This blog post examines how the humor in Korean romantic comedies has combined with the ideology of purity to operate as a device that reinforces patriarchal order rather than satirizing it, using film examples.
Introduction
Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night” is a film that depicts the journey from adversaries to marriage between the only daughter of a wealthy family and a reporter with a roguish streak, all through witty dialogue. Often called the origin of the romantic comedy genre, this film features the so-called ‘Jericho Wall’ episode. This scene, depicting the peculiar tension formed between the male and female leads separated by a curtain—a powerful barrier dubbed the ‘Walls of Jericho’—is remembered as an outstanding example of visualizing the psychological conflict between men and women and the sexual tension suppressed in contemporary society. Simultaneously, it is regarded as a classic scene embodying a core characteristic of the romantic comedy genre.
In other words, this scene represents the symbolic plot of romantic comedy narratives, where conflicts arising from differences in gender, values, or class are resolved by defying existing conventions. Romantic comedy, a derivative genre of slapstick comedy, presupposes the ‘breaking of conventions’ as a necessary condition for resolving the aforementioned conflicts. This process creates space within existing institutions to absorb conflict while simultaneously offering the possibility of comforting the discontent and frustration of American society, facing a severe economic depression, through the act of ‘breaking conventions’ and turning it into laughter.
This ultimately led to the emergence of the essential characteristics of the romantic comedy genre: foregrounding the conflict and reconciliation between the sexes rather than class conflict, and using witty dialogue and fast-paced developments set against an upper-class backdrop to achieve social integration, namely reconciliation between classes.
Romantic comedies possessing these genre characteristics can be traced in Korean film history since the 1990s. However, domestically produced romantic comedies manifest differently from those developed in the US and UK during the same period. The author posits that the root of this difference lies in the characteristics of female characters formed within conservative perspectives unique to Korean society, such as its lingering patriarchy. Therefore, this paper presents the results of comparing and examining the original genre characteristics of romantic comedies with those of Korean-produced romantic comedies. It specifically aims to examine the characteristics of Korean romantic comedies more concretely by contrasting the female characters in overseas romantic comedies with those in domestic films.
Genre Characteristics and History of Romantic Comedy
Genre theory emerged and gained significant attention in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This can be interpreted as a culmination of the auteur theory debates of the 1950s, stemming from attempts to transcend auteurism by focusing on the creative process itself. While André Bazin and Robert Wadsworth analyzed Westerns and gangster films to explain the mythical characteristics inherent in genres, Lawrence Alloway emphasized the audience experience and introduced the concept of the collective author within the studio system, seeking to analyze genre identity centered on ‘iconography’.
Above all, however, we must not overlook that the concept of ‘genre’ itself was originally created for the convenience of the Hollywood production system. Simply put, genre is a kind of agreement and structure of expectations formed between producers and audiences. Hollywood possesses an industrial structure that produces films based on a thorough team system, not a feudal structure where directors hold absolute production authority. A single film is completed through the combined efforts of the director’s vision, the writer’s screenplay, the star system, and the producer’s influence. Romantic comedy is one such genre, and the genre system sustaining the American film industry today can be described as a meticulously calculated and collaborative ‘kingdom’. In discussing the genre characteristics of romantic comedy, I always kept this premise of genre creation in mind.
The author examined the genre characteristics of romantic comedy more concretely through the previously mentioned It Happened One Night. This film satirically depicts the hypocrisy of the American upper class and is characterized by its fast pace. Director Capra injected simple populism and middle-class ideology into the world of the extravagant and decadent upper class. These narrative and thematic transformations evolved into more sophisticated forms during the 1930s, a period marked by frequent social movements for gender equality. In this context, It Happened One Night is regarded as the film that established the archetypal themes and style of the romantic comedy.
This genre finds its identity in the behavioral patterns realized through specific camera work and editing techniques, and in the way it substitutes the economic and social conflicts of Depression-era American society with narratives of sexual opposition and courtship. Whereas earlier comedies about high society presented values detached from the general audience, this film served to bridge the ideological gap between the isolated upper class and the common people.
Thus, the genre significance of early romantic comedies lies in their attempt to resolve differences in gender relations and values within the context of social class conflict. However, with the entrenchment of the Cold War system after World War II, romantic comedies and screwball comedies faced a sharp decline in the 1950s. Subsequently, as events like the Vietnam War fundamentally shook American moral values, the comedy genre appeared to cede dominance to horror films beyond the 1970s.
