This blog post examines how the film ‘My Sweet, Yet Brutal Lover’ twists and subverts the romantic comedy trope by using murder as a narrative device.
What is a Romantic Comedy?
A stubborn man and woman meet by chance, bicker constantly, develop a love-hate relationship, and eventually fall in love. Broadly speaking, it’s hard for any romantic comedy in the world to escape this category. And this is also the basic plot of romantic comedies.
Beyond their outwardly bright image, romantic comedies also harbor elements that subvert the system. Of course, this is typically portrayed in opposition to the prevailing values embedded throughout society. For instance, in countries like Korea where patriarchal social structures are commonplace (indeed, globally, few nations have fully dismantled patriarchal social structures), a feisty woman emerges who, whether through force or other means, takes control of the man, steering the narrative away from ‘ordinariness’. This positions the female protagonist at the intersection of the ideal women dream of and reality, painting the very image of the woman ‘everyone desires’.
The Appeal of Romantic Comedy
Is film realistic or unrealistic? Is sci-fi unrealistic and romantic comedy realistic? Is martial arts unrealistic while melodrama is realistic? The appeal of romantic comedies, and indeed the appeal of film itself, might just stem from these very questions. An escape from reality, a break from daily life, the act of witnessing with your own eyes what you’ve only imagined in your head, even if just for two hours, and the boundless fun and emotion that sparks from it. Isn’t that what film is?
In that sense, all films are unrealistic. Even melodramas, which appear most realistic, aren’t they based on countless unrealistic elements? Even genres that seem very realistic are inflated and emotionally retouched beyond reality. To put it bluntly, there is no reality in film.
That’s precisely why romantic comedies are so appealing. Romantic comedies are more unrealistic than melodramas but more realistic than science fiction. In other words, it’s a genre that masterfully navigates between reality and fantasy. While melodramas conform to patriarchal reality and weep within it, romantic comedies reject all that and reestablish order. However, the most crucial reason romantic comedies are fascinating is not that they subvert the system itself, but that the entire world, except for the protagonist, still conforms to reality. The Hong Gil-dong-like ideology and power to overturn everything does not exist within romantic comedies. The world remains unchanged, yet I alone am special. That’s why it’s so incredibly appealing.
Ironically, many Korean men harbor a desire to become the male lead in a romantic comedy. The patriarchal social system binds and restricts not only women but men as well. Perhaps men are victims of the patriarchal system just as much as women. That’s why men dream of being the male lead in a romantic comedy. Men unable to escape the shackles of reality project themselves onto the romantic comedy male lead who is ‘protected by the woman’ and empathize with him. Watching the male lead being dominated by the female lead, they don’t lament the collapse of male authority; instead, they chuckle at him while secretly envying him. Thus, romantic comedies provide catharsis for both men burdened by pressure and women constrained within patriarchal systems. This ‘collapse of realistic reality’ is a unique strength of romantic comedies, rarely found in other genres.
Even without delving this deeply, there are plenty of reasons why romantic comedies are appealing. First, the world of romantic comedies is so bright, beautiful, cheerful, and warm. Within this bright reality, protagonists who are ‘abnormal’ by conventional standards appear. While they may not overturn the world, they at least overturn their own lives by rejecting existing values. They live in the same era and space as us, yet they live the life we dream of and experience the love we long for. We derive vicarious satisfaction from watching them live dreamlike lives within the same reality as us, rather than as Adam and Eve existing in a paradise separate from reality, living fantastical lives.
Finally, my personal reason for loving romantic comedies is precisely because they are so commercial. I have never once seen a romantic comedy that wasn’t entertaining. At the very least, romantic comedies bring me joy and show me a bright side of life. Even if a film lacks artistic merit, it still fulfills its duty as a commercial movie. That’s why I love romantic comedies. Because they’re commercial. I’m just one of the ‘foolish masses’ who seek out films that let me escape reality and find pleasure, even if just for two hours.
My Sweet, Yet Brutal Lover as a Romantic Comedy
Truthfully, this film might not be considered a typical romantic comedy. Yet, despite its slightly twisted format, the characteristics of a romantic comedy stand out more prominently here than in most other works.
Iconography
Generally, romantic comedies are characterized and visualized through bright imagery. Yet, while My Sweet, Yet Brutal Lover can be classified as a romantic comedy, its nature places it far from bright imagery. Though scenes featuring the male lead alone sometimes evoke a certain brightness through contrasts of light and dark, overall, the film’s iconography leans closer to that of a thriller.
