Kim Ji-young, Born 1982: Feminist film reignites social tensions in Korea

(FASTNEWS | COLOMBO) – A movie adaptation of the bestselling novel that triggered a fierce sexism battle in South Korea was released on Wednesday.

The novel, called “Kim Ji-young, Born 1982” was published in 2016 and sold more than a million copies.

It tells the story of an ordinary 30-something Korean woman juggling work and family, and the gender discrimination she faces at each phase of her life.

The book was hailed by some as one of the most important feminist novels in Korea – but led to an outcry from anti-feminists in the country.

And now, with the film’s release, those arguments are being revisited.

Kim Ji-young is one of the most common Korean names of the generation, and thus represents any Korean woman.

The book, written by Cho Nam-joo, a television scriptwriter, tells her story from birth to motherhood from the perspective of her male psychiatrist.

When she is born, into a typical patriarchal family, her mother apologises to her mother-in-law for having a girl.

As she goes to school, gets a job, gets married and has a baby, she faces deep-rooted gender discrimination at every stage.

Although South Korea is economically one of the most advanced countries in Asia, it remains socially conservative.

So much so, that female singers and actresses who said they read the book were attacked and bullied online.

Those who criticise the book say it presents distorted views, is highly subjective, and makes negative, sexist generalisations against men.

The male characters, they say, are portrayed as either actively or passively endorsing a culture of discrimination against women. Critics also argue it aggravates gender conflicts.

When the movie was first announced, those tensions were stoked again.

Actress Jung Yu-mi, who was cast as the lead, got thousands of hate comments on her Instagram in just a day; there was a petition asking the president not to allow the release of the movie; and people flocked to web portals to give bad ratings, even before the film was released.

 (BBC)