Female Homosexuality In Handmaiden

Running head: FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY 1

Female Homosexuality in Handmaiden

Name

Institution

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 2

Female Homosexuality in Handmaiden

Introduction

The director of the famous South Korean film Handmaiden, Park Chan-Wook, staged the

movie four years ago in a Cannes lineup competition. On the onset, the picture is an erotic

thriller, but then the creator had other views owing to the manner in which he engineered the

outlook of the film, and the way in which the events it would contain were to unravel (Soles,

2016). The common notion that has taken over the South Korean society for so long is the

heterosexuality concept (Eun-Sun, 2016). The latter is the belief that grows in the community

allowing male dominance over their fellow female counterparts which also gives the perception

that women are servants to men. Also, the director had the intention to show that sexual relations

that people view as being abnormal and unrealistic are common, and there is no problem in

practicing them freely without any issues and concerns arising.

Park Chan-Wook

Park has been an important character in the virtual face of the cinema and most

preferably that on the contemporary South Korean films. He has been in the cinema since early

2003 under the Cannes Grand Prix (Soles, 2016). At the label, he won the Oldboy which was a

great propellant for him into international prominence. In doing so, he managed to carve an

onscreen reputation for himself and proved to be rather extreme since it included a scene that

contained a live octopus which attracted a lot of viewers. In the Handmaiden, he did not yearn to

clinch for fame through his skills but rather to prove a point or two. Before coming up with film,

he thought of the existing mental hospitals which were Western institutions and the presence of a

class system in Korea.

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 3

However, he did not dwell much on the two issues but rather chose to focus on the

perception that most viewers had of the Korean women and the way he could help change them.

Being the director that majors on filmmaking made him decide to slightly alter the genre of his

movies and see find out the outcome. He made an exploration of the particular style on the topic

of homosexuality, yet his important thought was not to make a movie that would focus on human

rights but show how people can defend themselves from the prevailing situation of

discrimination (Los, 2016). His intent was to portray the relationships of homosexual romance as

a part of life that is normal.

Often the society does not see the evil for what it is but chooses to condone what is good.

It is a form of impaired judgment on the events that take place in everyday practice. Park used

the movie to show how easy it would be to punish evil and encourage good deeds, even though

the price we may have to pay might sometimes be high (Soles, 2016). In the film, female

homosexuality is seen to transcend over other factors, such as class, ethnicity and even gender.

While the members of the society are busy struggling to wage war against homosexuality and

claiming that it is an immoral act, the real issues they ought to be finding solutions to, such as

theft through pickpocketing, is growing in the streets (Seitz & Roger, 2016). Park vividly uses

the film to demonstrate how individuals might get destructed and focus on the matter that is not

important at the expense of those that matter. The issue on sexuality was merely self-fulfilling

part and not the principal intention of the director.

There are other evils in the movie such as that involving the violence towards women.

Sukee and Hideko are among the characters who undergo patriarchal violence as a way in which

the men exercise their rule over the women. In the society that we live in, there is violence that

the men often demonstrate towards their female counterparts (Carew, 2017). Their violent nature

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 4

is because they view women as being weak and thus have the upper hand in doing what they

deem fit to them regardless of what the laws state. The case in the movie is the same as in the

society since the director intended to use real happenings to make the film more realistic on

actual issues and not fictitious scenes (Seitz & Roger, 2016). The violence in the film is indeed

towards sexual objectification and pervasion. Even though the two characters face ample

violence in the course of their relation, the solidarity assists them in battling it out and

establishing heterosexuality (Carew, 2017).

How Handmaiden Differs

The movie differs from other films that Park has directed because it has the thesis-

antithesis-synthesis dialectic which forms the perfect formal composition of a three act film.

Also, each of the scenes has its own three parts of the narrative concept aforementioned. There is

the establishment of a closet ending through the three acts that complete the classical structure.

The most important characteristic of the film is that it demarcates a clear boundary between good

and evil and proceeds to give an explanation to catharsis that attributes to the destruction of evil

in the society (Los, 2016).

