When I first thought "gender bender," I meant, a drama where a girl (or guy, in some) disguises herself as a guy. But then, I realized it can't be limited to just that, because there're a lot of other dramas that deal with gender switches and the subject of gender in general. So, this post will discuss how gender is addressed in Korean dramas, in general.
First off, I'll start by listing some of the well-known gender bender dramas. There's "You're Beautiful," "Coffee Prince," and "Sungkyunkwan Scandal," as some of the more popular, classic gender benders. The latest addition would be "To The Beautiful You." In all of these, a girl (somewhere between her teens to her early to mid-twenties) dresses up as a guy, in order to fit in with a group of guys. The girl always has some kind of big reason for her to do this, whether it's to take the place of her brother, or just due to financial reasons. I think one important thing to point out is that, in all of these dramas, the female protagonist (who's going through the change) is described to look very feminine, and yet, she is somehow able to pull it off. There's a certain emphasis on the feminine-ness of the character, so as to remind the audience that she really is a girl. I thought that was pretty interesting.
I would also like to point out that the writers almost always make the female character so excruciatingly stupid, the epitome of a damsel in distress. Almost always, they're found to be helpless, dependent, and a frustrating noble idiot. They always fall in love with the hero first, realizes their love is forbidden, and tries to do the right thing by leaving the hero. The most typical storyline in Korean dramas, at least in most of them. These days, I always want to kill the female character, she's made so selfless and Candy-like as possible, it's hard to see her as a person in real life. Like, take "To The Beautiful You," for example. Really, how can a girl be so clueless? At least, make the girl, who's usually really dumb and clueless, suddenly turn all self-conscious and suspicious, maybe smart even, because of the fact that she might be exposed at any time.
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| How is this not a girl? |
Then, there are those comical dramas that also deal with gender, but somehow approach it in a different way, in my opinion. Specifically, "Secret Garden" and "Personal Taste." In "Secret Garden," the main characters actually swap bodies, which make for hilarious role-playing by Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won. The drama still has that similar Cinderella plot, the evil stepmother, the hurt heroine, etc. But what really stuck in my mind is the switching of gender roles, where the gender stereotypes are made more clear and obvious. Like, for example, I didn't notice how Gil Ra Im's voice, or 말투 sounded so feminine, until Hyun Bin really played it out, as Ra Im in Joo Won's body. It's really ironic actually, because Ra Im supposed to be this confident, tomboyish stuntwoman, but when it comes to her interactions with Joo Won, she becomes a total girl.
"Personal Taste" is very different from other Korean dramas, in that it was the first drama I watched that put out the whole gay topic out there. It used being gay as one of the main aspects of the storyline, in that Gae In thinks that Jin Ho is gay, but he's not. One of the side characters is actually gay. What was really memorable for me was how the drama dealt with being gay, in a humorous, kind of comical way. Like, the scenes where Jin Ho is involved in some behavior or interaction with someone, that makes Gae In think that he is gay. I can still picture that scene at the motel with Seulong's character and Jin Ho, and the elevator scene with Jin Ho and his gay lover (lol, Sang Joon), Gae In's friend misunderstanding, covering her kid's eyes. Although it didn't really deal with the whole being gay thing directly, I thought it was interesting how the whole title of the drama is "Personal Taste," or personal preference, which also means "Gae In's Preference."
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