Two new dramas, "Empress Ki" and "A Well Grown Daughter," feature girls dressed as boys, so it may be time to take another look at the kdrama women who have dressed up as men.
Why is it such a popular theme in kdramas?
In historical dramas, it has to do with tradition. It was traditional in Korean culture, as in many other cultures, for women to be submissive, to focus their lives on family and the home. But limiting their lives to being a good daughter, wife and mother was not to everyone's taste. So, dressing up as a boy definitely gave you more options.
Such stories also draw inspiration from the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, in which a woman dressed up as a man so she could take her father's place in the army. In "Empress Ki," Ha Ji Won dresses as a boy so she can fight but despite her endurance and strength, she is discovered.
In "Goddess of Fire: Jeonji" Moon Geun Young dressed as a boy so she could become a ceramic artist. She also previously played a girl-disguised as a boy in "Painter of the Wind." In "Gu Family Book," it took a while for Lee Seung Gi to notice that Suzy was really a girl as she wore men's clothes and fought.
In modern day kdramas, the stories take their lead from the many animes and mangas that have women disguised as men. Such dramas always make a funny and yet touching statement about the difference between genders and the true nature of love.
In "A Well Grown Daughter," Park Han Byul dresses as a boy because her family longs for a son.
With men wearing long hair in historical dramas, women could keep their long locks and still stand a chance of going undetected, but in modern dramas, women often have to chop off theirs to make a convincing male. Consider Park Gyu Ri as the writer-turned male nail shop artist in "Nail Shop Paris." Or Choi Seol Ri as the girl attending a boy's high school in "To The Beautiful You."
While the audience might not be fooled by a change of hairstyle or clothes, the characters in the drama are much easier to confuse. It always takes a surprisingly long time for anyone to notice, which leads to all sorts of romantic complications.
In "Coffee Prince," Gong Yoo falls in love with Yoon Eun Hye despite the fact that he thinks she is a boy and he has so far only liked boys.
In "You're Beautiful," Lee Hong Ki is flummoxed by the fact that he likes Park Shin Hye when he thinks she is a boy. And in "Sungkyunkwan Scandal" Park Yoochun has confused feelings for Park Min Young, who is disguised as a male scholar.
While "Secret Garden" does not involve characters dressing up in the clothes of another gender, the two leading actors do switch bodies and have to act more feminine or masculine according to what body they are in.
What defines gender? As fluffy as they occasionally are, these dramas show that it is more complicated than you might imagine. Which ones are your favorite gender-bending dramas and why do you like them?
