100 Kick-Ass Female Characters: #30
30. Sun-Hwa Kwon, as seen on LOST, portrayed by Yunjin Kim
For all its problems (and this series had many,) LOST did a great job of presenting fully formed female characters. Endless hours of debate occurred over Kate (love her or hate her?) and Juliet (trust her or despise her?) but, for me, it was always Sun who was the most interesting of the women on the island.
Sun is the daughter of a successful Korean businessman; she has spent the majority of her life very sheltered and, when she marries Jin, who comes from nothing, she is deeply disappointed to find that he only wants to please her father. When we first meet Sun, she is fiercely controlled by Jin, who, despite the heat on the tropical island, will not even allow her to unbutton a single button on her sweater; she is not allowed to interact with the other male castaways and, what's more, she cannot communicate with anyone because she and Jin only speak Korean.
Except, of course, Sun speaks English. While unhappily married to Jin, she began taking English lessons to start her escape from his control, and, by being removed from the outside world and placed into a society where Sun now has more power than her husband, Sun begins to blossom into the woman she has always wanted to be. And, what's more, Sun begins to fall in love with Jin all over again; without her father and his influence, Sun and Jin both become better people.
Sun is exceptionally strong. She is one of the few who does not easily accept what Jack or Locke says; she is one of the most rational castaways, and she does not allow emotion to cloud her judgment. Sun never demonstrates the "us or them" mentality that occasionally plagues the castaways, and, most impressively, everyone likes her. No matter what the circumstances, no one says a bad word about Sun because there's nothing to say; Sun doesn't betray people or turn them against each other. When she can help, she does, and, when she can't, she doesn't go out of her way to stop others from helping.
Sun escapes the island pregnant, Jin left behind, and for years Sun raises their daughter knowing her husband is out there somewhere. When you think about what that would be like - the man you love is alive but returning for him is nearly impossible - while trying to also raise a child is a testament to Sun's strength of will. And when she decides to go back with the other members of the Oceanic Six, she leaves her daughter with her mother in hopes of fetching Jin; this may be the one arguably selfish act Sun ever makes - a life with her daughter for the return of Jin - but it could equally be argued that she was hoping to return all of flight 815. Sun did not receive a happy ending - no one truly did - but she was able, in the last years of her life, to be the one who made the choices instead of having the choices made for her.
And that's awesomely kick-ass.
For all its problems (and this series had many,) LOST did a great job of presenting fully formed female characters. Endless hours of debate occurred over Kate (love her or hate her?) and Juliet (trust her or despise her?) but, for me, it was always Sun who was the most interesting of the women on the island.
Sun is the daughter of a successful Korean businessman; she has spent the majority of her life very sheltered and, when she marries Jin, who comes from nothing, she is deeply disappointed to find that he only wants to please her father. When we first meet Sun, she is fiercely controlled by Jin, who, despite the heat on the tropical island, will not even allow her to unbutton a single button on her sweater; she is not allowed to interact with the other male castaways and, what's more, she cannot communicate with anyone because she and Jin only speak Korean.
Except, of course, Sun speaks English. While unhappily married to Jin, she began taking English lessons to start her escape from his control, and, by being removed from the outside world and placed into a society where Sun now has more power than her husband, Sun begins to blossom into the woman she has always wanted to be. And, what's more, Sun begins to fall in love with Jin all over again; without her father and his influence, Sun and Jin both become better people.
Sun is exceptionally strong. She is one of the few who does not easily accept what Jack or Locke says; she is one of the most rational castaways, and she does not allow emotion to cloud her judgment. Sun never demonstrates the "us or them" mentality that occasionally plagues the castaways, and, most impressively, everyone likes her. No matter what the circumstances, no one says a bad word about Sun because there's nothing to say; Sun doesn't betray people or turn them against each other. When she can help, she does, and, when she can't, she doesn't go out of her way to stop others from helping.
Sun escapes the island pregnant, Jin left behind, and for years Sun raises their daughter knowing her husband is out there somewhere. When you think about what that would be like - the man you love is alive but returning for him is nearly impossible - while trying to also raise a child is a testament to Sun's strength of will. And when she decides to go back with the other members of the Oceanic Six, she leaves her daughter with her mother in hopes of fetching Jin; this may be the one arguably selfish act Sun ever makes - a life with her daughter for the return of Jin - but it could equally be argued that she was hoping to return all of flight 815. Sun did not receive a happy ending - no one truly did - but she was able, in the last years of her life, to be the one who made the choices instead of having the choices made for her.
And that's awesomely kick-ass.