The Illusion of Feminism: A Research on Female Characters in Korean Movies

The common female images in Korean films mostly present as youthful and beautiful, conforming to the requirements of social aesthetics. The images of housewives and tough women often stand on the opposite side of aesthetics, which has thus become a conventional image template for advocating feminism in films. The film <No Blood No Tears>which pioneered the tough female archetype, and the film <KIM JI-YOUNG, BORN 1982>which advocates for housewives, have both emerged as significant representations of feminism. Through a comprehensive analysis of the two-character types, it becomes evident that what appear to be unrelated figures actually embody the process of alienation within feminist visual representation. Rather than serving as authentic spokespersons for women, they manifest as “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.