Cripping Hwabyung: a Cripqueer Analysis of Korean Historical Drama Films
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Cripping Hwabyung: A Cripqueer Analysis of Korean Historical Drama Films by Soo Jin Kweon B.A. in English Language and Literature, February 2016, Chung-Ang University A Thesis submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts May 20, 2018 Thesis directed by Robert McRuer Professor of English © Copyright 2018 by Soo Jin Kweon All rights reserved ii Dedication This thesis work is dedicated to my family, friends, and coworkers who have supported me throughout my graduate studies. To my coworkers at the GW Writing Center and the GW Institute for Korean Studies: your support and patience has taught me more than I could have imagined. To Shin Young, Heewon, Ling, Cheng, Gina, Catherine, and all my friends in the English Department who have helped me at every stage. And finally, I thank my mother, father, and my three sisters, Ye-Jin, Hye-Jin and Yu-Jin, for being there from the very beginning. Thank you all. iii Acknowledgments I thank my thesis director, Professor Robert McRuer, and thesis reader, Professor David Mitchell, for their endless patience, support and encouragement through the many revisions and drafts. iv Abstract of Thesis Cripping Hwabyung: A Cripqueer Analysis of Korean Historical Drama Films This paper examines the ways in which cripqueer identities are portrayed in South Korean films, specifically in the sageuk (Korean historical drama) genre. Korea’s long history of humiliation and subordination to foreign forces – most notably the Japanese annexation (1910-1945) – and Confucian ideology has had a great impact on the construction of what William Reddy refers to as the “emotional regime”, which uses “emotional suffering” to ensure the conformity of its constituents. The connection between historical grievances and the culturally unique emotion of han (unresolved feelings of unfairness, sorrow and anger) has made it possible for those diagnosed with mental illness to become a staple metaphor of oppressive regimes and foreign occupations in film. Through an analysis of sageuk films (2005-2016) that were widely acclaimed in South Korea, this paper argues that cripqueer figures play integral roles within filmic narratives that use constructions of mental illness and queerness to critique Japanese colonialism, tyranny, and Confucianism. They also promote Korean national pride through a professed embrace of marginalized identities. In the process, cripqueer people are normalized as either acceptable normative queer beings or excluded as dangerous abnormalities. v Table of Contents Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Abstract of Thesis ............................................................................................................... v Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Mad Kings ................................................................................................ 18 Chapter 2: Violence in A Frozen Flower .......................................................................... 28 Chapter 3: The Handmaiden ............................................................................................. 50 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 63 Works Cited ...................................................................................................................... 65 vi Introduction Both the history and culture of South Korea (hereafter Korea) paints a rather gloomy reality for its citizens. Korean history is marked by tragic and unresolvable events that instill feelings of humiliation and anger, and contemporary Korean society seems to offer little consolation for the present. Despite the outward appearance of technological advancement with the fastest Internet connection speeds, tall skyscrapers and high education standards, Korea is also one of the most hyper-competitive cultures in the world. Such conditions have created a culture where individuals feel that death is the only escape route. In public health discourse, suicide has persistently been an issue. Administration after administration has attempted to implement effective policy measures to remove South Korea from the top of the list of countries with the highest suicide rates. But despite the scramble of politicians and health professionals, Korea’s problem with suicide is not a recent phenomenon that stems from cyber bullying among teenagers or the wave of corporate downsizing due to the economic recession. Korea’s history of high suicide rates dates back to the colonial era when psychiatric data was first collected and compiled for reports. Between 1910 and 1942, the Government-General’s report recorded a staggering 58,053 completed suicides by Koreans (Yoo 121). The Korean media at the time placed much of the blame on colonial modernization’s effects, thereby suggesting that suicide was emblematic of modernization under colonial rule. Theodore Yoo’s 1 comprehensive work on the history of psychiatry in colonial Korea suggests that colonial authorities and Joseon era (1392-1910) Confucianism enforced an “emotion regime” where “emotional suffering” was also noted as the cause of emotion-related mental illnesses – all important concepts that I will return to momentarily (need citation). The takeaway here is that the blaming of colonial authorities for making life unbearable for many Koreans as well as Confucianism’s continued influence on self-control through regulated emotions seems to have influenced the understanding of depression and suicide as emotion-based illnesses related to social environmental factors. The correlation between social environment and mental health has become so well established among Koreans that narratives in films and television frequently use mental illness as a way of discussing problems in society and vice versa. Although this phenomenon is not recent, it has become more frequent when it comes to the portrayal of cripqueer characters in South Korean cinema (2005-2016). As if the usual catalogue of hysteria, developmental disabilities, and memory loss had run its course, writers and directors have now capitalized on the global trope of queer as a way of telling stories about Korean culture and society. Although it is not always immediately evident that a character or narrative is indeed “cripqueer”, the aforementioned relationality between socio-cultural environment and mental health makes any Korean narrative about the ills of society an implicit nod towards the unspoken inevitability of psychiatric disability. 2 OUR LOVE STORY AND A GIRL AT MY DOOR I turn to two contemporary dramas to illustrate this point of how, even in narratives that do not deal with overt themes of mental illness, it is possible see themes of emotion-based psychiatric disorder. Recent independent films that draw upon tropes of the socially marginalized existences and hardships of lesbians gained attention and popularity. Two films in particular – Our Love Story (2016) and A Girl at My Door (2014) – exemplify realistic contemporary dramas that made the transition from indie film festivals to commercial theaters with a help of a cult following. Such enthusiasm stems from the story’s relatable plot lines and manageable depictions of female sexuality that, unlike The Handmaiden (2016) which will be discussed later, did not veer into the territory of eroticism. Our Love Story, directed by Lee Hyunju, portrays the budding romance of 32- year-old art student Yoonju (Sang-hee Lee) who despite her age has never been in a relationship, and the younger but much more seasoned Jisoo (Sun-young Ryu). Their story of love is framed by the hardships that arise from two social factors: the first being Confucian social norms and their socioeconomic status as two fledgling young adults commonly referred to as ing-yeo (잉여) or “leftover people” (i.e. unemployed young adults). Both social characteristics are already closely related to the probability of depression in young adults in South Korea who are currently extreme levels of mental stress from the pressures of high youth unemployment rates on top of a social climate that is hierarchical and based on social roles (Singh). This film points out the unique factors 3 of cripqueer experience in South Korea as being intertwined with emotions such as guilt and suppressed feelings of unfairness and anger. Jisoo’s emotional distress is caused by years of playing the perfect – albeit boyfriend-less – daughter while secretly dating what appears to be a long lineup of women with whom she has enjoyed sexual relationships. Meanwhile, she is panicked and guilty about her treatment of Yoonju who tries to spend more time with her by making the long journey from Seoul to Incheon where Jisoo lives with her widowed father. Afraid that her father would catch on to their romance, Jisoo leaves Yoonju alone for the night at a motel – a space almost exclusively reserved for sex in the Korean context – making the contrast of heterosexual versus lesbian experience cut deeper still. Jisoo uses excessive drinking to cope with the cultural pressure of performing