Research Questions:
- How are women/ a woman’s agency represented in 19th century period films and dramas?
- Does this representation differ between the West (North America/ Europe) and the East (Asia)?
Film Selection:
The three films/ dramas I’m going to focus on are Pride and Prejudice (2005), Sense and Sensibility (1995),and 구르미 그린 달빛 (Romanization: Gooreumi Geurin Dalbit English: Love in the Moonlight or Moonlight Drawn by Clouds) (2016). Pride and Prejudice was directed by Jon Wright that was a co-production between France, the UK, and the US. It follows the plot of Jane Austen’s 19th century novel of the same name, primarily following the romance of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Sense and Sensibility was directed by Ang Lee and was a co-production between the US and UK. Based on another of Austen’s novels, the movie follows the Dashwood sisters as they deal with newfound economic instability and both sister’s romances. Love in the Moonlight directed by Kim Sung-yoon and Baek Sang-hoon and was funded solely by South Korea. The drama follows the exploits of a girl forced to dress as a boy and the Crown Prince of the Joseon Dynasty. The protagonist—Ra-On—eventually ends up posing/ working as a eunuch at the palace and it follows the two’s romance and the convoluted politics of the royal family and Korea.
Film Selection Rationale:
I chose these three films, first, because they are all 19th century period films that I have seen. However, two of the films are based on 19th century novels by Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice and Sense Sensibility). I didn’t choose these films because Jane Austen wrote them, but considering she was arguably the most important Western woman writers of the 19th century, I think her work—especially modern adaptations of her work—reflect women’s lives and agency in the 19th century but can also reflect on the lives of modern women. Love in the Moonlight was also adapted into a drama from a novel (although a modern historical fiction novel) but is set at roughly the same time as Austen’s novels (all take place between the 1800s-1830s). The two Jane Austen films had involvement from multiple countries, and both from the UK and US, while Love in the Moonlight is purely a South Korean production.
The main difference among my selections is that Sense and Sensibility was directed by Ang Lee. Lee is originally from Taiwan and made the movie for the UK and US. This connects to the transnationalism we discussed in class. Love in the Moonlight is a multiple-episode drama meant to be viewed on TV or streaming devices. I think this connects both to the future of cinema as we discussed on the last day of class, but also to blockbuster culture because it stars one of South Korea’s most popular actors—Park Bo-gum—and is meant to consumed rapidly and rabidly. Pride and Prejudice played at the Toronto Film Festival and received 4 Oscar nominations and 2 Golden Globe nominations. I also think that despite these nominations the film could still be considered a blockbuster. It had $28 million-dollar budget and starred Kiera Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen.
All the films share a historical setting and romance plots. While two of my films are Western films originally written by the same Western woman, I think looking at Ang Lee’s production of Sense and Sensibility will bring a different look at the Western vs. Eastern dichotomy. A Western story originally written by a woman in the 19th century, re-written and adapted by a modern Western woman (Emma Thompson), and directed by an Eastern director. This aspect of transnationalism—I believe—is bridging the gap between Western and Eastern cinema.
Literature Review (2 pages):
My first source, Girls on Film: Postmodern Renderings of Jane Austen and Henry James by Anna Despotopoulou focuses on how Jane Austen novels are adapted to suit a modern audience. Despotopoulou cites that there are many ways directors and writers adapt Austen stories for a modern audience. One is by setting the story in modern day, like Clueless, does. It shows how Austen’s stories remain relevant to a modern context and how women are still a part of that context. However, Despotopoulou also mentions the fetishizing of women in Austen’s stories in order to make them more interesting to a modern audience. Or, one of her final points, is the emergence of previously unseen or ignored themes within Austen’s work such as that of slavery or homoerotic elements (seen mostly in adaptations of Emma or Mansfield Park).
My second source, The Power of the Nation-state amid Neo-Liberal Reform: Shifting Cultural Politics in the New Korean Wave by Dal Yong-jin, I am using mainly as a cultural and historical reference. It touches on how Korean media (including movies and dramas) are contributing to reform in Korea. My third source, Women’s Speech in Korean and English by Sung-Yun Bak (Bak Sung-Yun) is another source I am using for cultural context, but it relates to how the Korean language’s formalities, contribute to misogyny and are inherently unfairly gendered.
My fourth source, South Korean Cinema’s Postwar Pain: Gender and National Division in Korean War Films From the 1950’s to the 2000’s by Daniel Martin focuses on contemporary Korean war films, but it also examines the continued legacy of the war in Korea and how the gender politics of this plays out in South Korean cinema. It provides a lens to look at women in South Korean cinema and how politics takes advantage of and exploits women. My fifth source, Women’s Status in South Korea: Tradition and Change compliments this source in providing a history of a woman’s status in South Korea and how modern Korean women feel today.
