The Korean idol drama "The Queen of Tears" written by the well-known Korean screenwriter Park Ji-eun (past works include "My Love from the Star" and "Crash Landing on You") and starring Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won, ended with record-breaking ratings. During the show, it frequently became a hot topic on Weibo, and it topped the list of hot searches on the night of the finale.
"The Queen of Tears" was simultaneously broadcast on netflix
Although the ratings broke the record, the show was controversial, and many viewers criticized it for being anticlimactic. After the first 8 episodes, old Korean drama jokes such as "car accidents and amnesia" were frequently piled up. In fact, the first 8 episodes of the show also have many problems - especially its value stance.
The audience initially paid attention to this drama, not only because of the strong screenwriter and cast, but also because of its small innovation in setting: although it is still a story of "the domineering president falls in love with me", the domineering character in the drama is always the heroine. She became a symbol of power and wealth. The hero's identity was set as a commoner. He was the hero whom the heroine kissed on his own initiative. It was she who said to him "I will never make you cry". It was he who fell into marital troubles instead of She...
The audience can't help but expect that since the relationship between the characters has been adjusted, the relationship between the male and female protagonists may not be based on the traditional "hero saving the beauty", but more around mutual understanding, support, growth and facing challenges together? not at all. Although women are the boss, "Queen of Tears" quickly showed the "Cinderella complex" in traditional idol dramas - men are still the saviors, and women are the ones to be saved. Moreover, "Queen of Tears" uses various strategies to try to beautify the chaebol family, which symbolizes the power of capital. The dominance and control power of capital is rock solid.
Underneath the romantic love story, "The Queen of Tears" continues to beautify gender and class inequality. It does so more covertly and more fashionably, fully embodying the high adaptability of popular culture and being able to adapt to social changes and audience tastes. The form of expression that changes and adjusts itself seems to be in line with modern concepts, but in fact the core remains unchanged.
Of course, most viewers watch idol dramas just for entertainment. Our original intention is just to provide another perspective for watching idol dramas.
Cinderella Complex: Men always need rescue
The romantic idol drama takes the romantic love story as the main line, depicting the process of the handsome male and female protagonists from strangers to acquaintance and falling in love, including heart-warming moments, sweet interactions, affectionate confessions, and touching moments. Deep vows, etc., create a dreamy and ideal love atmosphere, emphasizing the innocence and enthusiasm of emotions, aiming to arouse the audience's strong emotional resonance, as well as their yearning and yearning for beautiful love.
"Heroes save beauties" constitutes the core narrative of romantic idol dramas and is the core source of romance. It has basic character settings and plot structure. The "hero" is almost always a male, who has extraordinary courage, strength and wisdom, and the "beauty" is a saved woman, who is usually depicted as beautiful, gentle, pure and fragile. In the story, a beautiful woman falls into some kind of danger or predicament, and the hero intervenes in the incident because of accidental passing, active search, or due to fate. Regardless of his personal safety, he bravely rushes into the danger and uses his skills and strength to save the beautiful woman - such as direct combat. , resourceful confrontation, psychological support, providing shelter, etc., which are often accompanied by the hero overcoming his own weaknesses. In the end, the hero successfully rescued the beauty and the crisis was resolved. This feat won the beauty's heart. The story ends happily with the hero and the beauty living happily ever after.
In Park Ji-eun's famous "My Love from the Star", Do Minjun has extraordinary abilities, such as teleportation, time suspension, super hearing, vision, and memory, and can always protect Cheon Songyi at critical moments—— She is a top actress and a woman who is often in danger and unable to save herself.In Park Ji-eun's other hugely successful "Crash Landing on You", Ri Jung-hyuk comes from a prominent political family and is a senior military officer. He is loyal, decisive, responsible, and has excellent military qualities and leadership skills; although Yoon Se-ri is a member of South Korea's top chaebol group The only daughter is the heir to the family business, but due to unexpected events, she was forced to stay in a place where she could hardly exert her energy. If it hadn't been for Ri Jung Hyuk's repeated rescues, Yin Shili might not have been able to survive...
Although "The Queen of Tears" made The heroine Hong Hairen became the boss, and the performance was still "a hero saving a beauty". On the surface, Hong Hairin is the boss of a department store with a strong personality, self-confidence and assertiveness, and is used to controlling situations; in contrast, the male protagonist Baek Hyun-woo comes from a civilian family and is the legal director of the group. He takes orders from Hong Hairin at work and at home. She also plays the "social gender" of traditional women - such as being arranged by her father-in-law and mother-in-law, preparing for the Hong family's sacrifices...
