Plants in Madame Freedom, Sign of Confucian Ideology?

“Madame Freedom”, directed by Han Hyong-mo, is flooded with two contrasting themes such as literacy and music, the power dynamic between male and female, and the dancing hall and the park. What I am most curious to find out about is the relation between the innocent looking trees/plants/flowers both indoors and outdoors, and the question of can women ever be free (or have independence in money and love).

At the time the film is set, during 1950s, the social trend is that wives have to submit to their husbands. For instance, both Miss Oh and the manager of the store have to receive Miss Oh’s husband’s permission for Miss Oh to work at the store. In fact, the Korean audiences, including women, valorized the emotional and ethical element of maternal and maternal sacrifices that the expression of feminine sexuality in Madame Freedom was severely condemned when it first came out (Kim 190, 194). In the course of the film’s narrative, Miss Oh joins the other notables’ wives’ movement to modernity, claiming independence in finance and romance through the means of literacy (her ability to use numbers and language to run the store) and music (dance).

However, I am not convinced that the women in prominent positions have attained “freedom” in these two areas. This is due to the fact that they are always at the mercy of men. For instance, Miss Oh’s friend, Yun Ju, needs a man’s help to run a business; thus, to be financially independent, women still have to be dependent on men. In fact, the financial freedoms the females enjoy turn them into materialists, becoming “slaves” under a different object. Even in romance, despite the “freedom” Miss Oh comes to possess to conduct a fling with her neighbor Mr. Shin, she lacks the control in her relationship. For example, Mr. Shin tells Miss Oh that she has neither the right to reject his affection nor the right to accept his love.

In this regard, can women actually attain genuine independence?

What nagged me the most is the presence of plants, flowers, and spikey trees that play a prominent role both indoors and outdoors. There is an obvious connection between the blossoming flowers and the older women—the youthful beauty that they long for. Still, what about the big spikey tree that is placed right in between Professor Jang and Miss Park at the café? What about its presence behind Mr.Shin at the dancing hall with Miss Oh? Or the numerous park scenes where Miss Park leans against the tree trunk?

According to the essayist, Kim Soyoung, Korean feminist films contain objects such as a piano or a western style of painting as signs of modernity (193). Thus, can the plants in Madame Freedom be a signifier of Confucian ideology that is in clash with the American modernity? Can it be a signifier that calls for the restoration of old order?

In my opinion, the film ends with the triumph of the system of patriarchy; this is undeniable since Miss Oh is forced to resume her neglected identity, a devoted wife and a mother, unless she wants to become homeless.

To conclude, my best guess is that the plants are present in every scene where Miss Oh and Professor Jang are with a different partner to condemn the sexual liberation implicit in Americanization (Kim 194).