What’s up my friends~~~~ Hope you’ve had a good couple of weeks so far! Keeping up with the Covid-19 restrictions has been frustrating the last couple of days. Todayyyy, I’m back with my series on queer representation in kdrama. In Part 2, I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if I’d split Part 3 into three further parts and I’ve decided I’m going to do that just to make the reading and writing experience more manageable for us all lol. So that makes this Part 3.1 and Parts 3.2 and 3.3 will follow.
Overview
Part 1: (linked here) The portrayal of ‘pseudo-homosexual’ relationships and why this term is not only inaccurate but very damaging. (I’ll be covering dramas from 2007-2010s here.)
Part 3: Narratives that veer into more insightful commentaries on the experiences of the LGBT community in a society that continues to privilege heteronormativity. (Sit tight, cos we headed straight into the 2020s for this one)
Dramas featured: Itaewon Class, My Unfamiliar Family and Sunbae, Don’t Wear That Lipstick
Itaewon Class
Itaewon Class made headlines early last year when the main cast of characters featured a transgender character. The drama is based on a webtoon of the same and the webtoon was known for the way in which it tackled issues relating to racial and gender discrimination. Male lead Park Sae Ro Yi hired Ma Hyun Yi as a chef in his café, along with female lead, Yi Seo, who had been tasked to manage the café. When it is revealed that Hyun Yi is a transgender woman, Yi Seo encourages Sae Ro Yi to fire her, not just on account of Hyun Yi’s mediocre cooking skills but more because theirs was a new restaurant that she felt did not need to deal with any potential backlash if the public were to find out their chef was transgender. This was a particularly distressing scene also because Yi Seo held relatively more power in this workplace setting and she had no qualms about depriving Hyun Yi of a chance to continue working. Thankfully, Park Sae Ro Yi’s allyship was on full display as he simultaneously laid out his expectations for Hyun Yi to brush up on her cooking and permanently put an end to any discussion when he goes “If you have a problem working with her solely based on her being transgender, let me know. No matter who it is, I’ll make a decision.” His claiming of Hyun Yi as “one of (his) people” along with his very pointed glances at the staff made it very clear that, whatever decision he would have made, Hyun Yi was not the one who was at risk of losing her job. Later in the episode, Yi Seo learns to be a better manager and eventually starts referring to Hyun Yi as ‘unnie’ (elder sister), a term of endearment and that just lights Hyun Yi up! Because it’s not just an indication of Yi Seo’s attachment to her functioned as, more importantly, an acceptance of her gender identity.
Soon, the characters came to see Hyun Yi as no different from themselves until later in the season, in episode 12, when Hyun Yi, after gaining ground in a cooking competition was publicly outed against her will. This was done by a friend-turned-rival to induce the very backlash Yi Seo was worried about. This time, though, Yi Seo and the rest rallied around Hyun Yi, acknowledging that she was different – in how she was more exposed and vulnerable to the vitriol of the world beyond their café. The safe space they had created for her functioned as a safe barrier, of sorts. They stood guard around her and this allowed her to take the time she needed to decide how *she* wanted to respond and proceed. We watch her break down, in the company of her friends who hold her up when she's struggling to hold herself up and when she finally finds the strength to own who she is again, it's just so full of joy and heart. Episode 12 brings me to tears every time I watch it.
Hyun Yi gets an OTP too later in the series! But honestly, if you never end up watching Itaewon Class, just watch episodes 5 and 12 for Hyun Yi’s arc and you will not regret it.
My Unfamiliar Family and Sunbae, Don’t Put On That Lipstick
The character arcs of the queer characters in My Unfamiliar Family and Sunbae, Don’t Put On That Lipstick were also really similar. Yoon Tae Hyun (played by Kim Tae Hoon in My Unfamiliar Family) and Kang Woo Hyun (played by Lee Dong Ha) in Sunbae were both the brothers-in-law of the main characters. Midway through both series, their wives found out, in one way or another, that their husbands were gay.
What was really poignant was that both the wives, Eun Joo (played by Choo Ja Hyun in My Unfamiliar Family) and Yun Seung (played by Ha Yoon Kyung in Sunbae), were able to look past their grief and accept their husbands as gay men. Both women were crushed to find out that the men they thought they’d be spending the rest of their lives with had cheated/been cheating on them with other men. But in coping with their loss, they also displayed empathy in acknowledging how difficult it must have been for Tae Hyun and Woo Hyun to have wanted to live in the closet forever.
Both couples dealt with the aftermath of the revalation in different ways, with some characters needing more distance than others, but both couples were able to come to terms with how they did love each other and regardless of their marital status, they were family and that means standing by someone and accepting them for who they are. I loved that we saw both these wives realise that no matter how difficult the situation was for them, it was infinitely harder for their queer husbands.
The last episode of Sunbae takes us 3 years into the future – 3 years after Woo Hyun was outed. His monologue at the end is simple but so brilliant. I love how Yun Seung sits and listens and gives him the space to say whatever he needs to say.
Acceptance in a homophobic climate must be modelled
The commonalities between all the dramas featured today and later on in Part 3.2 is that all these stories deal with how the queer lived experience is fraught with stigma and discrimination that affects both mental, physical and social health. These dramas do feature a certain amount of homophobia. Like @sydelenasup on Twitter, I do agree that accurate portrayals of how much the queer community has to overcome is important.
I mean, he’s absolutely right. Watching Hyun Yi, Woo Hyun and Tae Hyun being yanked out of the closet is important BECAUSE IT HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE. In real life, so many people think it’s okay to out someone or to stigmatize them solely because of their queerness and that’s a narrative that’s so…dominant on and offscreen.
But watching these three tackle challenges head on? That could be everything to a young queer person struggling to accept themselves. Perhaps it’s not so much that homophobia needs to be seen onscreen but acceptance, even in the face of social challenges, must be modelled so that people understand the lived experiences of the queer community and how a large part of building an accepting and inclusive community involves actively countering homophobia.
That's it for today~ Stay safe, everyone! See you in two weeks! :)
Coming up next on My OTP Watch (in no particular order):
A rant on Netflix and their subtitling - if you have gripes about this, please feel free to reply with your comments and I’ll reference them (with your permission) in my article :)
Part 3.2 of this series
A look at 3 of my favourite 2nd leads OTPs!
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