Dreams of a Woman

There are many aspects of this film that are interesting and involved in the topic of the “modern woman”. In what ways does Kyung-won demonstrate that she is a modern woman? In her youth she defied her father’s wishes and educated herself beyond the domestic sphere. She left Korea for Japan as a young adult to become a pilot, a field that is dominated by men. In fact, other than Kyung-won, there are only two other female pilots seen during this film. Kyung-won, along with these other woman have cut their hair short, similar to the phenomenon in Korea where they would sport bobbed hair.

Personally, what is most interesting to me are the switched gender roles taken on by Kyung-won and Ji-hyuk. By taking on a more put together role, Kyung-won has become more the more dominant of the two in their relationship. Ji-hyuk seems like someone who needs to be taken care of. He is clueless in what he wants to do in life. He has no aspirations other than to marry Kyung-won. Kyung-won, on the other hand, sets their relationship aside in order to pursue her ambitions. She rejects the marriage proposal because she knew the moment she got married she would not be able to accomplish her dream. Even by pursuing her dream of being a pilot she has left what should have been a position as a domestic housewife.

The most defining moment of the relationship was when Ji-hyuk decided to sacrifice his life in order for Kyung-won to be able to pursue her dream. Sacrifice is typically seen as something that a woman or more feminine character would do for love. By making Ji-hyuk essentially relinquishing the only power he had and sacrifice his life, the director has made Kyung-won more dominant and, by extension, masculine.