crazy dolai

The movie begins with a setting that depicts the hectic and crowded Seoul of the 1980s.  

As weird as the movie was, I found it interesting and hilarious to watch.

With the economical development in Korea, citizens gradually focused more on materialism, instead of frugality, one of the core values of confucianism, which prevailed in traditional Korea. The extravagant hairstyles and outfits in the film justifies the era in which “society’s consume trend [was] developing toward extravagance and an all-out dedication to pleasure because the general recognition of the value of abstinence has been erased” (116).

The rapid zooming in and out camera technique used to capture the girls on stage, and the sweeping movement of the camera as it captured them exercising in the swimming pool, as well as many other filmic techniques, shows the male gaze, which is quite disturbing and highly sexualized in the film. 

Although the film tricks us into believing that the director intends to critique the gender issue in Korean society of the 1980s, the plot and the camera techniques show the opposite. The film seems to imply that women who financially support themselves and are not reliant on men will be the ones who would not get ‘hurt’ and be considered as ‘modern'. However, dolai’s presence implies that in order to save and protect women, the presence of a ‘good man’ who knows ‘justice’(like hk movies) is necessary. If you spell dolai(crazy boy) other way around in Korean, it’s spelled as idol. Maybe.. that implies something? Now as we are entering the second decade of the 21st century, 30 years after the film was released, i hope and believe that no such ‘idols’ nor ‘crazy boys’ should exist to protect women, but that women who are equal to men, are independent and that they can protect themselves.(why does protecting herself need to exist in the first place..:( ) In short, we as viewers shouldn't idolize dolai.