD set of Karei-naru Ichizoku with yummy, angsty, be-suited Kimura looking at me. Yay.
Also, I just found a new drama I must watch (blame meganbmoore). It's Chinese Handsome Siblings. 40 episodes of Nicholas Tse with long hair, sword and angst? Thank you, Drama TPTB!!!