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The Great Queen Seondeok - The Most

Phenomenal Korean Historical Drama in


2009
The drama is directed by Park Hong Kyun and Kim Keun Hong from
MBC production. Fifty episodes and due to audience attention was added by
twelve episodes more. The writer is Kim Young Hyun.

The story takes place in the


Southeast Korean kingdom, Silla,
which has been expanded by the late
King Jinheung. An aristocrat named
Mi Shil, whose power could rival a
king's influence, desires to be queen.
One opportunity comes when the
wife of Jinheung's grandson,
Jinpyeong, gives birth to twin girls.

There was a prophecy saying that if a king has twin girls, the male seeds in
the royal bloodline will dry up, in other words, no proper royal male heir (Eochul
Ssangsaeng Seonggol Nam Jin). Mi Shil and the nobles on her side plan to
expose the twins so they can remove the current queen and get Mi Shil that
position. In order to prevent this, Jinpyeong sends his youngest daughter away
with a clumsy palace maiden, though not without huge regrets (he's shown
shaking when he carries his oldest daughter). The maid, Sohwa, manages to
escape pursuit with the help of one of the hwarangs (Silla equivalent of knights),
Munno, the strongest hwarang in Silla.

Fifteen years later, the younger twin, named Deokman, grows up in the
Taklaman Desert in China, where she lives in a merchant town with Sohwa. She is
cunning, witty, and a tomboy. She meets Chilsuk, one of Mi Shil's men who was
sent to find the younger twin, who has been trying to carry out his lady' orders for
FIFTEEN YEARS. Chilsuk later realizes that Deokman is the twin and tries to
capture her, but fails when a sandstorm strikes.

Deokman resolves to go to Silla to find out why she was being pursued.
When she arrives, she meets her older sister, Cheonmyeong, and future Korean
general Kim Yu-shin. Five years later Deokman learns that she's the daughter of
the king who abandoned her, and Mi Shil once again tries to expose her, while a
noble loyal to the king sends assassins to kill her. Chunmyeong tries to help her
younger sister escape, but is accidently killed by one of Mi Shil's people.
Deokman then resolves to get the royal court to reaccept her as princess of Silla
and fight Mi Shil in her struggle for power.
Abstract

Feminism is not a simple or unified philosophy. Many different women (and men) call
themselves feminists, and the beliefs of these groups of people vary quite a bit. Feminism
is no longer a taboo especially for women. Now feminism is not only meant for women.
Today many women fought for justice and the welfare of themselves and others.
Sometimes many women do not exactly get what they are entitled as in the protection and
law. This is the cause of the rising of feminism. Many women struggle for justice and
trying to escape from her own burden. In the other hand feminism there is also among
them who has ambitious goals as a leader for the social prosperity. This paper will be
discussed on feminism, why it happened, and what the goals of feminism itself.

Feminism

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines feminism as "the theory of the political,


economic, and social equality of the sexes and organized activity on behalf of
women's rights and interests."

There are several types of feminism. The first type is liberal feminism. Liberal
feminism is characterized by an individualistic emphasis on equality. According
to this philosophy, society itself does not need a major overhaul, but rather laws
need to be changed and opportunities have to be opened up to allow women to
become equals in society. To a liberal feminist, evidence of progress is seen
largely by the numbers of women in positions previous occupied by men,
especially powerful positions. In the United States and much of the Western
world, liberal feminism is the most mainstream form of feminism. And then the
other type of feminism is socialist feminism. Socialist feminism (sometimes
known as Marxist feminism) is different than liberal feminism in that it
emphasizes that true equality will not be achieved without major overhauls within
society-- particularly economic overhauls. Socialists’ feminists argue that there
are fundamental equalities built in to a capitalist society because power and
capital are distributed unevenly. Thus, it's not enough for women to individually
work to rise to powerful positions in society; rather, power needs to be
redistributed throughout society. Liberal feminists focus on individual
empowerment, while socialist feminists focus on collective change and
empowerment.

