Agentive and Independent Older Female Adult in Strong Woman Gang Nam-Soon: Going Against Prevalent Gendered Ageism in K-Dramas
Keywords:
gendered ageism, Korean drama, representation, OFA
Abstract
This article explores the representation of an older female adult (OFA) in the Korean drama Strong Woman Gang Nam-Soon. While scholarship on OFA has revealed their lack of positive representation—resulting in multifarious detriments—literature on OFA in K-drama is considerably scanty. Hence, this article employs content analysis, focusing on one of the protagonists, Gil Jung-Gan. Additionally, to enrich the discussion, industrial analysis was also carried out. The critical discussion focuses on three major aspects: 1) the feminist perspective influencing the K-drama industry, 2) principles of agentive and powerful OFA character, and 3) beauty and successful aging discourse. This article argues that the positive representation of Gil Jung-Gan is the manifestation of the progressive movement and influence of local and global feminism, which can be traced through the fulfillment of the majority of the principles. Additionally, the series incorporates successful aging discourse to represent Gil Jung-Gan as an agentive and non-traditional OFA, which is achieved mainly by physical appearance and social engagement.
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References
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Chandra, Y. (2022). Increasing consumption of Korean dramas during the COVID-19 pandemic. k@ta, 24(2), 81–89. https://doi.org/10.9744/kata.24.2.81-89
Devi, A., & Samanta, T. (2019). Media and age-coded representations of later life: An analysis of selected print advertisements of English-language magazines in India. Journal of Women and Aging, 31(6), 513–539. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2018.1521655
Edström, M. (2018). Visibility patterns of gendered ageism in the media buzz: A study of the representation of gender and age over three decades. Feminist Media Studies, 18(1), 77–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1409989
Eisend, M. (2022). Older people in advertising. Journal of Advertising, 51(3), 308–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2022.2027300
Gammon, T. (2023). ‘Isn’t it a bit rough?’ – Vietnamese audience reception of wrist-grabbing in Korean television dramas, feminist consciousness, and fantasy. Sexuality and Culture, 27(4), 1599–1618. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-023-10080-4
Gonzales, E., Gordon, S., Whetung, C., Connaught, G., Collazo, J., & Hinton, J. (2021). Acknowledging systemic discrimination in the context of a pandemic: Advancing an anti-racist and anti-ageist movement. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 64(3), 223–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2020.1870604
Gromkowska-Melosik, A., & Boron, A. (2023). Chinese women in society: Confucian past, ambiguous emancipation and access to higher education. International Journal of Chinese Education, 12(2), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2212585X231181703
Han, B. M. (2022). Melodramatizing racialized Korea: The impasse of Black representation in Itaewon Class. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 14(2), 148–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/17564905.2022.2119807
Handojo, P. F., & Djunjung, J. M. (2016). Babies or no babies: Communicating with feminine bodies in mom lit. k@ta, 18(1), 25–32.
Hungwe, C., Hungwe, E., & Mugari, Z. E. (2023). Representations of ageing in contemporary Zimbabwe: A gerontological reading of NoViolet Bulawayo’s (2013) We Need New Names. Journal of Population Ageing, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12062-023-09418-5
Jang, J. (Executive Producer). (2022). Our blues [TV Series]. GTist.
Jeon, S., & Walker, K. (2022). The role of maternal grandmothers’ childcare provision for Korean working adult daughters. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(21), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114226
Jerslev, A. (2018). ‘A real show for mature women’ ageing along with ageing stars: Grace and Frankie fandom on Facebook. Celebrity Studies, 9(2), 186–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2018.1465298
Jo, J. (Executive Producer). (2020). Itaewon class [TV Series]. Showbox; Zium Content; Itaewon Class Production Partners.
Ju, H. (2020). Korean TV drama viewership on Netflix: Transcultural affection, romance, and identities. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 13(1), 32–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2019.1606269
Kim, H. (2015). Confucianism and feminism in Korean context. Diogenes, 62(2), 41–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/0392192117703048
Kim, H. Y. (Executive Producer). (2019). When the camellia blooms [TV Series]. Pan Entertainment.
Kim, J. (Executive Producer). (2019). The light in your eyes [TV Series]. Drama House.
