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Female characters in films, dramas transforming
By Park Jin-hai
In the recent local box-office hit "Extreme Job," drug lord Lee Moo-bae (played by Shin Ha-kyun) has a female body guard Sun-hee. The tall, tight-lipped woman in a black suit with her hair pulled up in a ponytail dispatches all the henchmen of a rival drug ring with decisive action.
She doesn't speak a word or display any emotion on her face. She has the single-minded goal of defending her boss from all possible dangers.
Just as Lee Jung-jae appealed to female fans through his charismatic bodyguard role in SBS' 1995 hit TV series "Sandglass," Sun-hee faithfully completes every job her boss tells her to do and does it perfectly.
On the small screen, the female lead of the ongoing KBS drama "My Lawyer, Mr. Jo 2: Crime and Punishment" has a secretary and right-hand "woman." Having excellent physical prowess, the secretary accompanies her boss at all times and protects her with loyalty.
Experts say Korean dramas and films are increasingly portraying strong female characters, reflecting the changing perspectives on women.
"While people's sensitivity to gender equality has increased, there was an imbalance in terms of the hero/heroine ratio in the Marvel world. Compared with many heroes, we have had just a few heroines," culture critic Jung Duk-hyun said. "Currently, the world is changing to find the right balance, I would like to say. It seems that Korea is in tandem with the global trend as seen in Hollywood."
The Marvel Cinematic Universe released its first female-led standalone movie "Captain Marvel." With its overtly feminist label and attacks from misogynists, the female superhero film is smashing box offices around the world. In the film, Carol Danvers, played by Brie Larson, who was constantly told to control her powers by her male mentor, breaks free and exerts her strength. It ends with a scene in which Danvers, who has rediscovered her identity and strength, flies up into the open sky.
In the same vein, the female cyborg Alita in "Alita: Battle Angel" reinvents the traditional role of women in film. A baby-faced Alita is a warrior and jumps into a dangerous mission to rescue her love interest when his life is on the line.
What Captain Marvel and Alita have in common is their plots; two heroines with innate powers either recover their memory or break the reins of a male-dominated society that constrain them and regain their identity.
Angela Lee, a movie critic, says "Captain Marvel" is different from "Wonder Woman." "Wonder Woman wears a costume that visually pleases male viewers, and fights alongside men in a war to protect a male-centered society. But Captain Marvel doesn't project women as subjects of pleasure to men. She is a completely different character," she said.
Jung says Hollywood's current mood for diversity is related to expanding its market. "The existing U.S. white male-centered content has reached its limit. In order to attract more customers, they need to divert their attention to less-explored races, genders and minorities. And in doing so it is only natural to create characters reflecting those people," he said. "Captain Marvel is about regaining women's rights, but it is also about building solidarity between marginalized people. She fights with refugees to end a cosmic genocide."
Female characters in Korean dramas and films have been transforming in the right direction, Jung said.
"Despite some partial flaws in terms of gender sensitivity, the way female characters were portrayed reflects the needs of the time. For example, in the 1970s and 1980s, when family dramas and melodramas were strong, female roles remained as the daughter-in-law or family member. Nowadays we speak of the end of family/melodramas, because those female roles repeated in such dramas don't resonate with today's people. Genre dramas answer more to the needs of current viewers, who are better able to relate to protagonists with an emphasis on professionalism rather than their being women, like Kim Hye-soo in Signal, who plays a veteran detective, and Stranger's Bae Doona, a police inspector," he said.
"Even romance dramas try to balance gender roles, steering clear of the lopsided relationship in which men lead and women are led. Otherwise, viewers wouldn't identify with them."