However, starting with Rob Reiner’s 1989 film When Harry Met Sally…, new characteristics of a transformed romantic comedy emerged. From this period onward, the protagonists of romantic comedies changed into ordinary, flawed characters with whom both female and male audiences could identify. Furthermore, the difference in social status between the male and female leads became more pronounced than before. This shift occurred because audiences’ tolerance for depicting social class conflicts changed after the end of the Cold War. Furthermore, interracial or same-sex love remained taboo. As seen in Working Title films, the importance of screenwriting began to be emphasized as much as directing. This is well illustrated by screenwriters like Nora Ephron and Amy Hackering, who transitioned to directing after successful writing careers.
Ultimately, romantic comedy is a genre that resolves conflicts arising from differing values and gender differences through the love between its male and female leads. It dilutes overt class conflict while wrapping the ideologies inherent throughout society in the guise of humanism to promote integration. This can be seen as a direct inheritance of the unifying virtue inherent in slapstick comedy.
Characteristics and Variations of Korean Romantic Comedy
Even considering the historical context of the relatively late development of the Korean film industry, it remains true that the romantic comedy genre has not established itself as universally prevalent in Korea as it is in Hollywood. Certainly, starting with director Kim Eui-seok’s Marriage Story in the 1990s, works like My Sassy Girl emerged and achieved some box office success. However, many films revealed a lack of genre maturity, and the absence of a truly ‘blockbuster’ that could leave a broad impression on audiences remains a regret.
Viewed more pessimistically, while ‘Korean-style blockbusters’ became popular after “Shiri” and melodramas like ‘Access’ or “Letter” flooded the market, this may have ultimately exposed the structural weaknesses inherent in the Korean film landscape once again.
Nevertheless, romantic comedy remains an appealing genre. From a producer’s perspective, it’s perceived as a genre with a certain level of safety, and it doesn’t demand the massive production costs required by action or fantasy genres. With a director possessing adequate directing skills, a competent writer, and just one recognizable actor, basic box office success can be expected. This made me recall the case of 「Windstruck」. This film, which succeeded at the box office despite being little more than a lengthy advertisement built solely on the name ‘Jeon Ji-hyun’, starkly illustrates how heavily the star system weighs in genre consumption.
Of course, it’s not only so-called ‘art films’ with strong auteurist tendencies that drive the film industry’s development. In fact, extreme elitism can sometimes hinder the growth of popular genres like romantic comedies. Considering that the essence of genre films lies in mass appeal, expecting excessive ‘artistic elevation’ from them can be inherently contradictory. However, if relatively well-crafted films like 「Windstruck」 fail at the box office, this clearly points to a structural problem.
Particularly problematic are cases where films borrow genre characteristics from foreign romantic comedies in narrative or plot structure yet still face audience rejection. After much discussion, I found the root cause in narrowly constructed characters. That is, the discovery of vivid, breathing characters like Shim Eun-ha’s ‘the girl next door’ in director Lee Jung-hyang’s 「Christmas in August」 or Jeon Ji-hyun in 「My Sassy Girl」 has not been sufficiently achieved in subsequent works. The question “Why can’t Bridget Jones write her diary in Korean?” finds its answer in the narrow, conservative gaze Korean society imposes on women.
Characteristics of Female Characters in Korean Romantic Comedies
In most Korean commercial films, women often remain as someone’s mother, wife, or lover, portrayed with passive imagery. That is, women exist in roles that assist and support men. Furthermore, women’s bodies are frequently commodified, depicted as objects of visual consumption, or appear as devices to justify the ideal of a demure and chaste woman.
Even when female characters with professional careers appear, they are often portrayed in ways disconnected from reality. The ‘superwoman’ character, who perfectly balances professional competence and domestic duties, lacks realism and functions as another model of oppression. Above all, the scarcity of female-centered films is problematic. While some films starring female actors in title roles have emerged in recent years, they remain insufficient. Particularly after their thirties, while male actors enjoy a wide range of roles, female actors face limited opportunities and often remain confined to supporting roles.
Films with female protagonists are easily shunned by investors, making financing difficult. Consequently, films centered on women—those seeking to break free from patriarchal structures—are often produced as low-budget independent films. It is also undeniable that even when such films are released, they often face audience rejection. The author traces the root of these issues to the conservative perspectives of Korean society, specifically patriarchal ideology and the ideology of purity.
