In 2019, the release of "Kim Ji-young, born in 1982" triggered a strong response in Korean society. This film adaptation of the novel of the same name undoubtedly plays the role of a depth charge, completely disrupting a pool of stagnant water, bringing to the surface all kinds of problems deposited at the bottom of Korean society, causing extensive discussion and debate among the Korean people.
"Jin Zhiying born in 82" Douban score
The film tells the life experience of a Korean woman named Kim Ji-young. She was born in 1982 to an ordinary Korean family. Her husband is gentle and considerate, and he is enterprising, and her daughter is also well-behaved and clever, like a happy middle-class family. But Kim Ji-young does not feel a little happy, she often suffers from sexism in her life and work, she has tried to resist, but in the patriarchal Domination of Korean society, her voice is too weak, and her resistance is too weak, so that she is clamped down and suppressed everywhere, and her heart collapses a little.
The director deliberately created a happy ending at the end of the film, perhaps just to cater to the audience's psychological expectations and the mainstream moral norms of Korean society, but the realism of the whole film is too strong, and the director's realistic direction is too clear, so it is not surprising to make waves in Korean society.
Many feminist films have their own topics, and the same is true of this movie. The plot of the film itself is not particularly extreme, the director in the film to restore the Korean women in real life encounters of all kinds of unbearable, remind the public to pay attention to the status of Korean women and their inner feelings, in order to promote the awakening of the people.
Kim Ji-young
Zhao Nanzhu, the original author, said in an interview: "I don't think that telling women's stories is to exclude men, I just want to express women's lives and sufferings, attitudes and reality." "Next, I will interpret this realistic film from the perspective of the heroine's multiple identities, childhood background and rebellion.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, daughter-in-law, wife, professional woman, multiple identity pressures dominated by the collapse</h1>
Jin Zhiying is not wrong, she cannot choose her origin. But in Korean society, her female identity has become an original sin and has become a weight that many Korean women cannot bear.
01, the son-preference mother-in-law, at the beginning of the attack to Jin Zhiying sent a shackle of prejudice
On the first day of the Spring Festival, Jin Zhiying and her husband Zheng Daxian came to her mother-in-law's house together, and her husband saw that there were unwashed dishes and chopsticks piled up in the pool, so he went to the kitchen and prepared to work. Jin Zhiying saw this scene and immediately walked over. And her mother-in-law said in a mocking tone: "My daughter-in-law, what a good husband!" ”
The mother-in-law's words immediately exposed her prejudices, in her mind, the kitchen is a woman's territory, is the test of whether a woman is diligent and virtuous. If the husband had done all the work this time, then the daughter-in-law would certainly not have been welcomed by her.
In order to remind Jin Zhiying to remember her identity, her mother-in-law gave her an apron. It is also a hint to her: serving her husband and children, letting them eat and dress well, is your whole job, and it is also the value of your marriage.
Women's position in Korean families did not come about overnight. Historical and secular ideas have created the situation of Korean women today, and in the subtle evolution, the older generation of Korean women have also been assimilated, and even become unjust promoters, reducing their own experiences to the next generation.
02, the superficial and considerate husband, in essence, is still a man with worldly ideas
Many viewers commented on Jin Zhiying's husband Zhao Daxian in the play, thinking that he was tall and handsome, and he also cared for his wife carefully, without a little machismo, and was a perfect good man. However, when Kim Ji-young offered to work part-time at the bakery, Cho Dae-hyun politely rejected her suggestion for a seemingly considerate reason, believing that Kim Ji-young was tired of taking care of the children and was not in good spirits.
In daily life, many people will evaluate something with their own subjective judgment, in their view, I am looking at the problem from the perspective of the other party, for the good of the other party. In fact, these ideas are just their wishful thinking. Their kindness is actually hurting each other.
Marriage psychology believes that "I am right" is not the most destructive psychological model for marriage, but it is the key to opening the door to the fatal wounds of marriage. The reason why Jin Zhiying wants to go out to work is to prove the value of his existence and fight for the right to equal status in the family. Zhao Daxian did not understand this at all, his thinking was influenced by family and traditional ideas, and still put women above the position of husband and son and housework.
