All Men are Thieves: Sexuality, Consumption and Capital in Crazy Boy

As many characters in Dolai argue frequently, “all men are thieves.” Perhaps this would make a good motto for the 1985 film--its major focus is the protagonist’s battles to protect his orphanage sisters and their band from evil men who would seek to steal from them.

But steal what, exactly? Their innocence? The women are certainly portrayed as naïve and innocent throughout the film, but they also have several implied sexual encounters--most notably after their two shows at the beginning of the film. They also frequently discuss strategies for romancing said male “thieves”--they are frequently shown manipulating their appearance, mannerisms and attitudes in order to attract their suitors into relationships beneficial to the women. So perhaps innocence isn’t what the men look to take from the women. In that case, is it their sexuality?

In Measured Excess: Status, Gender, and Consumer Nationalism in South Korea, Laura Nelson discusses capitalism, frugality and how they applied to Korean nationalism in the 20^th century. She specifically discusses “’unearned income’, […] defined as income from investments, assets, and income transfers from others” and its connection to the “pleasure industry,” or the industries related to sex and sexual services (118). Here we find a connection to Crazy Boy--the villains are rich men who have gotten their income through drugs and property acquisition--in other words, unearned income--and who spend it on entertaining and romancing young, sexualized women. Perhaps this romancing is an exchange of capital in and of itself--the men exchange money and expensive outings for the girls’ sexuality. Note here that sex itself, the act, is not necessarily included in the transaction. The girls are merely presenting their sexuality--for example, in the pool scene when they dress in swimsuits and do tantalizing stretches for the men before leaping in the water and caressing their bodies with it. Sexual assault and exploitation on the part of the male characters, then, is the thievery of this sexual capital.

On its surface, the film looks like a classic tale of a celibate hero saving helpless girls and fighting against corrupt men who can’t contain their urges. However, at several points in the film--during discussions between the girls and during the pool scene--the women are shown possessing some degree of ownership over their own sexuality. In essence, the women agree at the end of the film to be more frugal about how they flaunt and spend their sexual capital. Nelson makes a similar connection between frugality and nationalism in historical Korean political discourse. Perhaps the women are reformed into patriots by Dolai’s influence--this would imply that their use of sexual capital was a sign of excessive consumption, and thus negative. However, this reading is complicated somewhat by the highly sexualized way that the camera frames the female characters throughout the film. Perhaps this complicated relationship belies deeper tensions between Korean nationalism, the capitalist system and gender politics.