In a chaebol family, the son-in-law prepares things for sacrifices.
However, the plot soon made Hong Hairen suffer from a kind of disease. Strange disease, may only have three months left to live. At first, the aloof Hong Hairen did not tell her family. She endured the heaviness, fear and loneliness before the terminal illness, as well as the short-term amnesia and other symptoms caused by the terminal illness. It was precisely at this time that Baek Hyun-woo played the role of "savior" - - When Hong Hairen was weak, he gave her a shoulder. When Hong Hairen was in danger, he took her out of danger. When Hong Hairen lost the will to live, he did not hesitate to make her hate him but also inspire her fighting spirit...
"Heroes save beauties" again and again
In order to highlight Baek Hyun-woo's role as a savior, "Queen of Tears" even creates a somewhat retarded business-competition plot - Hong Hae-in belongs to a wealthy and well-established chaebol family, but is easily taken advantage of by a "vicious female partner" and a "careerist" After Song was defeated, the family had to hide in Bai Xianyu's hometown in the countryside. The illness limited Hong Hae-in's performance, and everything relied on Baek Hyun-woo's rescue. Including Hong Haeren's subsequent medical treatment, Baek Hyun-woo was also running around.
"The Queen of Tears" shows the "surface improvements" of some idol dramas: constantly improving the identity and status of the heroine, making her a top actress or a female CEO who is responsible for her career; but it does not fundamentally change their "behavior". In the position of "rescue", no matter whether the economic status of the male protagonist is higher than that of the heroine, they must be saviors with higher intelligence and ability. Men must be stronger and better than women.
Does the proliferation of the "hero saves beauty" model in idol dramas continue to strengthen male-centrism? This is not nonsense.
It is true that "heroes save beauties" does not only appear in idol dramas. It is a narrative mode that is widely known and favored by cultural works and has already appeared in ancient myths, legends and folk literature. "Heroes Save Beauty" demonstrates positive values such as courage, loyalty, justice, and sacrifice. The process of heroes defeating evil and saving beauty is also a defense of justice, kindness, and order. In this context, "Heroes Save Beauty" follows the traditional gender framework, but its purpose is to promote universal values such as justice and courage. For example, in some stories, although the female characters are in danger, they are not completely passive and wait for rescue. Instead, they show wisdom, courage or other positive qualities and participate in solving problems together. They are also the driving force for the growth of male heroes...
But More often than not, the "hero saving beauty" concept of idol dramas coincides with the patriarchal gender setting and power relations. Men occupy a dominant position and are assigned the role of strong, protector, and decision-maker, while women are positioned as weak, in need of protection, and submissive. Female characters are portrayed as needing men to save them in order to get out of trouble. This dependence relationship further highlights men as rescuers. Idol dramas frequently allow the rescued women to fall in love with the heroes. This kind of "commitment with one's body" plot further consolidates the value of men's redemption behavior.
"Promise with one's body"
When idol dramas repeat such narratives for a long time and in large quantities, it may lead to the young audiences of idol dramas accepting and internalizing these gender role models.When faced with difficulties, the default is that men should be in the position of protector, and women should accept the role of being protected. This rationalizes gender inequality in real life, weakens women's motivation and confidence in fighting for autonomy, and makes some people more eager to wait for "heroes" rather than self-salvation.
This is the "Cinderella complex" proposed by American writer Colette Dowling, describing the ambivalent mentality of some women who both desire and fear independence. Under the patriarchal structure, women's initiative and independence have been restricted for a long time, making dependence on men a cultural norm and psychological habit. Therefore, deep down in their hearts, many women not only desire to achieve personal independence, including financial independence, spiritual independence, and career success, but also have a strong desire to rely on a male partner, hoping to find an ideal male partner to solve life difficulties and improve society. status, the illusion of creating a happy life, and the hope of achieving major changes in life through marriage or romance.
"Love Brain" Chaebol: Beautifying the Power of Capital
In almost all idol dramas, there must be someone who is the "boss". There is a need to build dramatic conflict. For example, the gap in social status and lifestyle between the overbearing CEO and the ordinary heroine provides the plot with rich conflict materials, such as class gap, family opposition, career challenges, etc., making the love process full of twists and turns, increasing the tension and tension of the plot. attraction. Over time, the role of a domineering president has become a common setting in idol dramas, and audiences have clear expectations for such characters and their story routines.