My sixth source, Passionate Precision: Sense and Sensibility by Donald Lyons is an article that both reviews and examines Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility It touches on Lee’s talents for portraying family and power dynamics, both of which can be seen in the original Austen work, but is examined deeply in Lee’s adaption. My seventh source compliments this one, it is an interview with Alan Rickman who played Colonel Brandon in Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, where he discusses Lee and the choice of Lee to direct the movie.
While my sources don’t appear to have a cohesive thread using the films and drama in question, I plan on uniting these sources as an examination of the portrayal of women in 19th century period piece film and how that reflects on women today. In my research, I could not find a paper like the one I am writing. My first source comes close in its examination of how Jane Austen novels are adapted today, but obviously it was a focused study on Jane Austen, while my paper aims to look at the larger differences between Western and Eastern portrayals of the same period (other than the obvious setting and cultural differences of the time).
Despite the growing international popularity of Korean and Asian dramas, there was not any reliable scholarship I could find on them. Instead, I will rely on the cultural, historical, and Korean film sources I detailed above, and my own experience in viewing Love in the Moonlight and other Asian dramas to inform my thinking and arguments in this paper. As someone who takes in this content that is meant for an entirely different culture, it can be assumed that I am not the most informed voice, but by bringing together these various sources and references, I can capture and argument that represents that of Korean feminism and the portrayal of Korean women in film. While I may not directly quote all of my sources, they informed my thinking for this paper enough for me to cite them.
Analysis:
The unifying element of these three films is the depiction of power structures created and/or enforced by men. In Sense and Sensibility, the Dashwood family loses the patriarch of the family and the Dashwood sisters and their mother are tossed into economic instability that they have not experienced before. They are forced to live off charity, cut down on luxuries and food they had become accustomed to, and the little money they have left. Their father was the person that held all the authority and economic power within the household. Without his presence, the Dashwood family lost it’s footing in society. The story hinges on the romances of the Dashwood sisters, both to wealthy men who could repair these economic troubles for both the sisters and their mother. While these romances are genuine and the love is portrayed as real, the economic benefit to the women cannot be overlooked. The women are forced to marry wealthy men to fix their economic situation, they had no agency to do it themselves (even though the eldest sister Elinor is trying her best to do so). In Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet is eager to marry off her daughters so that the family home can be inherited to one of them and stay in the family. Once their father passes, all five sisters and their mother (if all sisters remain unmarried), would fall to the same fate as the Dashwood sisters. Finally, in Love in the Moonlight, we see our female protagonist have the most agency among these portrayals of women, but only because she is dressing as and pretending to be a man. This allows Ra-On to make money and move through society as freely as concealing her identity will allow her.
Examining the above-mentioned trope of women cross-dressing as men, it appears to be a nearly universal trope. Seen in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and the Chinese folktale of Mulan, it is a trope that seems to cross borders and cultures. Upon trying to find a source about this trope in literature or cinema, I was met with thousands of articles that examine the trope in everything from Russian history to Iranian cinema, the trope is truly everywhere. But, why are we so obsessed with the idea of women dressing as men, especially in historical narratives? While obviously in history, it is widely accepted among various nation’s histories that women did not have the same agency as today, many women in South Korea (and abroad) continue to feel that way, “Many socially conscious Korean women perceive that they have not yet achieved equal status with Korean men” (Palley, 1139). And, it would appear that is true, as of the writing of the article, “Women are employed in light industry, agriculture, and some of the professions, especially teaching. Opportunities for professional mobility are very limited, and on average in 1988 women earned approximately 45% of that of men” (Palley, 1141). A woman’s agency, even in modern day, is limited. While obviously around the world and through the decades since Palley’s article was written this has most certainly improved, a woman still makes less on average than a man with the same qualifications. Therefore, this might provide a reason for why stories like Love in the Moonlight, are so popular. They portray a woman with agency, who gets to retain that agency even after being revealed as a woman. In most cases, the woman keeps their agency because of a man, but in a true genuine romance story like Love in the Moonlight, that is simply a bonus. This can easily be compared to Sense and Sensibility where the economic gain the Dashwoods retain from their marriages is simply a bonus on top of the true love. Love solves all a woman’s problems, but not because she couldn’t handle those problems themselves.
All three of my film selections, provide a strong female role model. In Sense and Sensibility, Elinor—the eldest of the two Dashwood sisters—is working hard to reduce the amount of money her family spends and works tirelessly to earn any income she can. She is constantly annoyed by her fanciful sister Maryanne, who doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of their situation. Despite this, however, Maryanne is portrayed as a sensible person and attempts to help her sister and family when she can. The two Dashwood sisters have a strong bond despite their differences and show what woman can achieve by working together. Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice is often lauded as one of the best portrayals of female empowerment in Western literature. She speaks her mind, turns down marriage proposals that would help her family, and is well educated. She isn’t afraid to stand up for herself, but later in the movie, we see Elizabeth show great vulnerability as well when it seems her younger sister Lydia may ruin the family’s reputation. Love in the Moonlight’s protagonist—Ra-On—is a woman who takes joy in being viewed as a man and stands toe to toe with men often in the show, however, she still longs to show her feminine side and allow herself to be a woman. This shows the spectrum of femininity and how a woman can have masculine traits, but still consider herself to be a woman. This representation of strong women contradicts the strict power structures of the history. However, these historical women prevailed against and within these power structures.
