Tough tough gals
Dec. 11th, 2009 12:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieBy popular demand: Top 10 most kick-ass heroines in kdrama: no order.
1. Seosono, Jumong
Queen Seosono is one of the toughest, strongest women out there. The drama may be called "Jumong" but without her, the legendary warrior/ruler/founder of Gogureyo would have probably died young unlamented by all. Seosono, when we first meet her, is a merchant princess, travelling with her father's caravans through dangerous territories as the leader. When, eventually, she becomes a queen, you know this is someone truly competent to run a kingdom.
She can fight, she is smart, and she is tough, pragmatic, and no-nonsense. When they first meet in fact, Jumong is a spoiled weakling, cossetted by his mother but loathed by his half-brothers who have literally left him to die. It is up to Seosono to whip him into shape. The relationship they enter into transforms from mentor-mentee and employer-employee to pragmatic allies, to friends, to finally lovers. But whatever else changes, one thing does not - Seosono remains strong throughout.
2 Maria, Lobbyist
Maria (played by the late Jang Jin Young) is one of the toughest women you will ever meet in a Korean drama. An international arms lobbyist, she can speak a multitude of languages, can outshoot any man, keep her head under pressure (and she gets a lot of pressure - tortured by warlords can't be too fun), and is no stranger to digging out bullets with an old knife and no anesthesia out of best friend-turned-lover.
More importantly, Maria is a "complete" person - she has her own, driving revenge quest and her own tragic backstory (so often both are provinces of men in kdramas). There is a bit of delicious gender reversal in this drama. She is the hardened one, the emotionally closed-off one. Harry, the hero of the drama, despite being very tough himself, is the emotional one, the one who tries to get through her shell. One of the things I will love Lobbyist forever for is that Maria is shown to occasionally sleep with clients to get the deals done and that is portrayed as not admirable as it is "commercial cheating" but she is not viewed as a slut for it either by the drama or Harry himself.
3. Yeon, The Kingdom of the Winds
Yeon is somewhere between Maria and Seosono - she can be very tough but in a more traditional way. A princess of Buyo, Yeon is a highly trained and skilled doctor, which already places her in the "she is smart, dedicated, and awesome" category. Oh, and her father runs an evil ninja camp so she is also conversant in less benign arts. Fluent in many languages, Yeon is also completely fearless. In her ladylike way, she is as tough as they come - her father gets framed and executed for treason, she trudges on foot to a new life. She volunteers to go on dangerous assassination missions into enemy territory and carries her role without a hitch. What kind of woman she is? It can all be summed up by the way she meets the hero - she marches into an army camp and starts treating him, an enemy soldier who's been tied up and tortured, and then, one lady in a sea of military men, demands that he be released and not executed.
(You know, I never realized it, but this is the third drama on this list where the male star is Song Il Gook - clearly he seems to do dramas with a lot of strong women in them. Good for him!)
4. Chae-Ok, Damo
An equivalent of a police woman (though nominally a police tea-servant) Chae-Ok is incredible. She can solve crimes and fight equally well (when policemen run to her rescue to prevent her from being raped, by the time they get there, she's disposed of all the assailants who are now very dead), damaged with a tragic family back story, emotionally shut-off, very loyal, and torn between idealism, hope and duty. She is allowed to be complicated and complex, strong and damaged, and incredibly, incredibly tough.
5. Sujini, Legend
Probably my favorite period drama heroine ever, Sujini is who I want to be when I grow up, except I am older than she is. When we first meet her, she is a genial drinker/swindler, who can outfight you, outdrink you, and pick your wallet all at the same time. She becomes the best friend of Dam Duk, the future king of Gogureyo, who may be a Korean version of King Arthur and savior of humanity but who would never get into any position to trandform the world if Sujini did not save his life early and often. She is the one who backs Dum Duk up in any fight, no matter the odds and she can do it while joking.
She is the one who has the power to destroy the world but that is not why I love her - I love her because she is the heroine whom you see give a hardened mercenary sex advice in the middle of a battle.
When Dam Duk tells her he does not care if she destroys the world as long as she is by his side, I know exactly how he feels.
5. Joo Joon Young, Worlds Within
Sujini would win my favorite heroine award hands down if it wasn't for this particular lady. Joon Young is my favorite heroine in my favorite drama. Unlike the other ladies on the list, Joon Young has probably never held a weapon. Being a modern-world tv director, there is not much call for that sort of thing. Nontheless, in a drama full of tough, clever, complicated women (I could fill half this list with the ladies of WW), Joon Young wins my heart.