It cannot be denied that Zhao Daxian does meet the standards of a good man in people's minds. He cared about his wife's inner feelings, and in the face of his colleagues' slander, he also stood up for the first time to express his anger. He also consulted a psychologist about his wife's mental problems. He understands and cares for Kim Ji-young in his own way, thinking that he can maintain the harmony of the family, but in fact, this is just an illusion.
Through more than 40 years of clinical practice, the psychologists and the Gottmans have summarized a set of science-based Gottman Methods. They believe that there are seven levels to maintaining a healthy relationship, one of which is:
Build a love map: You need to know your partner's inner world, his or her past, troubles, stress, joys, and hopes.
At this point, Zhao Daxian obviously did not do it. His concern for his wife is superficial and he is not clear about her troubles and what she really wants. What Jin Zhiying really wants is equal rights, career equality, equal status, and gender equality. She wants to go out to work, which is essentially a process of eagerly trying to get rid of the inherent concept mode of "male outside the female protagonist" and find herself.
03. Gender discrimination and harassment encountered at work
Women, relative to men, are a vulnerable group and deserve protection and care in an ideal society. But in South Korean society, where men dominate, women are the targets of bullying.
Jin Zhiying was still working in the workplace before marriage, and her work ability was recognized by her superiors, but when selecting the members of the planning team, it was only because of her female identity that she was not selected. Because the company wants to form a long-term group of more than 5 years, it is difficult for female employees to do it for a long time.
Sooner or later, female employees will get married and have children, and married women will also be dragged down by trivial matters such as taking care of the family, which will affect women's energy investment in the workplace. The existence of this cognitive logic itself is based on a false premise, that is, women's family identity attributes. In the general perception of Koreans, women's family identity attributes are always much higher than professional identity attributes, careers should give way to families, and their competitors should be housewives, not workplace elites.
In addition to workplace competition, it is also necessary to always beware of male harassment. In the film, the company's security guards install cameras in the women's restroom, and Chief Wu, who discovered the incident, not only did not call the police, but also shared photos with male colleagues. This voyeuristic psychology of men seriously violates women's right to privacy.
But even more embarrassing is that if evidence is needed, it is necessary to go to the police station to verify the photos, and every woman who has been violated feels frightened and embarrassed. No one has the courage to face all this.
Whether in the family or in the workplace, Jin Zhiying is facing a real dilemma, under the leadership of a powerful male power, the phenomenon of women's aphasia is becoming more and more serious, and the violation is also increasing, and even a serious social disease has been formed, stifling women's rights and dignity.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, "son preference" family background, erased Kim Ji-young's childhood happiness</h1>
Adler, the founder of individual psychology, once said: Lucky people are cured by childhood all their lives; unfortunate people are cured of childhood all their lives. The harm of the original family to Jin Zhiying grew up with her and was engraved into her body.
Jin Zhiying's mother is a woman who has been hurt by her original family, she has studied well since she was a child, and once dreamed of becoming a teacher, but in order for her brother to go to school, she had to drop out of school to work to earn money. In the environment, girls were forced to die, their right to go to school was ruthlessly denied, and they were taken for granted by the world.
The mother's experience is also projected into Kim Ji-young's childhood. She sometimes remembers the experience of her childhood, and after many years, it is still vividly remembered, because in her memory, there is always a thorn that stabs her all the time, so that she cannot forget.
She and her sister once stood in front of the world map, trying to find the country they wanted to go to, she chose the United States, and her sister chose the more distant Nordic countries. She asked her sister why she was going to such a strange country, and she told her that there were no Koreans there.
Yes, where there are no Koreans, it means that there is no Korean set of moral norms and secular ideas. It also reveals the various inequalities encountered by the sisters in their original families, as well as the resentment and distress that are suppressed in their hearts.
Kim Ji-young's grandmother taught the two girls to learn to be quiet, to remain reserved, and to help their mother cook. She also complained that Kim's mother had only one boy, saying that there should be at least four men in a family so as not to appear empty.