Representation in the Korean Mainstream Film

The movie has an excellent representation of the traditions of the Korean people at heart.

It shows how they still follow their traditions and cultural experiences, even though the world

has undergone developments and modernization in the recent past to the century. Some of the

societies have let go of what they used to believe in in their past lives and adopted what they feel

to be of the modern world. The choice to let go of one’s tradition solely relies on their will and

does not need any consultancy but then the idea to let go that fast is an implication that they did

not value them that much or rather they felt pressed by them. The advent of cultural exchanges

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 5

that revolutionized the face of the world came in handy to relieve people of what they knew to be

strict rules of the society. However, it is not the same case with Korean community since they

still hold their traditions close to their hearts just as they did several years back before the advent

of the revolution period (Seitz & Roger, 2016).

In the movie, Sook-Hee, who is a young girl raised by pickpockets and con artists, is

selected by Count Fujiwara to help him in a scheme of becoming the handmaid to Lady Hideko.

The latter is an heiress that is rather quiet but ever troubled. Sook-Hee was supposed to persuade

her to fall in love with the conman Count Fujiwara so that they would marry, but then things did

not work as the conman had anticipated since the persuasion led to the development of sexual

tension between the lady and her handmaiden (Los, 2016). It simply started with time to time

exchange of stolen glances that rose to the sharing of tender moments, and its peak was laden

with the sexual tension between them. The director portrayed the relationship in the most

burgeon manner that was convincing in the subtlest way. Thereby creating a point of climax and

anticlimax in the movie which makes it even more interesting, most of the audience are eager to

know how the relationship between the two resulted and what was the end of the scheme that she

was a part of.

The film uses Korean casts as its lead actor and also those who play other roles which

shuns way the thought of whitewashing that is prone to most of the movies produced in

Hollywood. Since the picture involved the Korean people and their cultural practices, it was only

right for the director to use Korean actors as the lead casts to evade controversy that would leave

the national vievers asking a lot of questions. Since the characters are of origin mentioned, they

are well conversant with the Korean tradition so they had no prior difficulties showing acting

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 6

about them on films as it would have been the case if the actors from other countries who were

newbies were used in their place.

Since the intention of the director was to prove some of the concepts and traditions that

the Korean people practiced to be wrong. Most of the people learn from what they see and not

what they hear. The majority of Korean women perceive themselves as being weak against their

male counterparts, and so they do not fight for what they believe to be fair for them and their

colleagues. This way, they let heterosexuality take control of the society while they continue to

suffer the pain that males make them go through because they know themselves to be weak. The

movie portrays a different version and serves as a wake-up call to them to stand up for what they

believe to be right and not what the society might think of them and their actions.

Response from the Audience

Although South Korea may be conservative, it is just right to say that they could not

withstand the dynamism that the film inspired in them. The people watching the film would have

the prior prejudice that the South Korean people would most likely flag the movie for being

immoral concerning the beliefs they have about their society, but then the case is entirely

different since most of the adults in the state found a common purpose of watching the movie.

The picture is a breakthrough since it is a major game changer that gives a clear understanding of

the people in the society and the wrong reasons as to why they are shunned or disliked by the

members of the families. Also, the movie plays as an eye-opener in which the audience

understands that no one in the universe was made perfect, and it is the imperfections that bring us

together for s common purpose.

Various studies have been put forward as a showcase of how the South Korean people

value their culture and how they guard them including that on wine culture but then somewhere

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 7

along the lines the tables were turned, and the people got to appreciate things for what they

should (Griffiths, 2014). However, the movie came as a shock since the general thought was that

it would have negative views from them, but then most of them found it rather enthusiastic to

watch. Notably, from the interview answers that the director gave, there are individuals of the

same sex in Korea, but then there has never been any movie that speaks on their behalf. Park's

Handmaiden was the first to do so against all the odds. He decided to delve into an aspect of the

community that was in existence, but most of the directors were afraid of including it in their

movies since they were afraid of the negative criticisms they would get from the society.

