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FEMINISM IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH

KOREAN CULTURE

Madison Correia
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For this paper, I decided to compare and contrast the films Windstruck (내 여자친구를

소개합니다) and Blind (블라인드). These are both South Korean films from the early 2000s,

Windstruck being from 2004 and Blind being from 2011. The two films have many differences

yet share many commonalities. For this study, both the plots and strong female characters of

these movies will be analyzed and used to shed light on the larger issue of feminism and

sexism’s existence in contemporary South Korean culture. In this paper, I will discuss how

feminism and the treatment of women are depicted in South Korean media.

Windstruck follows the main female lead of Kyungjin, a conventionally beautiful young

woman who is tough as she is pretty. Being one of the noticeably few female police officers at

her station, she often faces sexism and gender inequality both in her work and in her personal

life. For example, one night as she patrols the streets, a group of rowdy male students approaches

her while spewing disgusting sexist comments. They are visibly surprised to see a “bitch in

uniform”. They ask if there is “a beauty pageant to select cops” because “she’s cute”. Comments

such as these invalidate all of Kyungjin’s hard work to become an officer solely based on her

looks. The men feel as though they are entitled to make comments at her as though she is a piece

of meat that is below them. When she stands up to the students, they mutter that she “lost her

mind” and turn back to confront her. Upon her simply requesting that they pick up their litter,

they ask “What’s the matter? Are you having your period?”, therefore further undermining her

and her authority as both a woman and a police officer. The alarming scene climaxes as one of

the male students squares up with Kyungjin, fully prepared to “teach her a lesson” and physically

assault her.

Similarly, in the film Blind, the female lead faces disadvantage and is perceived as weak

and a target for men. Sooah, once a promising cadet at the police academy, becomes blinded in a
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tragic car accident. Years later, she remains unmarried and independent despite her disability.

Across the news, stories of young women getting abducted and going missing are splashed

across the headlines. Upon hailing a cab, a predatory male driver picks her up after seeing that

she’s alone. He then tries to drug and abduct her, but she fights back and eventually escapes after

the driver hits a female pedestrian and takes that injured woman instead. Sooah, being a strong

woman who can handle herself similarly to Kyungjin, works with the local police to catch the

assailant. He continually tries to scare her into submission through threatening phone calls and

following her on the subway.

Comments such as those in Windstruck demonstrate the larger issue of gender inequality

in society. Actions such as catcalling, objectification, and inequality in the workplace are very

prevalent and real issues across the globe. The male predator storyline in Blind sadly isn’t far

from reality, either. Statistics truly show that an overwhelming majority of victims of assault,

abduction, and murder are female. Due to Korea’s historical roots in Confucianism which places

women at the bottom of the societal hierarchy, Korea still has a long way to go as far as gender

equality and sexism. In Confucianism, exemplary behavior and uncomplaining obedience was

expected of women. Females were thought of as weak, meek, and unable to comprehend many

aspects of the world. In fact, women weren’t allowed education outside of housekeeping and

childcare for a large part of history. Men had multiple wives and concubines, therefore enabling

them to treat women as objects and furthering the idea that men are superior to women. Women

were never expected to function as an autonomous being free of male control. Men’s service

belonged in the state while women were confined to the household. Upon examining these

historical tenants, one could deduce that ideals such as these continue to be a large contributor to

contemporary sexism in East Asia.

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Both Windstruck and Blind demonstrate two different possible fates of a strong female

storyline. The former film takes a disappointing turn while the latter ends on a note of female

empowerment. In Windstruck, Kyungjin goes on to fall in love with a man named Myungwoo.

At first, it seems that she maintained her strong-minded nature in the relationship, even saving an

unconscious Myungwoo from a water-logged car after a freak accident all on her own and

refusing to kiss him when she doesn’t want to despite his insistence. Only after Myungwoo’s

death does she seem to succumb to her dependence on him and lose all of her self-sufficiency.

From that point on, her character quickly becomes suicidal and feels worthless without a man,

even commenting that it would only be right for her to follow Myungwoo to the after-life. The

film ends upon her meeting a new man with a “similar spirit to Myungwoo’s”, which seems to

defeat any idea the audience had of her being content in her independence.

Blind, on the other hand, ends with Sooah finally coming into her own and proving that

she is so much more than a victim. Sooah and Giseob, a young man who is a fellow witness of

the assault committed against her, are found and pursued by the crazed serial killer. The killer

knocks Giseob unconscious and then hunts for Sooah. Rather than giving up, she combats the

killer with her wits and saves Giseob in the process. During the final scene, the killer wrestles

Giseob and goes in for the kill until Sooah uses a brick to smash a car window and set off the

alarm. This gets the killer’s attention, and as he charges Sooah she uses the brick to knock him

unconscious.

Unlike Kyungjin’s story progression, which seems to show a decrease in empowerment,

Sooah’s progression only increases as she becomes fed up with being a targeted victim and

instead grows in empowerment and saves herself. These contrasting trends show possible

perceptions of feminism in contemporary Korean society. The showcasing of strong female leads
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suggests positive reform and societal perception in favor of gender equality, yet the nagging

inequality looms not so much between women and society but between women and men.

Kyungjin’s decrease in conviction came due to entering into a romantic relationship, which may

suggest the residual sexism left when it comes to gender dynamics within dating, marriage, and

love. This could propose that women are still expected to submit to their man to a certain extent

and that entering into a relationship comes with relinquishing one’s feminism.
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Works Cited

Blind. Directed by Ahn Sanghoon, performance by Kim Haneul, Next Entertainment World,

2011.

Windstruck. Directed by Kwak Jaeyong, performance by Jun Jihyun, CJ Entertainment, 2004.