Kim, J. (2019). Korean popular cinema and television in the twenty-first century: Parallax views on national/transnational disjunctures. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 47(1), 2–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/01956051.2019.1562815
Kukkonen, I., Pajunen, T., Sarpila, O., & Åberg, E. (2024). Is beauty-based inequality gendered? A systematic review of gender differences in socioeconomic outcomes of physical attractiveness in labor markets. European Societies, 26(1), 117–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2023.2210202
Kydd, A., Fleming, A., Gardner, S., & Hafford-Letchfield, T. (2018). Ageism in the third age. In L. Ayalon & C. Tesch-Römer (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on ageism (pp. 115–130). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73820-8_8
Lee, J. (Executive Producer). (2012). My husband got a family [TV Series]. Logos Film.
Lee, J., & Yi, H. (2020). Ssen-unni in K-Pop: The makings of “strong sisters” in South Korea. Korea Journal, 60(1), 17–39. https://doi.org/10.25024/kj.2020.60.1.17
Lee, K. (Executive Producer). (2023). Strong woman Gang Nam-Soon [TV series]. Barunson C&C; Story Phoenix; SLL.
Li, K. (2021). The media image of Chinese older people: From stigmatic stereotype to diverse self-representation. Global Media and China, 6(3), 281–302. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364211012513
McGuire, S. L. (2016). Early children’s literature and aging. Creative Education, 07(17), 2604–2612. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2016.717245
Monk-Payton, B. (2017). Blackness and televisual reparations. Film Quarterly, 71(2), 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1525/FQ.2017.71.2.12
Moon, B., Kyung, M., & Park, J. (Executive Producers). (2013—2014). Wang’s family [TV series]. Celltrion Entertainment.
Ng, R., Indran, N., & Yang, W. (2023). Portrayals of older adults in over 3000 films around the world. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 71(9), 2726–2735. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.18400
Park, C. (2021). Violence toward older adults in the forms of ageism and sexual offense presented in an Old Lady: A film review. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 64(4), 436–438. https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2020.1853647
Park, H.-J. (2019). Lessons from “memorial piety”: Capitalising on the connectedness between living and past generations and its implications for social work practice. Journal of Social Work, 19(4), 468–484. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017318762597
Raisborough, J., Watkins, S., Connor, R., & Pitimson, N. (2022). Reduced to curtain twitchers? Age, ageism and the careers of four women actors. Journal of Women and Aging, 34(2), 246–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2021.1910464
Ross, K. (2024). Gendered agism in the media industry: Disavowal, discrimination and the pushback. Journal of Women and Aging, 36(1), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2023.2238580
Rovner-Lev, G., & Elias, N. (2020). ‘We’ve got to get rid of her’: Representation of older adults on the preschool television show Grandpa in My Pocket. Journal of Children and Media, 14(2), 204–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2019.1688669
Shaw, R., & Langman, M. (2017). Perceptions of being old and the ageing process. Ageing International, 42(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-017-9279-5
Shimoni, S. (2024). The unprotectables: A critical discourse analysis of older people’s portrayal in UK newspaper coverage of Covid-19. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 27(4), 648–664. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494231185539
Sim, H. (2020). Acting “like a woman”: South Korean female action heroines. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 12(2), 110–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/17564905.2020.1840032
Tindale, J. M. (2021). Don’t call me grandma: How to write formidable country women over the age of 65 as lead protagonists in an Australian feature film. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 15(1–2), 65–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/17503175.2021.1952683
Tindale, J. M. (2023). Investigating older women as lead protagonists: An Australian case study of Stateless (2020). Studies in Australasian Cinema, 17(1–2), 4–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17503175.2023.2228608
Tortajada, I., Dhaenens, F., & Willem, C. (2018). Gendered ageing bodies in popular media culture. Feminist Media Studies, 18(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1410313
Vu, M. T., & Pham, T. T. T. (2023). Still in the shadow of Confucianism? Gender bias in contemporary English textbooks in Vietnam. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 31(3), 477–497. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1924239
Walkner, T. J., Weare, A. M., & Tully, M. (2018). ‘You get old. You get invisible’: Social isolation and the challenge of communicating with aging women. Journal of Women and Aging, 30(5), 399–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2017.1304785