The boss has more needs for emotional projection. As a role type, the domineering president possesses attributes such as wealth, power, handsome appearance, and outstanding talents. The core audience group of idol dramas is eager to see romantic stories that transcend ordinary life. Power and wealth are two symbolic capitals that people generally yearn for in real life. They satisfy the audience's needs for romantic love, material security, increased social status, and improved quality of life. fantasy and yearning.
Naturally, idol dramas beautify the powerful CEOs, which also beautifies the power of capital.
For example, the lifestyle of chaebol families in idol dramas will be presented in endless chapters. From private jets and luxury sports cars to top-notch mansions and a dazzling array of luxury items, they all display the material enjoyment brought by capital, constantly teasing and tempting the audience. . This beautification of the material world created by capital indirectly promotes recognition of the power of capital itself.
In idol dramas, domineering CEOs not only have huge wealth and prominent status, they are often portrayed as perfect images, showing superiority beyond ordinary people in terms of appearance, temperament, intelligence, etc. When idol dramas show the business empires of domineering CEOs, they are keen to focus on the moments when they make decisive decisions and strategize, and attribute their success to their personal talents. This treatment downplays the possible complexity, moral flaws, and shameful inequality of the capital accumulation process, allowing the oppressive power of capital in reality to be transformed into concrete, vivid, and charming characters.
In particular, the overbearing president’s care and love for the heroine puts an affectionate veil on the power of capital, allowing the audience to appreciate romantic love while having a positive impression of capital holders and the capital structure they represent. Emotional projection completely ignores the contradictions and structural injustices that exist between the power of capital and ordinary workers.
When beautifying the power of capital, "Queen of Tears" has both old tricks and new tricks.
In the old way, Hong Hairen's cold-bloodedness as a capitalist is concealed by her advantages such as diligence, hard work, and motivation. For example, at the beginning of the series, she demanded that some counters in the department store with the lowest turnover be removed, calling them "pests" that were dragging down performance. Bai Xianyu reminded that these counters have invested about 3 million yuan in equipment fees, and letting them go would be a breach of contract and "bullying others." Hong Hairen disagreed: Department stores are not charities. If they don’t do well, they will leave. If they don’t, they will file a lawsuit. Obviously, Hong Hairen believes in the survival of the fittest and winner-take-all neoliberalism. The audience identifies with her "sassiness" and accepts capital's cruel expulsion of the weak.
The expulsion of the weak
"The Queen of Tears" reverses the economic status of the male and female protagonists, and cannot reflect the charm of capital through a male domineering president falling in love with Cinderella; but the screenwriter "Save the Country" by beautifying the innocence and innocence of the capitalists, fully Downplay the "hoarding of filth and evil" of the chaebol family.
The Hong family, a large chaebol family where Hong Hairen belongs, includes Hong Mantai, the grandfather of Hong Hairen, the first generation of the Hong family, Hong Fanzi, the aunt of Hong Hairen, the second generation of the Hong family, Hong Hairen and her younger brother Hong, the third generation of the Hong family. Xiuzhe, both were portrayed as "love brains" by the screenwriter. The "love brain" in the Internet buzzword originally had a certain derogatory color, and was used to describe a love-centered thinking mode or psychological state. Individuals invest too much emotion, energy and attention in love relationships; when doing important things When making decisions, the "love brain" is swayed by the emotional fluctuations in the current relationship, rather than based on the actual situation and maximization of personal interests.
The big chaebols in "The Queen of Tears" have shown this "love brain" characteristic for several generations. The self-made and experienced old president was deceived by a female liar and almost lost both his life and money; Hong Hairen's aunt repeatedly encountered scumbag men in her three marriages, and soon fell into pure love again. Fortunately, she finally met a good man this time; Hong Hairen She also had a very romantic and sweet love life with Baek Hyun-woo. The arrogant Hong Hae-in finally showed her soft side in front of the lovely Baek Hyun-woo; Hong Hae-in's younger brother Hong Soo-cheol was jokingly called the pinnacle of "love brain" by the audience: he was deceived by his wife. All in all, his wife took her children to go abroad to enjoy the glory and wealth. Hong Xiuzhe did not mean to blame his wife at all. He was just painful that he could not find his wife... Hong Hairen said: "She took everything away and ran away. How can you find her?" Hong Xiuzhe said: "She didn't take everything away. She had something she forgot to take away. Me, she forgot me here. Our family Duo Hui said that we are the most noble things in the world. She took her precious me Where did you forget to go?"
