
Lst night I watched the first 10 minutes or so of the Japanese version of
Cold Case,
Zettai Reido: Mikaiketsu Jiken Tokumei Sousa (
絶対零度). The show seems less like a realistic procedural and more like a genteel British TV mystery, along the lines of Miss Marple. It doesn't help that the main character is played by the Japanese idol
Aya Ueto. It is hard to give her character much credibility as a real police detective, since she is trying to be the typically "cute" Japanese female.
Korean and Japanese dramas suffer from a lack of realism when the writers are focused more on the interpersonal drama. A realistic depiction may not be their primary aim. For example, there is the current
Legend of the Patriots (which, like
Iris, might work better as a wuxia story). The romantic comedy
Secret Agent Miss Oh was laughable (in a bad way) because it was an attempt at a romantic comedy within a story revolving around agents of a S. Korean intelligence agency. Then there was the aforementioned
Iris -- while the series had many fans in S. Korea, I thought the lack of plausibility in the portrayal of intelligence work impacted the quality of the drama. (The producers could have learned a lesson or two from
24, and if you are familiar with
24, that comment should tell you a lot about
Iris.)
Given the lack of credibility to the story, it is difficult to see these dramas as vehicles of feminism. But nonetheless they do normalize the image of a career woman working in formerly all-male professions. The other day I saw a short documentary about female S. Korean police officers (cadets?) in training. At the completion of their training, they were doing the "v" sign, which I did not think was professional or serious, but girly. If male cadets were to do the same thing, I would think that they have been emasculated to an even greater degree, not knowing what is proper for their self-image.
(I note that in a recent episode of
Invincible Youth the Korean singers went to a tank base and the soldiers there seemed young, but more masculine than their peers who work in the Korean entertainment industry. It was also interesting to note that when they got some camera time to say something to their families, they were usually reassuring their families that they would be doing their best and so on. Based on my experience with the American military, I'd say it's very different from the messages and image that American soldiers present to their families. One could say that the Koreans are very family-oriented, but I also think that in comparison with Americans, they are rather infantalized because East Asian parents are too dominant in their lives. Being drafted in the military may toughen them up a bit, but it will not help develop republican virtue.)
Have women in Asia not been defeminized as quickly as those in the United States? I've seen some of the Hong Kong policewomen who cary firearms, and they do resemble
nam yan po (mannish). Sure, they are not allowed to wear makeup, or only very little, while on duty, but their demeanor is not very femenine. Those who would go into such professions would probably tend to be
nam yan po to begin with--it's very different from one sees in movies and television shows. As such societies enter the late stages of "capitalism" will radical egalitarianism take greater hold? How much longer can a family-centered ethic hold? It seems to be disappearing already in the big cities of East Asia. While most E. Asian women have it beat into their heads that they should marry young, more are content being single for a while, having small families after they marry, and returning to the workforce as soon as possible. (It may be even more of an economic necessity than it is here in the U.S., but do they consider the consequences for their children?)
How is East Asian feminism different from American feminism? Does it focus less on the "negative" (patriarchy, oppression, and so on) and more on the "positive" (equality)?