Analyzing
The story takes place in the Southeast Korean kingdom, Silla, which has
been expanded by the late King Jinheung. An aristocrat named Mi Shil,
whose power could rival a king's influence, desires to be queen. One
opportunity comes when the wife of Jinheung's grandson, Jinpyeong,
gives birth to twin girls.

The synopsis above was told about a woman who wanted a power. She aspired to
become a queen. Through those examples we can see that not only men who have
an ambition and want to be a leader. It turned out that women can have the similar
ambition, although not possessed by all women because of their ambitions vary.
They have a different feeling with men. Their feeling is more gentle and it can be
more carefuly than men. However there are times when they want to be
recognized. They want to prove their existence, they want to show that they exist,
and they want to become stronger. Perhaps it causes the rise of their struggle.
They also wanted to prove that they are not being as weak as people thought and
that they can do what men do, including being a leader. It cannot be blamed
because if an emancipation wants to be realized, the struggle is needed by every
woman. Without the struggle of every woman, they will forever be a "konco
wingking" for men. At least it can be a struggle for themselves and their families.

There was a prophecy saying that if a king has twin


girls, the male seeds in the royal bloodline will dry up, in other
words, no proper royal male heir (Eochul Ssangsaeng
Seonggol Nam Jin). Mi Shil and the nobles on her side plan
to expose the twins so they can remove the current queen and
get Mi Shil that position. In order to prevent this, Jinpyeong
sends his youngest daughter away with a clumsy palace
maiden, though not without huge regrets (he's shown shaking
when he carries his oldest daughter). The maid, Sohwa,
manages to escape pursuit with the help of one of the
hwarangs (Silla equivalent of knights), Munno, the strongest
hwarang in Silla.
Fifteen years later, the younger twin, named Deokman, grows
up in the Taklaman Desert in China, where she lives in a merchant town
with Sohwa. She is cunning, witty, and a tomboy. She meets Chilsuk, one
of Mi Shil's men who was sent to find the younger twin, who has been
trying to carry out his lady' orders for FIFTEEN YEARS. Chilsuk later
realizes that Deokman is the twin and tries to capture her, but fails when
a sandstorm strikes.
Deokman resolves to go to Silla to find out why she was being
pursued. When she arrives, she meets her older sister, Cheonmyeong,
and future Korean general Kim Yu-shin. Five years later Deokman
learns that she's the daughter of the king who abandoned her, and Mi
Shil once again tries to expose her, while a noble loyal to the king sends
assassins to kill her. Chunmyeong tries to help her younger sister
escape, but is accidently killed by one of Mi Shil's people. Deokman then
resolves to get the royal court to reaccept her as princess of Silla and
fight Mi Shil in her struggle for power.

Through the example of film synopsis above we can identified that the character
who played most are women. The most men only act as bodyguards or soldiers,
even that vying for power are the women. One of the female character in the film
even made a various ways to get what she wants. But on the other hand there is
also the daughter of the king that struggle for the prosperity of the society. She did
not want that the empire fall into the wrong hands. That is the conflict between the
princess and the palace guard who was also a woman to get the position as a
queen.
Struggle for existence among women is necessary. However, as the nature of
women who are always behind the back of men or at least in the same position
with men, cannot be forgotten easily. If they comes to achieve their ambition used
the way more than what can be done by men so it was referring to the wrong
cause. Because men were meant as a leader and protector while women are led
and protected. Unless the authority is abused by men then the women needs to
fight for the creation of justice.
Movie reviewer above is one example where the struggle of socialist feminism
done not only for herself but also for her followers in the community and change
for the better. If a woman has managed to get her strength, it still not enough if
there is no support in the community.

Sources

http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/1191.html

http://kadorama-recaps.blogspot.com/2009/10/great-queen-
seondeok.html
INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
Lecturer: Rachmat Nurcahyo

Retnaningtyas W. W. P
08202241016
PBI 3A

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT


FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY
2010

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