Viewers were "impressed" by the "love brain" shared by generations of chaebol families. Comments were filled with similar voices, "Pure love warrior" and "Love brain is the best medicine for men. "Beautiful" "I hate being stupid at first, but Hong Soo-cheol is so innocent, I kind of like him"...
"Love Brain" is not only the "medical beauty" of men in idol dramas, but in "Queen of Tears", it is even more "Medical beauty" by big capitalists and big chaebols. First of all, the chaebol characters are portrayed as "love brains" or "pure love warriors", exaggerating their extraordinary devotion, sincerity and kindness in the face of love, which casts a moral halo on them. It is easy for the audience to project this positive emotion onto the characters, and then have a positive association with the entire chaebol family and the capital power they represent, and even lead to misunderstandings: on the contrary, those chaebol families with huge wealth are more able to transcend utilitarian thinking. , have a more pure and kind heart.
People from the chaebol family, from old to young, fall into pure love one by one.
Secondly, in real life, large consortiums and business families are often associated with complex economic and social dynamics. When "The Queen of Tears" portrays the members of the chaebol family They become "love brains" and "pure love warriors" who are affectionate and obsessed with true love, or simple-minded, mean-mouthed but kind-hearted "idiots". The audience will not associate them with power expansion, resource monopoly, market manipulation, social inequality and so on.
For example, in the middle and later parts of the plot, Hong Hae-in’s father, Hong Beom-seok, is portrayed as a somewhat detached man who becomes the backbone of the family in times of crisis, a kind-hearted husband and father, and a good man who is kind and generous to relatives (giving Baek Hyun-woo’s father a building), Most of the audience has forgotten the beginning of the plot. For an old employee of the company who resigned, Hong Fanxi ordered Baek Hyun-woo to "toughen him" and "stab him", so that the employee would be "disgraced" and "If anyone who has eaten at my house betrays me, I cannot let him." If they leave peacefully, at least they should not be able to go out in peace, so that there will be no future troubles."
The terrible face of the big chaebols
This fully reflects the extremely aggressive, selfish, ruthless, abuse of power and lack of moral restraint of the capitalists.People in the Hong family have this kind of arrogance of power to some extent. The screenwriter "whitewashed" them, and the audience gradually forgot this side of them.
Gender Overcome: The control of capital is as solid as a rock
In idol dramas, the relationship between the male and female protagonists will not be smooth. Due to differences in personality, growth background or life concepts, the relationship between the two faces ups and downs. The difference in economic status between the male and female protagonists puts them in an unequal position when resolving conflicts.
In previous idol dramas where "heroes save beauties", domineering CEOs almost always appeared habitually in a tough and controlling manner, occupying a dominant position in relationships. When there was a conflict with the heroine, the boss made her "compromise" by intervening in the heroine's life and work (for example, renting the coffee shop where the heroine worked just to talk to her a few more words, using his power to transfer the heroine into a "compromise"). to the department or project team under his direct jurisdiction, buying a property near the heroine's home to become her neighbor), all kinds of tough or childish actions are rationalized as "he does this because he likes you too much" and "he does it because he is afraid of losing You”, power inequalities in intimate relationships and the control one party has over the other are grossly glorified. If the audience is moved by this kind of love, they will naturally accept control in the name of love and identify with the energy of capital dominance and control.
The class status of the male and female protagonists in "Queen of Tears" has been reversed, and the class gap has always existed, and the same power inequality exists between the two. Although Baek Hyun-woo was the "savior", before Hong Hae-in got sick, she absolutely controlled Baek Hyun-woo. Is it a victory for women when women control men? actually not. As Dai Jinhua said, "The capitalist structure has always been a patriarchal structure." Although some popular cultural creations "do loosen or reveal the loosening of patriarchal society and open up new imaginations and perhaps social spaces, patriarchal The structure itself is almost unscathed - capital does not care about the gender of the producer as long as it does not undermine the principle of maximizing profits."
There is a scene in "Queen of Tears" that reflects capital's overpowering of gender. When she first learned that she was suffering from a strange disease, Hong Hairen refused to tell her family, "It is the worst thing for them to know." She said to Baek Hyun-woo: "You also know what grandpa said when he handed over the department store to me. He said that as long as the total sales exceed one trillion won, he will immediately skip my dad and choose me." As long as Hong Hae-in can To make money, Grandpa doesn’t care whether the heir is male or female. Sure enough, as Dai Jinhua judged: "In the ubiquitous logic of capital, the meaning of each of us as a 'person' is constantly being devalued and reduced, becoming a component in the capital chain; of course there is no tool or component in the sense of People don’t care whether you are a boy or a girl.”