Educated, smart, a little too idealistic about her work, drivingly ambitious. Joon Young is a woman in a man's world - the only female director we see in the drama - she knows that she has to work against the norm for acceptance and we see her struggle and win. She is not made cutesy or clumsy to win our sympathy - not for her sweetness and light. She can jump down the throat of an underling because they talk to her too casually (because they would never do so to a male director), she can work her cast too hard. In one memorable scene, she tells the hero she does not want children and if he breaks up with her over it, she is going to tell everyone he's a sexist. And it's not portrayed as evil on her part (a later scene where they negotiate this and other issues is hilarious but also awesome). Men are allowed to be career-driven, why should women not be?
She is a little selfish, a little giving, sometimes uncertain, always hardworking (her work hours are insane), tenacious in work and in love. She has complicated relationships with her parents, growing female comradeship, and she is in love with her best friend. There is nothing I do not love about her.
6. Seung Hee, IRIS
You know all about her - I've been blabbing about her forever. A top profiler for an evil secret agency, Seung Hee is whip-smart (the hero falls for her when she intellectually bests him), can tote most any weapon, and just never ever breaks. She is allowed to be a tough clever spy and to be deeply feminine at the same time.
6a. Sun Hwa, IRIS
In many ways, Sun Hwa is Seung Hee's mirror but she is also a mirror to the hero of IRIS. A North Korean elite sniper/spy, Sun Hwa had to go through incredible training and came out not only a killing machine but someone who can still love.
7. Na Yeo Kyeong, Capital Scandal
Otherwise known as "Ja Ma Ja", Yeo Kyeong is an idealistic 1930s book-seller by day and a member of the Korean underground by night. She can carry out missions, bravely withstand torture (though terrified), slap the hero (who is about a foot taller than she is) without hesitation when he's fresh. And she won't be put into cotton wool and protected. No, she will learn to shoot, and she will kill, if necessary. When's the last time you saw a dainty diminutive lady pick up a gun to go avenge mistreatment of her man?
7a. Cha Song Joo, Capital Scandal
One of Seoul's most famous courtesans, Song Joo is also an assassin for the underground. Someone capable of platonic friendships with men and a possessor of tragic history and the most amazing secondary OTP in history, Song Joo is my favorite secondary female character ever.
8. Chunhyang, Delightful Girl Chunhyang
How much do I love Chunhyang? She is shown to be someone very intelligent: she is the best student in school. She is brave and doesn't think anything of fighting back. And she is incredibly strong-willed. Mong-Ryong does not have to rescue a princess on a regular basis. They rescue each other. And she is no coy damsel. She doesn't play emotional games.
And another thing I love? Chun-Hyang is very intelligent, fiercely opinionated, and physically intrepid. And? She does not make any effort to conceal any of these qualities, to be a 'proper girl.' One of the best, most feminist things in DGCH is that Mong-Ryong does not love her despite these qualities, he loves her because of them. He is proud of his bossy, fierce wife, even as he is completely uncowed by her. In some ways, there is an interesting 'traditional gender role' reversal in this drama: Mong-Ryong is the more impulsive one, less driven achiever one, and he is the more emotionally open one. After all, it's Chun-Hyang who has to pretend not to love him, and Mong-Ryong who keeps baring his heart to her. Also, unlike in a number of dramas where the heroine is an intelligent high-achiever, she doesn't have to end up with some sort of a lower-status domestic type guy, as if no intelligent and strong-willed man would want to have "competition." DGCH portrays a relationship of equals.
9. Anna, Fantasy Couple
Fantasy Couple, the drama, I can take or leave alone. But Anna, its ascerbic, fierce, unapologetic rich-bitch heroine, no doubt belongs on this list. Anna is rich and forthright and a terror on two very high heels and the drama sees no need to humble her over the fact. Even by the end, she becomes a little bit nicer - more livable with, but she never loses her unapologetic lack of bs or acquires any shrinking femininity. Imagine a tougher, smarter Korean Cordelia Chase and you are set.
10. Ja Myung, Princess Ja Myung Go
Abandoned, brought up and trained as a fighter, eventual protector of her kingdom, then rebel leader, while also managing to maintain friendships and an impossible love, Ja Myung is simply amazing.
Honorable Mention: Yoon Yeo Ok, Eyes of Dawn and Kim Hae Kyung, Seoul 1945 - I am sure both of these will belong on the above list once I finish their dramas - any woman who can survive what they have (both dramas are about WW2 and EoD deals with comfort women in addition) and remain strong, are incredible.
ETA: How could I forget the heroine of Nine-Tailed Fox - an elite fighter in a Korean equivalent of 'vampires' squadron. LOVE HER.
