Gender roles in Korean society.

                My sassy girl, written based on a series of true love stories, is about two college students, Gyeon0woo and the girl whose name is never given throughout the film. It was a blockbuster hit in the entire Asia that it was remade in a lot of countries, and I tried to find why so many other countries have tried to reproduce this movie. Unlike other melodramatic movies, My Sassy girl shows how the female roles have changed recently. This way, it also reflects the relationship between gender roles in Korean society. While women, in the past, used to play a part only in the domestic context and the power of the mother within the family, they have now become stronger, self-reliant and assertive. This perspective is first introduced in My Sassy Girl, and played a key role in arousing the Korean Wave. In My Sassy Girl, the girl is depicted as this modern woman who is strong and aggressive. She has power over Gyeon-woo and gets abusive when he does not listen to her. Thus, the girl has these modern characteristics while preserving some important traditional values.  She is indeed not the type of girl who is soft, tender, delicate and touching, and always putting their male partners as their first priority. Rather, she is violent, abusive and uses physical aggression like “wanna die?” to control him.  However, I would not say that she fully represents masculinity since she expresses some attractive feminine traits (she has a long hair, wears a skirt and heels).  In contrast, male characters, too, have been depicted in a different way. While they were traditionally depicted as the only authoritative figure, in this film, Gyeon-woo has absolutely zero control over the girl. This situation represents the change in gender roles in general. Geyon-woo, in the film, mentions briefly about the view of Korean society that he states, “women and men are now equal!”