The O of Han Ju

Abstract

One of the climaxes in Han Ju, “the Korean Wave” in Mandarin, is women's confession of love for men. However, such emotional outbursts invariably are contained by rather than destabilizing the patriarchal tradition. In Asia, while Korean women's daring confession captivates the audience, who are burdened by the heritage of feminine passivity, it may signify less a feminist breakthrough than an underhanded boost to the male ego that withholds its affection until the “weaker” sex confides first. The best metaphor for the paradox of Han Ju's female repression and confession lies in the leading actresses' often full, sensuous lips painted and even overpainted beyond lips proper to intimate a rebelliousness or transgressiveness, even as lipstick connotes femininity. The tiny fraction of bright, striking color taints beyond the lower and the upper lips; this border crossing verges on the indecent. This motif in Korean dramas lies at the core of its appeal to the Asian female audience as well as to the volatile Asian communities juggling tradition and modernization.