In the stereotype of Koreans, men are the pillars of the family, and the prosperity of men in a family also means to some extent the happiness of the family. But women are not born as men's dependence, women in society to take on a lot of responsibilities and missions that men can not complete or do not want to complete, such as raising children, such as taking care of the family and so on. They are despised by a patriarchal society, their efforts and efforts are not recognized, and they are disqualified from integrating into society and realizing the value of their lives.
In Kim's family, her father is a typical example of "son preference". On a business trip to England, he bought his son an expensive fountain pen, while his two daughters only had a notebook.
Once, Jin Zhiying was studying outside late, and on the bus home, he was harassed by a strange man, and finally thanks to the help of the woman in the same car, he withdrew. However, instead of comforting Jin Zhiying, her father blamed her for wearing inappropriate clothes and too short skirts, and it was Jin Zhiying's own frivolous behavior that attracted the attention of others.
As a father, saying such a thing undoubtedly brought greater harm to Jin Zhiying, just like making up a knife in her already wounded heart. In the film, Jin Zhiying recalled the scene that happened that year, and his breathing was short and could not be calmed down for a long time.
Father's prejudices are deeply ingrained. The younger brother went to visit Jin Jiying, called his father, and asked his sister what she liked to eat, and his father said that she liked to eat red bean bread. In fact, my brother likes to eat red bean bread, and Jin Zhiying likes to eat brioche bread. In the eyes of her father, her brother is the most worthy child to love, and this biased father's love has directly created Jin Zhiying's weak and paranoid personality, which is also a factor in her mental illness.
Fang Xiangjin in the recent hit drama "An Jia" is also a victim of the original family. Mother Pan Guiyu only wants to squeeze her daughter, in her eyes, the daughter is just a bank cash machine, as long as there is a lack of money, she will call Fang Xiangjin for money, and never consider her daughter's inner feelings and practical difficulties.
The famous psychotherapy room Susan Foward points out in her work "The Original Family":
The biggest difference between healthy and toxic family systems is how much freedom family members have as individuals to express their ideas.
Healthy families promote individuality, personal responsibility, and independence, encouraging children to develop their own sense of satisfaction and self-esteem.
Unhealthy families discourage individual expression, and each family member must be consistent with the thoughts and behaviors of toxic parents. Such families create confusing personal boundaries and family relationships that do not distinguish between each other. Subconsciously, family members are confused about the boundaries and concepts of themselves and others, and in order to show intimacy, they often suppress the personality of each member.
Both Jin Zhiying and Fang Zhijin are trapped in the toxic original family. Backward and outdated ideas and prejudices are constantly ravaging their hearts, destroying their spiritual world, and seriously affecting their character formation and life direction.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, the awakening of the consciousness of resistance, the powerless struggle and compromise of Korean women</h1>
Throughout the film, we can see Kim Ji-young's awakening, struggle and resistance.
Kim Ji-young was born in 1982, and among Korean women born that year, the name is the most common. The director is telling the audience that what happened to Kim Ji-young is not an isolated case, but a common experience of most Korean women.
We can see that in the film, there are many Korean women who are discriminated against and treated unfairly. The camera does not deliberately beautify or scandalize this behavior, but adopts a documentary-like approach to present it in front of the audience, using visual impact to stimulate the audience's inner emotional resonance.
01, the female boss's way of resistance: leaving the company and starting an independent business
Kim Ji-young's female boss, Captain Kim, was forced to sacrifice her family for her career. She went back to work just a month after giving birth, entrusting the child to her mother. At a product seminar, the company's director questioned this, arguing that the child should stay with his mother, or he would end up on a crooked path. What's wrong with the success of the career, the child ruined everything is finished. Some male colleagues next to them also frequently nodded their heads in approval.
In the concept of male directors, the whole value of a woman is to raise children, no matter how much progress is made in her career, it cannot replace the value and role played by women in the family, and it is enough for women to take care of the family. This concept is essentially a prejudice and a major obstacle for Korean women to participate in society equally and freely and achieve self-growth.