Patriarchy
Traditional Korean families are fundamentally patriarchal in nature. Patriarchy refers to a structure where the rights and interests of family members are subordinate to those of the male head of the household. This can be defined as a social structure and system of customs where men dominate, oppress, and exploit women from the top of a hierarchical order. This principle of social organization presupposes a structure where male heads oversee the participation of both male and female household members in material production and the reproduction of life.
Films also directly reflect this patriarchal family structure, coordinating women’s lives within patriarchal frameworks. The institution of marriage represents the most extreme manifestation of patriarchy in the film. Patriarchy has been a central target of critique in feminist discourse aimed at dismantling structures of female oppression. Women, particularly housewives, function as a productive class engaged in unpaid domestic labor for the benefit of the entire family, while husbands are positioned as an unproductive class receiving no wages in return for sustaining livelihoods. From this perspective, the family can be seen as the institution where female oppression operates most intensively.
Capitalist patriarchy functions not only within the household but across the entire socio-economic sphere, simultaneously reinforcing the dominance-subordination relationship between men and women and the hierarchical order among men. While oppression occurs within the private sphere through individual patriarchs, it becomes institutionalized in the public sphere through employment structures and state institutions.
Within this context, the author analyzed the cases of 「My Little Bride」 and 「Marrying the Mafia」. In 「My Little Bride」, the character portrayed by Moon Geun-young is forced into marriage against her will, following the command of her dying grandfather. She is passively incorporated into the system, and all subsequent conflicts ultimately converge toward submission to the patriarchal marriage order. This character is glorified as the ‘nation’s little sister,’ yet her inner self is imbued with absolute obedience.
「Marrying the Mafia」 also blatantly reveals patriarchal ideology through its obsession with family honor and virginity. The woman’s own will is completely excluded, and marriage is reduced to a transaction between families. This is far removed from the equal conflict structure between men and women one might expect in a romantic comedy.
The Ideology of Purity
The ideology of purity stems from patriarchal bloodline-based thinking. In a patrilineal society, women functioned as a means of bloodline succession, and their sexual autonomy was strictly controlled. Joseon-era Confucian culture institutionalized this control, creating idealized female archetypes like the ‘wise mother and virtuous wife’ and the ‘chaste woman’. This served as a mechanism to stably maintain an unequal social order.
Consequently, for women, sexuality became not an active choice but an object of oppression and taboo, fostering a dualistic sexual ethic between men and women. In Korean cinema, chastity is emphasized solely for women, and its loss is depicted as an unforgivable sin. 「Crazy First Love」 exemplifies the extreme of this chastity ideology. The female character in the film is denied her very existence because of her sexual experiences, a narrative choice that ultimately kills the vitality of the romantic comedy.
Alternatives in Korean Romantic Comedy: “Singles” and “Someone Special”
“Singles” differentiates itself from conventional romantic comedies by adopting a structure where female protagonists drive the narrative. This is significant for expanding the possibilities of female characters. While it has the limitation of diluting the presence of male characters, it is noteworthy as a genre experiment.
Director Jang Jin’s 「Someone Special」 transforms the romantic comedy formula through character-driven storytelling. The film’s dialogue is understated, revealing the authenticity of relationships within everyday language. Notably, the female character portrayed by Lee Na-young is depicted not as passive, but as someone who clearly recognizes and expresses her own emotions. The open ending also respects the genre’s conventions while leaving a lingering impression on the audience.
Summary: “All by myself”
“All by myself” is the title of the song sung by the heroine in the intro of 「Bridget Jones’s Diary」. This expression appears to be the self-deprecating lament of a woman who fails at love and stumbles through life, yet simultaneously implies the possibility of standing on her own. The female character I expect to see in Korean romantic comedies is not an exaggerated figure who captivates all men, but someone who can engage in conflict as an independent agent.
The virtue of modern romantic comedies lies not in achieving social integration, but in how interestingly and equally they depict the conflict between men and women itself. It is not the narrative of “all for her” sacrifice, but the narrative of “all by herself” self-reliance that can offer new enjoyment to audiences accustomed to convention. A cockfight is only worth watching when opponents of similar stature face off. Who would find interest in a fight between a fighting cock and a chick?