Characters and Setting
Hwang Dae-woo (played by Park Yong-woo) and Lee Mi-na (played by Choi Kang-hee). Hwang Dae-woo, a university lecturer, is an intellectual, belonging to an elite class. In contrast, Lee Mi-na, though a student aspiring to study art and with reading as a hobby, is the polar opposite of Hwang Dae-woo, who doesn’t know Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment or the Mondrian painting hanging in her living room. A kind of social class difference exists between them. However, this difference only serves as a cause for their arguments; it doesn’t trigger the fundamental conflict. What deserves more attention is the difference in their personalities, especially the female lead’s character.
In the drama, Lee Mi-na appears as a woman who has murdered four men. First, she kills her violent husband. Second, she induces a heart attack in her elderly husband to secure an inheritance. Third, she kills an ex-boyfriend who shows up causing trouble. Fourth, she kills a friend’s boyfriend who attacks her with a knife. At first glance, this setup seems unrelated to a romantic comedy, but the core lies in the female lead’s attitude. Even after killing four men, Mina defends herself without guilt, stating, “If I hadn’t killed them, I would have died.” Indeed, the violent husband, the ex-lover, and the friend’s knife-wielding lover all posed direct threats to her life. However, the pivotal moment is the incident where she induces her elderly husband’s heart attack for the inheritance. This is clearly murder committed for her own happiness, yet Im-na feels no guilt whatsoever. She even justifies her actions by quoting Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment: “What’s so wrong with killing one powerless, useless old man who was going to die anyway?”
Strangely, though ethically taboo, the film doesn’t condemn her. Her defense isn’t mere self-justification; it functions as an argument representing women who defy male-centered ideology. Though the film contains the sensitive element of murder, its focus does not dwell on the act itself. Not only the female protagonist who lives on without a care after committing murder, but also her friend who casually brushes off the corpse hidden in the wall, and even the lawyer who responds “Just wait a moment” to the request “Send someone to bury the body” – all are desensitized to murder. What truly demands attention in this film is not the incident itself, but the existence of a ‘woman’ murderer who killed a ‘man’. The subversive element revealed through the image of a self-willed woman in typical romantic comedies is expressed far more radically in this film through the metaphor of murder. It challenges and subverts male-centered ideology through the female protagonist who uses men and kills them without a second thought.
The Ending
To fully complete the dismantling of male-centered ideology attempted throughout the film, My Sweet, Yet Brutal Lover boldly abandons pro-sociality even in its ending. The female protagonist flees to Italy, leaving behind the male protagonist’s words, “I didn’t report it because I love you.” Years later, the two meet again. The woman travels leisurely but lives with the constant discomfort of ‘not being able to enter Korea,’ while the man continues as a university lecturer, attending various seminars. The film never attempts a return to ‘normal’ society, even at the very end.
Mina: “When the statute of limitations expires, will you date me again?”
Daewoo: “By then, there’ll be someone else by my side.”
Mina: “Then I’ll just go and kill that person.”
This delicious line from the heroine, who never loses her spiritedness until the very end, encapsulates everything about this film. Mina will live spiritedly forever. Just like that spirited woman who shouted, “What did I do so wrong? You’re the one who should apologize,” when her boyfriend lied and asked for forgiveness. Whether it’s ethically right or wrong, it doesn’t matter to the heroine. Because she has not the slightest inclination to abide by the world’s rules. Because she is the heroine of a free-spirited romantic comedy.
Summary
Not long ago, I happened to rewatch My Sweet, Yet Brutal Lover. And within it, I discovered the potential for a new kind of romantic comedy. It’s the fate of genre films, but most struggle to break free from their set frameworks. Of course, this is both a defining characteristic and a strength of genre films, yet simultaneously, this very trait inevitably carries the limitation of becoming clichéd. However, My Sweet, Yet Brutal Lover delivered such a fresh shock that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I discovered a new direction for genre films. This film is highly unethical, breaks taboos, and is clearly ‘cheeky’ by conventional standards, yet it never feels messy or uncomfortable. Rather, it feels refreshing. This power surely doesn’t stem solely from the charm of the actress Choi Kang-hee.
Though shedding the shell of a romantic comedy, this film is more quintessentially romantic comedy than any romantic comedy. It defends its female protagonist more fiercely than any film and tramples male ideology. Audiences weary of social oppression applaud the film’s ‘audacity’. Though an abnormal film that refuses to reconcile with the norm, it is strangely normal. Because our society is already abnormal—a society that considers abnormality to be normal.
The female lead in this film is so unapologetically confident. And her confidence is justified. She has no choice but to be confident. Because she knows that among the millions who came to see this film, no one can throw stones at her—no one will.