For many, Ang Lee was an odd choice to direct Thompson’s adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. Not only was he a man directing a woman-centered movie, but he also grew up outside of a Western context where the novel existed. Lyons, however, mentions Lee’s knowledge of strict social customs like those in Regency England, “Lee makes the cultural rituals of the Regency world—its curtsies, bows, dances, reticences—seem natural and unforced because he knows how such things function and mean (Lyons, 41). Yet, as Alan Rickman who acted in the film says when asked of Lee’s casting decision,
“…If you ever watch his film Eat Drink Man Woman, you’ll recognize that he comes from a society that has all sorts of parallels: how to behave, what the rules are between men and women…And, although it seemed an odd choice at the beginning, it was rather quickly apparent that it was a rather brilliant one” (Rickman, 2009).
Rickman goes on to talk about how English society at the time was like rigid Asian cultural norms.
An example of strict cultural norms that in turn hurt a woman’s agency and want to be equal is the Korean language. In her article on politeness in speech and how it functions as a way to degrade women, Bak touches on how both English and Korean hold this aspect, “One of the characteristics of female speech in both Korean and English is ‘politeness.’ Almost all societies in history, including the Korean and American societies, have been male-dominated with female treated as the inferior sex…Such social disparity between men and women is naturally reflected in the language” (Bak, 61-62). Often in Love in the Moonlight, there are scenes of characters speaking to each other informally, either as an insult, or because they are friendly with each other. However, because she is pretending to be a man, Ra-On, can get away with some flippant informality, while maids who have spoken informally are often hit or otherwise physically punished. Ra-On is acting as eunuch, so therefore, is roughly of equal status to a high-level maid, yet, is not punished equally for being impolite due to her perceived gender.
In Pride and Prejudice, Elizbeth will often exhibit what would be considered impolite behavior, by giving her opinion when unasked for, or sarcastically answering if she disagrees with the general conversation. However, while Mr. Darcy is often blunt and comes across as mean, Elizabeth receives more societal complaint than Darcy does. Elizabeth is shunned by higher society women (although women of her station continue to accept her), or she is viewed as insolent and improper. Yet, while many people believe Darcy to be rude, he is still allowed to be part of the conversation and society without worry of humiliation.
The general romance story does not shift much between the Western and Eastern cultures film. There is often some obstacle keeping the couple apart (social class, families, etc.), but in the end they prevail. The social customs of both regions are reflected in their historical film. While both societies have changed from the 19th century when these films portray, the relevancy of these themes has not. Women are still discriminated against and portrayed unfairly in media, but these films from both Western and Eastern cultures, show women prevailing over the misogynistic culture. While Ra-On has to dress as a man (and eventually marry the Prince) to do it, the Dashwood and Bennet sisters have to marry as well. Both cultures show a reliance on men and patriarchal social structures, that women must find a way to operate under.
Bibliography:
Bak, Sung-Yun. “Women’s Speech in Korean and English.” Korean Studies, vol. 7, 1983, pp. 61–75. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23717752.
Dal, Yong Jin. “The Power of the Nation-State amid Neoliberal Reform: Shifting Cultural Politics in the New Korean Wave.” Pacific Affairs, vol. 87, no. 1, 2014, pp. 71–92. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43590824.
Despotopoulou, Anna. “Girls on Film: Postmodern Renderings of Jane Austen and Henry James.” The Yearbook of English Studies, vol. 36, no. 1, 2006, pp. 115–130. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3508740.
Lyons, Donald. “PASSIONATE PRECISION: SENSE AND SENSIBILITY.” Film Comment, vol. 32, no. 1, 1996, pp. 36–41. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43753119.
Martin, Daniel. “South Korean Cinema’s Postwar Pain: Gender and National Division in Korean War Films from the 1950s to the 2000s.” The Journal of Korean Studies (1979-), vol. 19, no. 1, 2014, pp. 93–114. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43923159.
Palley, Marian Lief. “Women’s Status in South Korea: Tradition and Change.” Asian Survey, vol. 30, no. 12, 1990, pp. 1136–1153. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2644990.
“Alan Rickman Discusses Sense and Sensibility.” Performance by Alan Rickman, YouTube, 14 Dec. 2009, youtu.be/nQGdomI1BAQ.
Alisan Keesee 