Efforts on Hyun vs. Hee

As Kyung Hyun Kim states, women are put in an inferior position to men in the film Shiri in order to further fuels men’s success. If I recall correctly, other than Hyun/Hee, there is only one other woman who is seen on screen as a ‘threat’ to men, and that is the North Korean soldier that is a part of the 8^th Special Forces. There were of course other women in the film however these women were not in a position of power, they were either sick, or a nurse, or a waiter.

What I think is most interesting about this film is that even though the two women mentioned before were in positions of power, they both killed and were a part of an organization that was mostly dominated by men, but there were actions taken by the director to ensure that they were always inferior. I will look at the actions that the director has taken towards Hyun/Hee.

As Hyun, the director made efforts to make her more feminine. He did this by dressing her in light colours such as yellow, or when she was wearing black it was very little clothing, leaving her partially exposed. There is one specific scene that comes to mind when she was wearing all white. White is generally interpreted as pure, a characteristic that is enjoyed by men when thinking about women. However this is in stark contrast to her second identity, which is evident when Lee hands her his ‘ex-girlfriend’ dinner. We, as viewers, do not know that Hyun is the same girl in the photo, especially because of the differences in what they are wearing as well as the fact that her make up is done in a more fierce way, with more dominant and arched eyebrows as well as dark eye make up and lips.

When her identity was a secret, there was not a point where you could see her whole body. The first time you see her in the photograph it is for two seconds, only of her upper body, and hardly enough time to register that they are in fact the same person. For the rest of the movie there are only close up shots of either her hands to show the nail polish she was wearing, or her sunglasses. The scene where she is shot her back is facing Ryu so though he knows who she is at this point, her face is still hidden. They are in effect reducing her actions to her body parts.

What is most interesting is the transformation at the end that results in her final living appearance in the film to be Hyun while she is being Hee. The final stadium scene starts out with her wearing sunglasses. When she is chasing after the presidents and Ryu finally catches up with her, she is not wearing the dark coat that is expected of assassin Hee but a beige lighter colour, reminiscent of the white jacket combination she was wearing earlier.

The final moment when Hee is alive she is a combination of her two identities.