Female Workers in South Korean vs. Japanese Drama Series: Remake of Misaeng: Incomplete Life
Keywords:
Female Workers, Remake, Japanese Drama Series, South Korean Drama SeriesAbstract
The complex phenomenon of the workplace in South Korea became the main focus of Misaeng: Incomplete Life drama series. One of the issues that was brought up in the drama series is the issue related to female workers. In 2016, Misaeng: Incomplete Life was made into a remake version by Japan, which is Hope: Kitai Zero no Shinnyu Shain drama series with a storyline that is almost similar to the original drama series. This research aims to examine how Misaeng: Incomplete Life drama series and its remake, Hope: Kitai Zero no Shinnyu Shain drama series, depict issues related to female workers. This research is descriptive qualitative with textual analysis. The result of this research shows that the depiction of female workers in Misaeng: Incomplete Life and Hope: Kitai Zero no Shinnyu Shain has similarities and differences. In general, Misaeng: Incomplete Life and Hope: Kitai Zero no Shinnyu Shain both depict women as people who are more inferior than men. This depiction is still correlated with Confucianism which developed in Japan and South Korea. Meanwhile, the differences that occur in both drama series happen because of socio-cultural differences in Japan and South Korea. Therefore, Hope: Kitai Zero no Shinnyu Shain is classified as creative remake drama series. This creative remake was made to accommodate the socio-cultural differences between Japan and South Korea.