Blue Swallow: the new woman

             Based on a real story, Blue Swallow depicts the life of Park Kyung Won, the first South Korean female pilot, during the period of Japanese colonization. After reading Yoo’s work, I could not help but relate Park to the characteristics of the “new woman”. To begin with, while the colonial schools aimed “‘the fostering of feminine virtues such as constancy and domesticity’ in girls (Yoo, 62)”, Park attended the flight school instead (where most enrolled students were male). Also, as hairstyle serves as a medium to express women’s rebellion (Yoo, 74), Park’s bobbed hair should be noticed. What is interesting about hairstyle is the haircut that Jung-hee got; prior to beginning her education at the flight school, she has long braided hair, but once she attends the academy, her hair is short (bobbed hair). The clothes that Park wears are also far from being feminine (when she is working at the cab firm, when she is getting training at the academy). Moreover, unlike the traditional women who are submissive to men, “[the new women] were awakened individuals who had the right to confront men (Yoo, 79)” This is shown in the scene where Park complains to the dean about the unfairness of Gibe participating in the contest rather than Park.

             Furthermore, considering the fact that the film is based on the colonial era, would it be correct to regard Park as pro-Japanese collaborator? As Seo writes, “In the Korean context [… pro-Japanese collaborators] applies to national traitors who engaged in anti-national activities by helping the enemy and betraying the nation (Seo, 90)” Although it is difficult to classify Park as a nation-traitor because of the Japanese flag on her plane, her behaviors did not seem anti-Korean at all. In fact, she kept her Korean name (living as a zainichi Korean) even if that would have easily identified her as a non-Japanese. Plus, her dream to fly “back home” and the name of her plane (cheongyeon) clearly shows how much she is missing her country. Even if she decided to put the Japanese flag, she died on her way to "home".

             Throughout the movie, I was very impressed at all the long shots taken of the plane that Park was piloting; as a viewer, these scenes helped me get into the mood of Park’s fascination of planes, and the scenery was absolutely beautiful to look at.