Korean Cinema’s Female Writer–Directors and the ‘Hegemony of Men’

• Authors: Richard Howson , Brian Yecies
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The South Korean film industry represents a masculine-privileged gender regime that over the last few decades has shown a newfound strength both at home and abroad. However, challenging this masculine privilege are a growing number of important though unheralded female writer–directors operating in both the independent and commercial sectors of the industry. In this article, we present a case study that explores the work of five of these female writer–directors within this context. We begin by asking two key questions: can female writer–directors find a voice within the Korean film industry that challenges the traditional gender stereotypes both within the industry and in the wider Korean culture? How can the Korean experience connect to the Western experience? The first methodological step in explicating the case study is the setting out of a particularly Western theoretical approach that emphasises the idea that masculine privilege exists hegemonically within the so-called “hegemony of men.” We then go on to highlight specific elements in the work of these female writer–directors that expose aspects of both challenge and constraint within the hegemony of men. We conclude that although the work of these female writer–directors indeed challenges tradition and gendered stereotypes sustained within the hegemony of men, such challenges represent moments of reformism rather than revolutionary systematic change.

Keywords

EN

South Korean cinema; hegemony; hegemonic masculinity; men; film

Discipline

• SOCIOLOGY: SOCIOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Gender, rovné příležitosti, výzkum (Gender, Equal Opportunities, Research)
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 14-22

Contributors

author

Richard Howson

author

Brian Yecies

• University of Wollongong, Australia

Identifiers

DOI

10.13060/12130028.2015.16.1.167