Major Box Office Hit

In order to even the odds, the movie turned out to be a major box office hit film in Korea

by garnering 4, 299, 707 views which were the statistics just a few days after the movie was

released (Seitz & Roger, 2016). It is an apparent indication that it had a lot of positivity towards

the people since they found it fascinating to watch. Most people may argue that the views may be

high because some of the people were repeating the movie but then one person cannot a film

more than three or four times in a row. The reality of the matter is that the picture had a broad

coverage of what most of the directors did not envision themselves depicting in their movies, and

Park dared to do it. Since most of the people were speaking about the film and its creator, those

who were still lagging behind decided to catch up with the movie thus increasing the statistics of

the viewers.

Best Adult Mainstream Movie

It is quite obvious that the adult population in most countries do not have the spare time

to watch trending movies since they are always held up with work staff. In other instances, those

who do not like watching movies use work as the scapegoat so that they don’t have to sit down

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 8

for long hours watching movies at the expense of engaging in other things. However, that was

not the case with the Handmaiden movie since it was one of the movies that had a huge

population of the adult people glued to their screens. It was a major breakthrough that the movie

had regarding the Korean adult population. The common notion is that most of viewers are the

youths who get fascinated by the events that unravel in recent films and being up to date with the

current issues. But the movie proved to be a major game changer for them since the watch was a

struggle between them and their parents

Spatial Iconology and Power Relations

There is always the issue of power struggle in most movies in which a cast tries to prove

they are more deserving than others. It is because power struggle is the main point of conception

of humankind and its subordinates and dominates the balance upon which the relationship

between individuals is based. Other than hiring Sook-Hee to persuade Hideko to marry Count

Fujiwara, the latter had the backup plan of sending the heiress to the mental asylum with the

assistance of Sook-Hee, but then the heiress and Sook-Hee ended up falling in love with one

another. This way, the intention that the con artist had of taking power from the heiress were

vanquished. It all started out as a scheme but grew and developed to become something surreal

and natural for the heiress and her handmaiden. In such instance, it is apparent that the emotional

connection that the aforementioned share surpasses the ambitious that led her to agree to be the

handmaiden to the heiress.

The relationship between Hideko, the heiress, and Sook-Hee was characterized by

massive violence that is patriarchal in nature. The pervasive male violence against the female

characters was intended to incapacitate Hideko and the independent life she was living which

leads to the development of vicious scenes within the film portraying aspects of immoral

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 9

heterosexuality in which the male casts strive to prove their might against their female

counterparts. Instead of such problems weakening the relationship that Hideko had with Sook-

Hee, it only served to make the bond the two shared stronger in all aspects (Griffiths, 2014).

However, it does not prove that am for the fact that heterosexuality is violent or wrong in the

society. It only helps to shed more light on the emotional attachment that Sook-Hee shared with

the heiress, and the also reveal the patriarchal, violent and hierarchical aspects that most of the

male casts in the play portrayed in the scenes they played (Carew, 2017).

The movie does not only base itself on romantic affairs showcased through romanticism;

the film grounds itself on analysis of the patriarchal relations. Also, the director explores the use

of the connections to show how women in the society can reclaim their agencies despite the

evident male dominance in it. In the film, Kouzuki who is an uncle to Hideko forces compels her

to read sexually explicit erotic antique that he had collected earlier in the hopes that the older

men whom she is reading to would buy them (Griffiths, 2014). The handmaiden objects to the

act by destroying all the erotic novels that Kouzuki had collected. It is a beautiful scene not only

because of the manner in which the two women were stunning but the way in which they destroy

the explicit collections. It portrays the way in which women should destroy the male authority

that has held them back from doing what they often feel like doing. The scene is also a perfect

representation of the iconography and power relations that the directors to most movies ought to

focus on instead on the modern stuff like technology.

Sexual Objectification vs. Sensual Amusement

The temporal background upon which the film is based is different from the original

novel was based because the movies envision a time in the 1930s when the colonial regime was

still in place (Schreiber, 2014). It is quite ironical that the setting of the movie is in the 1930s, but

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 10

then it portrays the aspect of female homosexuality and the fact that Hideko is under control yet

she is a woman. Such issues were never part of the society back then during the colonial era.

