[LeeYoonJu]

I honestly was very shocked after I finished reading Grace Jung's article, Aspirational Paternity and the Female Gaze on Korean Reality-variety TV. I was never a regular viewer of Dad! or Superman, but I enjoyed watching clips here and there and adored the kids on the show. Though the article pointed out a lot of things that I've never thought of before, I felt like the article was written with somewhat bitterness. When these shows first aired, I thought it could be a great example that can make a shift in traditional gender and family roles. The author talks about the elements in the show (like subtitles, sound effects, etc), saying that they that assume female gaze and ultimately reaffirming traditional gender role of women as caretaker, but I disagree. While I agree that these elements are used in the shows to assume female gaze, I think it is inevitable since women traditioanlly have been the main caretaker of the household, and therefore would be the ones to approve/disapprove the clumsy fathers in the show. Regardless of the gaze, I think these shows make great lessons for fathers of younger generation who desire to break the cycle: away from the stoic, strict father to an approachable father who is just as knowledgeable about the housework as their wives. It's never easy to make a change, let alone the whole society. 

[LeeYoonJu]

Though I grew up in Korea, I haven't watched many of these historical Korean films because my family was never big on films- in fact, my parents always say, even to this day, that "Korean films are not as good as Hollywood films". They say they are tired of many of the Korean films that almost feels like they're forcing the audience to be touched and to cry their eyes out, which I agree we see a lot in many Korean dramas and films. 

However, I have watched Burning, Oldboy, and most of Bong JoonHo's films mentioned in the lecture video and I can say these were far from "tear-jerking" forced human dramas. I was so surprised when Parasite made a huge name in 2020, because I thought it was a very Korean film: people living in 'banjiha' (semi-basement), a mom willing to pay anything for their children's education, patriarchical household where a man has financial power and the wife is focued on being a good mom, young people in their 20's who are lost because they can't find a job even though they're talented. But then so many articles I read talked about how the themes in Parasite were universal: capitalism, human nature and struggle, dignity, etc. 

I think in the early days of Hallyu, the media was more about how 'new' and 'different' Korea was from rest of the world; they were made for Korean people by Korean people. These days, however, I feel like the focus is more on how we all are, at the end of the day, humans, and the story is just told in Korean setting through Korean actors. 

[LeeYoonJu]

안녕하세요! Hello!

My name is YoonJu Lee, and I currently teach Korean language and culture at Marlborugh School (7th-12th) in Los Angeles. 

We had growing interest in Korean language and culture in the past few years, and I'm always looking for opportunities to learn and gain resource to best teach my studentes. 

잘 부탁드립니다! 

[Author]

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