As long as you can make money, it doesn’t matter whether the heir is a man or a woman.
"While capitalism destroyed the traditional social order, it created or copied another social class based on inequality." This social class is maintained by capital. There is a quantitative division. To put it simply, whoever has capital will be domineering, and whoever has capital will have control and dominance. "It must be monopolistic, violent, greedy, practical, and authoritative."
"The Queen of Tears" continues the "social hierarchy based on inequality", and the powerful Hong family is always superior to others. In the past, when Baek Xianyu and Hong Hairen got married, Baek Xianyu's mother talked with Hong Hairen's mother. She hoped that the Hong family would treat Bai Xianyu well. Hong Hairen's mother sneered at her from a superior position: "He married my daughter with all his heart. He is not an economical lamp. I am praising him, This is what a lawyer should do: know how to fight for his own things, be good at calculations and be realistic." Bai Xianyu's married life has always been monitored by the Hong family, followed by people, and every move must be reported to the superiors. The screenwriter only used comedy techniques to present the cute side of Baek Hyun-woo when he was a "waste" - the audience also got this, and did not realize the horror of this kind of control and dominance.
Kim Soo Hyun's crying scene is very "cute", but Baek Hyun Woo's crying is true - there are two people monitoring his every move in the distance, which is actually a scary thing
When Hong Hae In and Baek Hyun Woo had an emotional relationship due to a misunderstanding During the rift, Hong Hairen used her status as CEO to "retaliate" against Baek Hyun-woo and deliberately made things difficult for him. For example, she asked him to sort out the group's failed lawsuits in a short period of time, and asked her secretary to check Baek Hyun-woo's expenditure details to see how much money he spent. Where to go... When she found out that Baek Hyun-woo had recently sent 300,000 won and flowers to another woman, Hong Hae-in threatened to take revenge on that woman. She went to confirm it in person and found that things were not what she imagined...
This kind of plot makes the audience relish Le Dao, many people like to see the arrogant female CEO getting into chaos because of jealousy. Naturally, they ignore that Hong Hairen uses his economic advantage to control and dominate Baek Xianyu, and the overbearing CEO dominates Cinderella in the name of love, which is essentially reflected in The "inequality" of who has capital and who is domineering.
"The Queen of Tears" can be called an ode to capital. Every detail is a worship of the control power of capital. Whoever has money can dominate everything. For example, Bai Xianyu's father encountered difficulties in the election of the village chief. His opponent laughed at his wife who never came to see him, and the villagers burst into laughter. Surprisingly, Hong Hairen returned to the village with a luxury motorcade and gave the villagers luxurious gifts. The whole village immediately turned to support Baek Hyunwoo's father. The audience was as happy and proud as the Bai family - with a capable daughter-in-law, they would not care about capital's intervention in the election - even though it was just a small village chief election.
What's even more funny is that just because Hong Hairen came to the village, many people came here to experience the place where the rich stayed. "Even if you can't dress like the rich, you can at least eat the same as the rich." It immediately stimulated the economic development of the village.
The biggest villains of the whole drama are Yin Yinsheng, a capitalist who has climbed up from the bottom step by step, and his mother, Ms. Mou. The evil-ridden mother and son fully demonstrate the ugliest face of capital control - "monopoly, violence, and greed." , practical and authoritative”. But defeating a bad capitalist shows that the Hong family are good capitalists - they all become more humane and compassionate in the end. It’s just that there is a bad person among the capitalists, not that there is anything wrong with the patriarchal capital structure itself. Those who are overpowered are men and women, both good and bad.
A family portrait of a chaebol. They are all good people. The bad ones are just careerists who climbed up from the bottom.
Looking at idol dramas from a different perspective is not to be hostile or criticizing, nor is it against the audience's right to eat sugar. It is just to provide a different kind of experience. Viewing perspective. Pop culture hides specific ideologies under the surface of entertainment. In the process of enjoying the story, the audience unknowingly accepts and internalizes these values, realizing the implicit spread of ideology. Popular idol dramas represented by "The Queen of Tears", no matter whether their routines are old or new, have consolidated the control of patriarchy and capital, and beautified gender and class inequality in the name of romance.
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