Leader Jin confessed that he was not a good mother, a good wife, and a good daughter who had given up. But such a self-motivated professional woman can't get the opportunity to be promoted in the end. The resistance she made was to come out and start her own business.
By showing the plight of professional women, the director expressed his concern and anxiety, but also sent out the voice of women, sending a signal to Korean society: women should face up to their position in society, and should not discriminate against and belittle women's contributions and contributions.
02, the sister's way of rebellion: reject marriage, stay single
Kim's sister had a sense of resistance early on, and as a child she hoped to go far away from South Korea.
Kim's sister is not married in her 30s, but her aunt is worried about what she will do in the future. In the final analysis, in the eyes of the aunts, women will only be accepted by the outside world if they get married and have children, otherwise, they will become what they call "special" women.
When my sister was in high school, she and a friend caught an exhibitionist and handed it over to the police. It was supposed to be a praiseworthy thing, but she was disciplined by the teacher, saying that she did not know shame as a girl.
In order to take care of her younger siblings, her sister had to go to a normal school she did not like. Whether it is the sister or Jin Zhiying, they all represent the female group that needs to sacrifice themselves, they have no ability to fight back in the face of the times, and they can only be wrapped up by society to move forward, and they can't help themselves. A grain of ash of the times, falling on everyone's head, has become a mountain. They can't defend themselves, and even if they are wronged, they can only cry secretly and heal themselves.
03, Jin Zhiying's way of resistance: using her mother's identity to express her inner dissatisfaction and bitterness
Jin Zhiying and her husband Zhao Daxian returned to their mother-in-law's house together during the Spring Festival. The sister-in-law also returned, and the family talked about the world and enjoyed it. But Jin Zhiying was busy in the kitchen alone, thinking of his mother in his heart, remembering that on this day of family reunion, their mother and daughter were separated from each other, and a desolate feeling suddenly surged into his heart.
In the film, Kim Ji-young takes off her apron and asks her mother-in-law to let her go back to her family in the tone of her mother.
My mother, who really wanted me to rest, let me go home. The mother is very happy to see her daughter at the festival, right? I also want to see my own daughter. Since your daughter is back, it is time for my daughter to leave, and you let me take care of the eldest sister-in-law's family before leaving, how sad my family Zhiying should be! Dear family, I also feel sorry for my daughter!
Jin Zhiying used her mother's identity to speak out, expressing her dissatisfaction with the status quo. Behind the seemingly harmonious and warm family, there are already scars that have been scarred, and acts and emotions such as misunderstanding, prejudice, neglect, and harm all occur on Jin Zhiying's body. She resisted weakly, to no avail, and simply put herself in a more difficult situation.
When she consulted a psychologist, she admitted: I think it is good to live like this, as someone else's mother, someone else's wife, occasionally feel very happy, but sometimes, I feel like I am imprisoned somewhere, I always feel that over this wall, I should be able to find the exit, but still hit the wall, even if you find other ways out, you still hit the wall, is there no exit from the beginning?
These forms of resistance are weak and weak, and the traditional concept is like the wall that Kim Ji-young calls, which is difficult and impossible to dismantle in a short period of time. In the real world, faced with the current situation, Korean women have only two ways to go: to cling to or to leave. But through this film, the director is essentially exploring a third way: change, by calling on the South Korean people to pay attention to the reality of women, to achieve her goal. It's just that this road looks extremely difficult and can't be achieved overnight.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
Each of us viewers inevitably finds our own shadow in the film. We have the same women around us, who are tough, hardworking, kind, and willing to sacrifice their careers and interests for the sake of their families. They are our mothers, our partners, and our children.
This film enlightens us that what is hidden behind the appearance of a harmonious family may not be true happiness, but accommodation, forbearance, silence, compromise, and so on. The social troubles of Jin Zhiying may be difficult to eliminate, but in each small family, we can abandon traditional secular prejudices, play the role of listeners, understand each other's distress and sadness, and give unconditional support to help each other lift the shackles of psychology and harvest spiritual liberation and true happiness.