Mother-Daughter Relationships In You Are The Best, Lee Soon Shin

1916 Words4 Pages

There are many forms of love and relationships. They are often portrayed differently based on a culture. Taking a Humanities course at University of Michigan that focused on love and relationships in South Korea, made me think about one more relationship that was not fully discussed. The relationship between mother and daughter. What makes someone a mother: the fact that she physically gave birth to a child or that she raised and nurtured the child? What makes a good daughter: the one loyal to her family or the one who pursues her own dream? To address the questions, the following cinematic feature, “You are the Best, Lee Soon Shin”, specifically episode 33 will be analyzed to explore the mother-daughter relationship in South Korea. The main character, Lee Soon Shin is raised and nurtured by Kim Jung-ae, until one day she finds out that her real mother, Song Mi-ryung, the famous movie star, wants to …show more content…

Their form of sacrifices differs: Song Mi-ryung sacrifices her career and identity as a movie star, while Kim Jung-ae sacrifices her identity of an individual and woman. However, as Jaesook Gho said, although “the influence of Confucianism has declined with modernization, there were two important features of the mother-daughter relationship that still persist: devotion and indulgence” (20) Both Song Mi-ryung and KIm Jung-ae show devotion towards Soon Shin by sacrificing their own needs to satisfy hers. They are ready to do anything that would help her succeed either by convincing the film directors to take her on numerous projects as one of the actresses(Song Mi-ryung), or by shunning other daughters for putting Soon Shin down (Kim Jung-ae). We witness two different women coming from different backgrounds, modern and traditional, having maternal desires and needs. Song Mi-ryung wants Soon Shin to appreciate her as a motherly figure, while Kim Jung-ae wants her to not forget her as a motherly

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