You, J. (2022). Research on the differences between Chinese and Western dinner seating culture from the perspective of face theory: Based on the Dream of Red Mansions and Downton Abbey. International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, 8(4), 282–289. https://doi.org/10.18178/IJLLL.2022.8.4.363
Beery, S. L. B., & Swayze, S. (2023). Pushed out to pasture way before their time: Gendered ageism through the eyes of women working in the U.S. federal civil service. Cogent Gerontology, 2(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/28324897.2023.2291584
Boman, B. (2022). Feminist themes in Hallyu 4.0 South Korean TV dramas as a reflection of a changing sociocultural landscape. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 28(4), 419–437. https://doi.org/10.1080/12259276.2022.2127622
Carney, G. M. (2018). Toward a gender politics of aging. Journal of Women and Aging, 30(3), 242–258. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2017.1301163
Chandra, Y. (2022). Increasing consumption of Korean dramas during the COVID-19 pandemic. k@ta, 24(2), 81–89. https://doi.org/10.9744/kata.24.2.81-89
Devi, A., & Samanta, T. (2019). Media and age-coded representations of later life: An analysis of selected print advertisements of English-language magazines in India. Journal of Women and Aging, 31(6), 513–539. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2018.1521655
Edström, M. (2018). Visibility patterns of gendered ageism in the media buzz: A study of the representation of gender and age over three decades. Feminist Media Studies, 18(1), 77–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1409989
Eisend, M. (2022). Older people in advertising. Journal of Advertising, 51(3), 308–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2022.2027300
Gammon, T. (2023). ‘Isn’t it a bit rough?’ – Vietnamese audience reception of wrist-grabbing in Korean television dramas, feminist consciousness, and fantasy. Sexuality and Culture, 27(4), 1599–1618. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-023-10080-4
Gonzales, E., Gordon, S., Whetung, C., Connaught, G., Collazo, J., & Hinton, J. (2021). Acknowledging systemic discrimination in the context of a pandemic: Advancing an anti-racist and anti-ageist movement. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 64(3), 223–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2020.1870604
Gromkowska-Melosik, A., & Boron, A. (2023). Chinese women in society: Confucian past, ambiguous emancipation and access to higher education. International Journal of Chinese Education, 12(2), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2212585X231181703
Han, B. M. (2022). Melodramatizing racialized Korea: The impasse of Black representation in Itaewon Class. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 14(2), 148–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/17564905.2022.2119807
Handojo, P. F., & Djunjung, J. M. (2016). Babies or no babies: Communicating with feminine bodies in mom lit. k@ta, 18(1), 25–32.
Hungwe, C., Hungwe, E., & Mugari, Z. E. (2023). Representations of ageing in contemporary Zimbabwe: A gerontological reading of NoViolet Bulawayo’s (2013) We Need New Names. Journal of Population Ageing, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12062-023-09418-5
Jang, J. (Executive Producer). (2022). Our blues [TV Series]. GTist.
Jeon, S., & Walker, K. (2022). The role of maternal grandmothers’ childcare provision for Korean working adult daughters. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(21), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114226
Jerslev, A. (2018). ‘A real show for mature women’ ageing along with ageing stars: Grace and Frankie fandom on Facebook. Celebrity Studies, 9(2), 186–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2018.1465298
Jo, J. (Executive Producer). (2020). Itaewon class [TV Series]. Showbox; Zium Content; Itaewon Class Production Partners.
Ju, H. (2020). Korean TV drama viewership on Netflix: Transcultural affection, romance, and identities. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 13(1), 32–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2019.1606269
Kim, H. (2015). Confucianism and feminism in Korean context. Diogenes, 62(2), 41–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/0392192117703048
Kim, H. Y. (Executive Producer). (2019). When the camellia blooms [TV Series]. Pan Entertainment.
Kim, J. (Executive Producer). (2019). The light in your eyes [TV Series]. Drama House.
Kim, J. (2019). Korean popular cinema and television in the twenty-first century: Parallax views on national/transnational disjunctures. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 47(1), 2–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/01956051.2019.1562815
Kukkonen, I., Pajunen, T., Sarpila, O., & Åberg, E. (2024). Is beauty-based inequality gendered? A systematic review of gender differences in socioeconomic outcomes of physical attractiveness in labor markets. European Societies, 26(1), 117–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2023.2210202
Kydd, A., Fleming, A., Gardner, S., & Hafford-Letchfield, T. (2018). Ageism in the third age. In L. Ayalon & C. Tesch-Römer (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on ageism (pp. 115–130). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73820-8_8
Lee, J. (Executive Producer). (2012). My husband got a family [TV Series]. Logos Film.
