By Minako Kamio

Nowadays, movies draw a wide audience in Korea and take an important position in entertainment. Domestically produced movies play a large role in amusement at more than 40 percent ― Japan has only around 15 percent.

Also, Korea, which is in high growth economic period, is far more developed in Internet use than Japan. Korea seems to be in the same situation that Japan used to be. The customs of Korea are based on the teachings of Confucius, however, it seems that the image of Korean women is changing more and more as time goes by; the traditional image of Korean women is like that of Japan, quiet, modest, and obedient.

In the summer of 2002, My Sassy Girl was released and attracted five million people and became a great hit as if to imply the changing of image of the Korean woman. After that, this movie was released in Japan in January of this year.

The original work of this movie is based a serial written on-line in August, 1999 by a man about his "experiences with a sassy girl." It soon became very popular. After it was novelized and eventually became a best-selling book, it was brought to the screen.

The story is that Kyon-woo, an university student, helped a sassy, drunk girl in the subway, which started their relationship. Though he sometimes worries about her capricious ways, this is a love story between him and the sassy girl who has a deep sorrow in spirit. This story also includes laughter and tears. She has a way of saying "You shall die!" She is certainly violent, but she is lively and has a strong sense of justice. She is such a heroine that she transforms the traditional, conservative image of the Korean woman.

This movie made the word, "Sassy," a very fashionable one and produced new nuances in the word, which in this movie means "cool and unique" and "curiously funny," and started to be used very often among Korean with a good meaning. Then it was selected for the "Fashionable Word Prize" by the Korean NBC TV.

My Sassy Girl caused a great sensation as a "Symbol of Freedom" which changed the traditional, conservative image of Korean society.

In addition, Jun Ji-hyun, starring as the heroine, earned two prizes, the Best Actress Award and the Popularity Award in the 39th Korean Academy Awards. She is regarded as an charismatic actress of the younger generation, having a large number of young female fans.

Thus, you can see that now, in Korea, the ideal image of the woman is changing very much from the neat and obedient to the strong and cheerful.