This blog post examines how melodrama, long perceived as a genre centered on female audiences, expanded into male emotions and narratives through ‘Failan,’ thereby reconstructing its conventions.
The Melodrama Genre and Men
The suppression of men’s tears has long dominated Korean society. I too vividly remember, as if it were just yesterday, tilting my head back toward the sky and blinking rapidly in the theater to force back tears threatening to spill. Even in an era where men possessing both masculine and feminine qualities are highly valued, society’s gaze upon a man who cries remains unfavorable. I experienced this reality firsthand. It was why I couldn’t openly sob then, and why most men in the theater displayed the same restraint.
But why do I secretly sob in this so-called ‘unseemly’ manner while still loving melodramas? Perhaps it’s because even I, as a man, harbor a desire to unleash my suppressed emotions all at once. Melodrama is fundamentally rooted in tragic sentiment. The defining characteristic of the melodrama genre is that it conveys repressed emotions and social shocks not through direct language, but through the somewhat emotional and indirect language of tragic love between men and women. Just as some people prefer metaphorical poetry over prose, those who seek melodramas view the world through the lens of tragic love stories, discover their own repression in the process, and attempt to heal their wounds through tears.
Generally, those who enjoy melodrama often anticipate an explosive outpouring of sorrowful emotion while watching films, one that brings tears to their eyes. This ‘tear-jerking emotion’ represents an excess of feeling rarely experienced in daily life. Such expectations serve as an excellent benchmark for the traditional genre characteristics of melodrama. Melodrama can be said to be the genre of emotional excess. Brooks (1984) identified the “desire to express everything” as the most fundamental characteristic of melodrama, implying that elements of excess are inherently embedded within the genre.
In Korea, even before film genres were formally established, there existed a unique tradition known as Sinpa drama. Sinpa drama is a form of theater developed from Korea’s unique sentiment of han (resentment), an art that maximizes exaggerated expression. In its early stages, this sinpa quality played a crucial role in forming the foundation of the melodrama genre. The melodramatic emotional excess common to both Korea and the West is precisely what appeals to people, likely the reason many enjoy melodrama.
Is it due to the premodern perception that women are more emotional and irrational, or is it because of the unique structure of male emotional suppression in our society mentioned earlier? For a long time, the view that melodrama was a ‘female genre’ was dominant. However, melodrama, due to its characteristic ease of genre blending, has evolved by spawning numerous subgenres over time. As a result, it has gained the expansiveness to embrace diverse genres like fantasy, action, noir, and gangster. This trend continued into the new melodrama films that emerged after 1997, achieving significant success. While exceptions exist, the new melodramas of this period, epitomized by “August Christmas,” are evaluated as having not only shed overt patriarchal ideology but also broken free from conventional narrative frameworks in their resolution.
Moreover, melodramas of this era tended to place men at the center of tragic love stories while marginalizing women. This shift resulted not only from genre hybridization but also significantly from the social backdrop of the IMF economic crisis. It was at the peak of this transformative wave—where melodrama shed its traditional female-centric image—that I encountered “Failan.”
Evidence of melodramatic excess in ‘Failan’
The tragic heroine
Among melodrama’s genre conventions, one perspective on characterization holds that it primarily uses characters defined by social and class contexts, and the tragedies arising from these definitions, as its core material.
The character setup in “Failan” also follows a somewhat clichéd structure: a Chinese maiden afflicted with a terminal illness as the heroine and a third-rate hoodlum as the hero. Their meeting gains plausible credibility from Failan’s status as an undocumented immigrant, the spatial setting of Incheon (Kang Jae’s background), and his social background as a third-rate thug.
Furthermore, the method of indirectly revealing the social context through their tragic love (albeit in a unique manner) also faithfully follows the basic framework of melodrama. This setup itself directly exemplifies melodramatic archetypes.
Evidence of Excess — Flashbacks and Asymmetry of Information
Melodrama is a genre that actively employs flashbacks. While flashbacks disrupt linear plots, they are highly effective devices for heightening emotion. In “Failan,” the plot unfolding after Kang Jae accepts Yong Sik’s request and learns of Failan’s death can be described as a near-constant succession of flashbacks.
During Kang-jae’s train journey to Gangwon Province, the flashbacks showing Failan progressively heighten tragic emotions. Failan’s affectionate attitude toward Kang-jae leads the audience to identify with him. Furthermore, through flashbacks, the audience gains more information than the characters themselves, allowing for a much deeper emotional immersion in the narrative.
Unrealistic Coincidence
“Failan” can be credited with maintaining considerable realism in the characterization of Kang Jae. However, examining how Failan escapes the bar through mere wit to work at a laundry in Gangwon Province, how she dies by coughing up blood in an overly clichéd manner after falling ill, and how the characters surrounding Failan are stereotypical, reveals an excessive use of coincidence and an overabundance of extraordinary events within the film’s overall flow. These elements embody the enduring legacy of melodrama.
The Virtue of ‘Failan’: Restraint
Restraint in Cinematography
First, observing the color palette of the film “Failan” evokes the thought, ‘How can it be this gloomy?’ Traces of deliberately minimizing bright lighting are evident in every scene. According to director Song Hae-sung, the use of black and white in the opening sequence was also a device for restraint.
Second, close-up shots are hard to find in “Failan.” The film consistently maintains a relaxed shot composition based on unemphatic normal angles. Wide lenses are predominantly used, and scenes employing zoom lenses are few and far between. This too is a characteristic that avoids melodramatic excess.
Third, in “Failan,” shots where the camera observes Kang Jae and Failan’s living space from outside a window appear frequently. The audience feels as if they are quietly following their lives. This framing seems to serve as a device to restrain situations where the audience might overly identify with the characters due to flashbacks or exaggerated coincidences.