Lee, J., & Yi, H. (2020). Ssen-unni in K-Pop: The makings of “strong sisters” in South Korea. Korea Journal, 60(1), 17–39. https://doi.org/10.25024/kj.2020.60.1.17
Lee, K. (Executive Producer). (2023). Strong woman Gang Nam-Soon [TV series]. Barunson C&C; Story Phoenix; SLL.
Li, K. (2021). The media image of Chinese older people: From stigmatic stereotype to diverse self-representation. Global Media and China, 6(3), 281–302. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364211012513
McGuire, S. L. (2016). Early children’s literature and aging. Creative Education, 07(17), 2604–2612. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2016.717245
Monk-Payton, B. (2017). Blackness and televisual reparations. Film Quarterly, 71(2), 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1525/FQ.2017.71.2.12
Moon, B., Kyung, M., & Park, J. (Executive Producers). (2013—2014). Wang’s family [TV series]. Celltrion Entertainment.
Ng, R., Indran, N., & Yang, W. (2023). Portrayals of older adults in over 3000 films around the world. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 71(9), 2726–2735. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.18400
Park, C. (2021). Violence toward older adults in the forms of ageism and sexual offense presented in an Old Lady: A film review. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 64(4), 436–438. https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2020.1853647
Park, H.-J. (2019). Lessons from “memorial piety”: Capitalising on the connectedness between living and past generations and its implications for social work practice. Journal of Social Work, 19(4), 468–484. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017318762597
Raisborough, J., Watkins, S., Connor, R., & Pitimson, N. (2022). Reduced to curtain twitchers? Age, ageism and the careers of four women actors. Journal of Women and Aging, 34(2), 246–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2021.1910464
Ross, K. (2024). Gendered agism in the media industry: Disavowal, discrimination and the pushback. Journal of Women and Aging, 36(1), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2023.2238580
Rovner-Lev, G., & Elias, N. (2020). ‘We’ve got to get rid of her’: Representation of older adults on the preschool television show Grandpa in My Pocket. Journal of Children and Media, 14(2), 204–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2019.1688669
Shaw, R., & Langman, M. (2017). Perceptions of being old and the ageing process. Ageing International, 42(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-017-9279-5
Shimoni, S. (2024). The unprotectables: A critical discourse analysis of older people’s portrayal in UK newspaper coverage of Covid-19. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 27(4), 648–664. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494231185539
Sim, H. (2020). Acting “like a woman”: South Korean female action heroines. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 12(2), 110–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/17564905.2020.1840032
Tindale, J. M. (2021). Don’t call me grandma: How to write formidable country women over the age of 65 as lead protagonists in an Australian feature film. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 15(1–2), 65–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/17503175.2021.1952683
Tindale, J. M. (2023). Investigating older women as lead protagonists: An Australian case study of Stateless (2020). Studies in Australasian Cinema, 17(1–2), 4–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17503175.2023.2228608
Tortajada, I., Dhaenens, F., & Willem, C. (2018). Gendered ageing bodies in popular media culture. Feminist Media Studies, 18(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1410313
Vu, M. T., & Pham, T. T. T. (2023). Still in the shadow of Confucianism? Gender bias in contemporary English textbooks in Vietnam. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 31(3), 477–497. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1924239
Walkner, T. J., Weare, A. M., & Tully, M. (2018). ‘You get old. You get invisible’: Social isolation and the challenge of communicating with aging women. Journal of Women and Aging, 30(5), 399–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2017.1304785
You, J. (2022). Research on the differences between Chinese and Western dinner seating culture from the perspective of face theory: Based on the Dream of Red Mansions and Downton Abbey. International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, 8(4), 282–289. https://doi.org/10.18178/IJLLL.2022.8.4.363
Published
2024-12-20
How to Cite
Chandra, Y. (2024). Agentive and Independent Older Female Adult in Strong Woman Gang Nam-Soon: Going Against Prevalent Gendered Ageism in K-Dramas. K@ta: A Biannual Publication on the Study of Languange and Literature, 26(2), 121-134. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.9744/kata.26.2.121-134
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Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License
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