1. Seosono, Jumong
Queen Seosono is one of the toughest, strongest women out there. The drama may be called "Jumong" but without her, the legendary warrior/ruler/founder of Gogureyo would have probably died young unlamented by all. Seosono, when we first meet her, is a merchant princess, travelling with her father's caravans through dangerous territories as the leader. When, eventually, she becomes a queen, you know this is someone truly competent to run a kingdom.
She can fight, she is smart, and she is tough, pragmatic, and no-nonsense. When they first meet in fact, Jumong is a spoiled weakling, cossetted by his mother but loathed by his half-brothers who have literally left him to die. It is up to Seosono to whip him into shape. The relationship they enter into transforms from mentor-mentee and employer-employee to pragmatic allies, to friends, to finally lovers. But whatever else changes, one thing does not - Seosono remains strong throughout.
2 Maria, Lobbyist
Maria (played by the late Jang Jin Young) is one of the toughest women you will ever meet in a Korean drama. An international arms lobbyist, she can speak a multitude of languages, can outshoot any man, keep her head under pressure (and she gets a lot of pressure - tortured by warlords can't be too fun), and is no stranger to digging out bullets with an old knife and no anesthesia out of best friend-turned-lover.
More importantly, Maria is a "complete" person - she has her own, driving revenge quest and her own tragic backstory (so often both are provinces of men in kdramas). There is a bit of delicious gender reversal in this drama. She is the hardened one, the emotionally closed-off one. Harry, the hero of the drama, despite being very tough himself, is the emotional one, the one who tries to get through her shell. One of the things I will love Lobbyist forever for is that Maria is shown to occasionally sleep with clients to get the deals done and that is portrayed as not admirable as it is "commercial cheating" but she is not viewed as a slut for it either by the drama or Harry himself.
3. Yeon, The Kingdom of the Winds
Yeon is somewhere between Maria and Seosono - she can be very tough but in a more traditional way. A princess of Buyo, Yeon is a highly trained and skilled doctor, which already places her in the "she is smart, dedicated, and awesome" category. Oh, and her father runs an evil ninja camp so she is also conversant in less benign arts. Fluent in many languages, Yeon is also completely fearless. In her ladylike way, she is as tough as they come - her father gets framed and executed for treason, she trudges on foot to a new life. She volunteers to go on dangerous assassination missions into enemy territory and carries her role without a hitch. What kind of woman she is? It can all be summed up by the way she meets the hero - she marches into an army camp and starts treating him, an enemy soldier who's been tied up and tortured, and then, one lady in a sea of military men, demands that he be released and not executed.
(You know, I never realized it, but this is the third drama on this list where the male star is Song Il Gook - clearly he seems to do dramas with a lot of strong women in them. Good for him!)
4. Chae-Ok, Damo
An equivalent of a police woman (though nominally a police tea-servant) Chae-Ok is incredible. She can solve crimes and fight equally well (when policemen run to her rescue to prevent her from being raped, by the time they get there, she's disposed of all the assailants who are now very dead), damaged with a tragic family back story, emotionally shut-off, very loyal, and torn between idealism, hope and duty. She is allowed to be complicated and complex, strong and damaged, and incredibly, incredibly tough.
5. Sujini, Legend
Probably my favorite period drama heroine ever, Sujini is who I want to be when I grow up, except I am older than she is. When we first meet her, she is a genial drinker/swindler, who can outfight you, outdrink you, and pick your wallet all at the same time. She becomes the best friend of Dam Duk, the future king of Gogureyo, who may be a Korean version of King Arthur and savior of humanity but who would never get into any position to trandform the world if Sujini did not save his life early and often. She is the one who backs Dum Duk up in any fight, no matter the odds and she can do it while joking.
She is the one who has the power to destroy the world but that is not why I love her - I love her because she is the heroine whom you see give a hardened mercenary sex advice in the middle of a battle.
When Dam Duk tells her he does not care if she destroys the world as long as she is by his side, I know exactly how he feels.
5. Joo Joon Young, Worlds Within
Sujini would win my favorite heroine award hands down if it wasn't for this particular lady. Joon Young is my favorite heroine in my favorite drama. Unlike the other ladies on the list, Joon Young has probably never held a weapon. Being a modern-world tv director, there is not much call for that sort of thing. Nontheless, in a drama full of tough, clever, complicated women (I could fill half this list with the ladies of WW), Joon Young wins my heart.