However, the most ironical part is that Hideko is a woman in power is the 1930s during

the Japanese colonial time but has her life in control and uses the limited space that she has to

manage all the aspects of her influence (Thurlow, 2016). She had dedicated her entire life to

ensuring that her uncle sensual fantasies were fulfilled even though there was limited space to do

so.

Since the director decided to deliberately exclude the colonialists and their authority that

had violence and oppression, he replaced them with Kouzuki who has all the traits that would be

aligned with those of the colonial rulers (Carew, 2017). Even though she was harsh and

oppressive, he was the owner of the huge mansion that Hideko was staying which tells of his

hard working nature. Kouzuki was nosy about the heiress, and so the only place she would be

free from him was being privately locked in her room with her handmaiden Sook-Hee (Davis,

2016). The room is the only place where they can share their love moments and the only place

where they can surpass the boundaries of ethnic and class differences and develop their sincere

homosexual attachments (Thurlow, 2016).

Conclusively, Hideko’s room in the mansion is quite significant since it is the place that

she can sue to escape the oppressive nature of his uncle which makes it both a spatial and

temporal background to the film (Davis, 2016). Just like most movie storylines, it had a happy

ending since the relationship of Sook-Hee and the heiress, Hideko managed to survive against all

the odds (Roger, 2017). Also, they drew strength from their emotional attachment to challenge

the male characters in the film such as Kouzuki which was a good way of showing that

heterosexuality can be vanquished if at all there is determination.

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 11

References

Carew, A. (2017). Visionary violence: Park Chan-Wook's inimitable style. Metro Magazine:

Media & Education Magazine, (191), 48-57.

Davis, A. (2016). Carceral fantasies: Cinema and prison in early twentieth-century America,

New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Eun-Sun, K. W. O. N. (2016). (Re-) defining resistance: Assassination and Dongju; The portrait

of a poet. Journal of Contemporary Korean Studies, 3(1), 339-345.

Griffiths, A. (2014). The Carceral Aesthetic: Seeing prison on film during the early cinema

period. Early Popular Visual Culture, 12(2), 174-198.

Los, A. T. (2016). The great feminist movie of Cannes? A 1930s-set Korean thriller from

'Oldboy's' director. Movies Now. Retrieved from

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-handmaiden-movie-cannes-park-

20160516-snap-story.html/. Accessed 18 June 2017.

Roger, E. J. (2017). A bold pleasure: On Park Chan-Wook's "The Handmaiden." Roger Ebert's

Journal. Retrieved from http://www.rogerebert.com/far-flung-correspondents/a-bold-

pleasure-on-park-chan-wooks-the-handmaiden/. Accessed 18 June 2017.

Schreiber, M. (2014). American postfeminist cinema: Women, romance and contemporary

culture. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.

Seitz, M. Z., & Roger, E. J. (October 21, 2016). The Handmaiden. Roger Ebert's Journal.

Retrieved from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-handmaiden-2016a. Accessed 18

June 2017.

FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN HANDMAIDEN 12

Soles, C. (2016). Review: The Handmaiden (2016). Film Review Feast. Retrieved from

http://filmreviewfeast.blogspot.com/2016/12/review-handmaiden-2016.html/. Accessed

18 June 2017.

Thurlow, M. L. (2016). The nativity story. Journal of Religion & Film, 11(1), 7-12.

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Paper type

Deadline

Page count

550 words

Total price: $ 15.00

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

USA, Student

"I'm fully satisfied with the essay I've just received. When I read it, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn’t find the necessary words. Thank you!"

Ian McGregor

UK, Student

"I don’t know what I would do without your assistance! With your help, I met my deadline just in time and the work was very professional. I will be back in several days with another assignment!"

Shannon Williams

Canada, Student

"It was the perfect experience! I enjoyed working with my writer, he delivered my work on time and followed all the guidelines about the referencing and contents."