Fourth, traces of long takes can be found in several scenes of “Failan.” Examples include the scene where Kang Jae drinks with Yong Sik after being beaten, or the scene where Kyung Soo (Gong Hyung-jin) gets into a scuffle while drinking at a street stall in Gangwon Province. These long takes maximize the objectification of the situation and guide the audience to restrain excessive immersion. Perhaps editing in shorter cuts would have been visually cleaner and easier for the actors. Nevertheless, the director’s choice of long takes exceeding four minutes suggests a clear artistic intention.
Musical Restraint
“Failan” also features relatively restrained music. The term “melodrama” itself originates from the Greek words ‘melos’ (song) and “drama” (play), making melodrama a genre where musical elements are crucial.
However, in “Failan,” the first music appears only after nearly 20 minutes, excluding the prologue. Of course, as the story progresses into the latter half and Failan fully emerges, the prominence of music does increase somewhat. But considering the weight music carries in director Kwak Jae-yong’s melodrama “Classic,” the restraint shown in “Failan” is remarkably unusual.
Other Genre Conventions Found in ‘Failan’
The film “Failan” contains various elements that make it difficult to categorize solely as a melodrama. First, it possesses strong gangster elements. While Kang Jae isn’t the kind of character burning with ambition like those in traditional gangster films, his desire to succeed still lurks behind his bruised pride. Where protagonists in other gangster films sweat blood and tears striving to become the top dog, Kang-jae has transformed that urge into buying a boat and returning to his hometown.
Yet Kang-jae is presented with an opportunity to achieve his dream, one entirely unrelated to his own efforts. By taking the fall for boss Yong-sik’s murder, he gains the power to stand tall and speak his mind even to the juniors who once looked down on him. Yet he soon realizes this opportunity is not genuine but a path to ruin. Rejecting Yong-sik’s proposal, Kang-jae ultimately meets his death. This narrative structure mirrors that of a classic gangster film. It precisely aligns with the pattern where an ambitious protagonist, after striving to become the top dog, meets a tragic end due to betrayal from within.
Furthermore, the protagonist Kang Jae in “Failan” discovers his identity through his journey. As he comes to understand Failan—who constantly tells him he should be grateful for his existence as a third-rate gangster and thug, and who calls him the kindest person—Kang Jae begins to reassemble the self he had abandoned. In this sense, the film also possesses the aspect of a coming-of-age story through travel. Through his journey, Kang Jae rediscovers his value and identity. He even reneges on his promise to Yong Sik—the biggest event in his life before Failan appeared—and resolves to return to his hometown.
Other Reasons ‘Failan’ is Charming
A Tragic Love Between a Man and Woman Who Never Met?
“Failan” features a highly unique premise: its two protagonists never meet, save for a fleeting moment. In melodrama, few would have imagined a scenario where the male and female leads never meet. They never conversed, nor did they exchange letters. This unusual setup created a new form of melodrama, delivering a fresh emotional impact rarely experienced in previous works.
Melodrama “Failan”
In What is Melodrama?, Yoo Jina defines the typical melodrama as “a tragic, sentimental, and overly emotional love story centered on a female protagonist—that is, a film primarily aimed at female audiences.” This definition was highly accurate until the late 1990s, when male-centered melodramas began to emerge. However, even after that, the description “films primarily targeting female audiences” remained a valid definition.
Yet “Failan” is thoroughly a male melodrama. The unusually strong response from male audiences proves this. Some critics label this work a male shinpa drama, arguing it uncritically perpetuates patriarchal elements. Indeed, the very premise of the beautiful woman Failan loving a third-rate thug solely because he is her husband, even as she is dying, is rightly pointed out as a patriarchal narrative. Like in the film “Father,” interpreting it as the emotional self-gratification of a man who, unable to overcome his own patriarchal nature, isolates and oppresses himself, holds a certain persuasive power. This is because the structure involves Kang Jae discovering the pitiful Failan and, in the process, realizing his own tragedy.
However, this criticism can be overcome within the context of “Failan” being a melodrama. This work is a story that can elicit sufficient emotional empathy when viewed from a human perspective, not a male one. Melodrama is fundamentally a genre of emotion. Director Song Hae-sung has stated that the reason he cut quickly from Kang Jae’s crying scene on the breakwater in the final shot, rather than prolonging it, was to restrain an excess of emotion. However, I believe this was a regrettable choice. The virtue of restraint dominating the first half had been building sufficient momentum for the emotional explosion in the latter part.
What is the virtue of the melodrama genre? Precisely the excess of emotion. If this excess is indulged without restraint, it becomes indistinguishable from a tearjerker. Conversely, without this excess, the genre’s very identity vanishes. “Failan” accurately tapped into men’s social desires and the resulting oppression, which is why it could become a ‘melodrama for men’.
Conclusion
“Failan” is undeniably a film with several limitations that prevent it from being called a masterpiece. It has various weaknesses, such as unresolved issues of patriarchy and the overuse of exaggerated coincidences. Nevertheless, “Failan” holds value worthy of being evaluated as a monumental work in the evolutionary process of melodrama. This film is unique in that it significantly restrained the emotional excess inherent in traditional melodramas. By restraining superficial emotions, it instead creates an effect that stirs deeper inner feelings more powerfully. Even if audiences didn’t shed tears in the theater, they experience a resonance that lingers long in the heart.
“Failan” is also monumental on another level. It shattered the tradition of female-centric consumption and firmly established itself as a male melodrama. This is precisely why it stands out as the freshest variation on the traditional melodrama. I believe “Failan” shines even brighter because it is a film where men can freely shed tears and find solace, born not within a genre traditionally perceived as masculine, but within melodrama, a genre long considered feminine.