Educated, smart, a little too idealistic about her work, drivingly ambitious. Joon Young is a woman in a man's world - the only female director we see in the drama - she knows that she has to work against the norm for acceptance and we see her struggle and win. She is not made cutesy or clumsy to win our sympathy - not for her sweetness and light. She can jump down the throat of an underling because they talk to her too casually (because they would never do so to a male director), she can work her cast too hard. In one memorable scene, she tells the hero she does not want children and if he breaks up with her over it, she is going to tell everyone he's a sexist. And it's not portrayed as evil on her part (a later scene where they negotiate this and other issues is hilarious but also awesome). Men are allowed to be career-driven, why should women not be?
She is a little selfish, a little giving, sometimes uncertain, always hardworking (her work hours are insane), tenacious in work and in love. She has complicated relationships with her parents, growing female comradeship, and she is in love with her best friend. There is nothing I do not love about her.
6. Seung Hee, IRIS
You know all about her - I've been blabbing about her forever. A top profiler for an evil secret agency, Seung Hee is whip-smart (the hero falls for her when she intellectually bests him), can tote most any weapon, and just never ever breaks. She is allowed to be a tough clever spy and to be deeply feminine at the same time.
6a. Sun Hwa, IRIS
In many ways, Sun Hwa is Seung Hee's mirror but she is also a mirror to the hero of IRIS. A North Korean elite sniper/spy, Sun Hwa had to go through incredible training and came out not only a killing machine but someone who can still love.
7. Na Yeo Kyeong, Capital Scandal
Otherwise known as "Ja Ma Ja", Yeo Kyeong is an idealistic 1930s book-seller by day and a member of the Korean underground by night. She can carry out missions, bravely withstand torture (though terrified), slap the hero (who is about a foot taller than she is) without hesitation when he's fresh. And she won't be put into cotton wool and protected. No, she will learn to shoot, and she will kill, if necessary. When's the last time you saw a dainty diminutive lady pick up a gun to go avenge mistreatment of her man?
7a. Cha Song Joo, Capital Scandal
One of Seoul's most famous courtesans, Song Joo is also an assassin for the underground. Someone capable of platonic friendships with men and a possessor of tragic history and the most amazing secondary OTP in history, Song Joo is my favorite secondary female character ever.
8. Chunhyang, Delightful Girl Chunhyang
How much do I love Chunhyang? She is shown to be someone very intelligent: she is the best student in school. She is brave and doesn't think anything of fighting back. And she is incredibly strong-willed. Mong-Ryong does not have to rescue a princess on a regular basis. They rescue each other. And she is no coy damsel. She doesn't play emotional games.
And another thing I love? Chun-Hyang is very intelligent, fiercely opinionated, and physically intrepid. And? She does not make any effort to conceal any of these qualities, to be a 'proper girl.' One of the best, most feminist things in DGCH is that Mong-Ryong does not love her despite these qualities, he loves her because of them. He is proud of his bossy, fierce wife, even as he is completely uncowed by her. In some ways, there is an interesting 'traditional gender role' reversal in this drama: Mong-Ryong is the more impulsive one, less driven achiever one, and he is the more emotionally open one. After all, it's Chun-Hyang who has to pretend not to love him, and Mong-Ryong who keeps baring his heart to her. Also, unlike in a number of dramas where the heroine is an intelligent high-achiever, she doesn't have to end up with some sort of a lower-status domestic type guy, as if no intelligent and strong-willed man would want to have "competition." DGCH portrays a relationship of equals.
9. Anna, Fantasy Couple
Fantasy Couple, the drama, I can take or leave alone. But Anna, its ascerbic, fierce, unapologetic rich-bitch heroine, no doubt belongs on this list. Anna is rich and forthright and a terror on two very high heels and the drama sees no need to humble her over the fact. Even by the end, she becomes a little bit nicer - more livable with, but she never loses her unapologetic lack of bs or acquires any shrinking femininity. Imagine a tougher, smarter Korean Cordelia Chase and you are set.
10. Ja Myung, Princess Ja Myung Go
Abandoned, brought up and trained as a fighter, eventual protector of her kingdom, then rebel leader, while also managing to maintain friendships and an impossible love, Ja Myung is simply amazing.
Honorable Mention: Yoon Yeo Ok, Eyes of Dawn and Kim Hae Kyung, Seoul 1945 - I am sure both of these will belong on the above list once I finish their dramas - any woman who can survive what they have (both dramas are about WW2 and EoD deals with comfort women in addition) and remain strong, are incredible.
ETA: How could I forget the heroine of Nine-Tailed Fox - an elite fighter in a Korean equivalent of 'vampires' squadron. LOVE HER.
