3. Gender and Identification in Korean Drama

Identification in first-wave Korean Drama scholarship has been read as a form

of alienation making people 'forget, no matter how briefly, their frustrations

with reality' (Lee 2012, 458). In terms of their sexuality female characters are

often depicted as passive and sexually pure (Prado 2017, 147).1

Commenting on recent dramas, Tran argues that the popularity of South

Korean dramas shows a fantastical alienation where their fantasy results in

the desire to be or act like the Hallyu star image (Tran 2015, 58–60). Trying to

become like the Hallyu stars often results in attempts to transform the body

throughplasticsurgery.Indeed,Eun advocates capitalizing on the regional popularity of Hallyu to turn Korea into a hub for aesthetic surgery (Eun 2013, 1561).

Others have argued that dramas reproduce traditional Gender stereotypes'rein-

forcing Korea's "unfailing" patriarchal culture' (Lin and Rudolf 2017, 49).

What is often missed in these discussions is the sense of intimacy that devel-

ops in the relationship to the character in the drama. Ha Na is a 26-year-old

graduate student from Busan, living with her parents, who are retired teach-

ers. She actively rejects any traditional gender roles. She does not want to get

married since she feels it will make it more difficult to succeed at work. Ha

Na feels that marriage would not be enough for her. As such she is drawn to

female leads in dramas that reflect her own idealised personality. She was particularlydrawntothecharacterof HongSeol(KimGoEun)inCheeseintheTrap

(Chijeuindeoteuraep), which aired on the cable network tvN in 2016. Accord-

ing to Ha Na, the drama portrays a realistic view of the relationship between

people in college. Hong Seol is not from a rich family and lives in an apart-

ment. She struggles to keep up with her life—juggling the demands of family,

friends, boyfriend and study. Ha Na particularly liked the fact that even though

the boyfriend in the drama is like a 'prince' Hong Seol does not rely on him

and is not seeking to be rescued but manages her own life. Ha Na wishes she

could be as strong and independent as Hong Seol and she feels bad because she

feels she is lazy compared to her. For Ha Na it was precisely Hong Seol's inde-

pendence that attracted her to the character. Ha Na, however, is anything but a

lazy character. At the time of the interview she was studying and working and

indeed had to cope with the demands of friends, family and her own relation-

ship, although she herself struggled with her own educational aspirations since she had not yet managed to get into the graduate programme of her choice.

In this regard, Ha Na seems to actively resist any traditional gendered script.

She was herself well aware that the female characters in many dramas, espe-

cially of the first wave, represent a 'fantastical' Cinderella-type script. She did,

however, look towards strong and independent female characters as sources of

inspiration. This was a commonly shared sentiment. Mi Na, for example, felt

a particularly close connection with the character Hye Na (Kim Bo Ra) in the

2018 hit drama sky Castle because she 'always finds a way to do what she wants

and she is clever'. When asked if she wanted to be like her, she said: 'Her fam-

ily is not a good family but I would like to be like her.' Mi Na confessed that

even though she watches dramas on a weekly basis she finds that many Korean

Dramas are far too romantic. She prefers realistic dramas with more 'tragic'

endings.

Eun Jin is a 25-year-old student living with her family in the affluent area of

Haeundae in Busan. She wants to work in a media company and watches a lot

of dramas on a weekly basis. One of her favourites is Reply 1994 (Eungdaphara

1994), which is centred around the lives of six young university students from

provincial areas studying and living together in Seoul. The drama aired in 2013

on the cable channel tvN. It is set in 1994 alternated with scenes from the

present. Eun Jin aspires to be like Sung Na Jung (Go Ara) who is an easygoing

computer science student. She describes her as 'active, fun, kind and a good

person loved by many people'. She thinks of her as a template to emulate. That

said, Eun Jin likes watching love stories with happy endings in dramas even

though she clearly thinks that the 'Cinderella love stories' in dramas are unre-

alistic.Shedistinguishesbetweenan'unreallove'—thatbetweenarichgirland

a poor person—and a 'real love' such as that in the family. There seems to be a

continued sense of ambivalence towards an idealised notion of romantic love

in Korean modernity (Baldacchino 2008).

As can be seen from the preceding discussion it is difficult to categorise

attitudesaccordingtoclass.Whilemostof thepeopleinterviewedweremiddle-

class women and were indeed drawn to strong independent female characters,

they were not blinded by a consumeristic ideal. In fact, many of our informants

were themselves highly critical of product placements in Korean dramas. This

is not to say that all informants did not appreciate the more aesthetic qualities

of the characters. Chan Ri was one of our older informants. She is a 30-year-old

art history graduate student. She watches drama for an average of five hours

per week. She doesn't like fantastical dramas and prefers more realistic ones.

She found Guardian, for example, to be too childish and unrealistic. One of her

favourite dramas is Coffee Prince (2007) (Keopipeurinseu 1 Hojeom) because she

believes that it portrays a realistic connectionbetweencouples.She cried many times watching the drama and saw herself in the character of HanYoo Ju (Chae

Jong An). The character is an artist who is both 'stylish' and 'professional'.

Leearguesthatwithinthetextof thedramathefemaleprotagonistsareposi-

tioned as the Lacanian objet a (object a) in so far as they represent the imagi-

nary,unobtainableobject,beingbothobjectandthecauseof desire(2012,457).

The representation of female characters as being 'pure' and 'perfectly good'

portrays an idealised femininity personified in these female protagonists. For

most of the people interviewed in our study the protagonists did indeed serve

as imaginary representations of ideal selves. The idealised representations of

femininity within Korean dramas are perhaps more aptly described as repre-

sentationsof theimaginaryphallus.2Lacandesignatestwopositionsinrelation

to the phallus, a 'feminine position' wherein one seeks to become the object of

desireandthe'masculineposition'whereoneseekstohavetheobjectof desire.

In second-wave dramas the woman is often placed in the position of the phal-

lic object thanks to her beauty, kindness and purity. This is certainly the case,

for example, in one of the dramas that was popular while fieldwork was being

conducted in 2018, My id is Gangnam Beauty (Nae aidineun gangnammi-in),

which aired on a cable channel (jtbc). In the drama the female protagonist

is a humble university student, Kang Mi-Rae (Im Soo-Hyang), who becomes

the phallic object par excellence. She is chased by every man in the univer-

sity. In the drama she is actively pursued by the handsome, strong, 'cool' and

wealthy Do Kyun Seok (Ch Eun Woo), among others. The male characters in

the drama look on the woman as the beautiful object and the entire plot of the

drama revolves around the male protagonist chasing the phallus embodied by

the unique and perfect woman in the drama.