Fall 2023 SDLC111 - Monthly Language Learning Journal #1

[David Kim]

Fall 2023 SDLC111

Monthly Language Learning Journal #1

David Kim

30262888

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For Fall 2023 SDLC 111, my Korean language partner Rachel and I decided to watch a new Korean drama “Mask Girl”  on Netflix. Mask Girl is a Korean black comedy and thriller drama about a girl living two lives based on her appearance. Kim Mo-mi is a female worker who is daydreaming about her male boss during the daytime. At night, she puts on a face mask and livestreams content for adults as her internet personality Mask Girl.

During the first twenty minutes, there was a shocking scene to me. Kim Mo-mi is love in with her boss, who is married. She thinks he is nice, attractive, and smart. When she thinks he is focusing on his work, he is actually drawing abdominal muscles in his photo. This could be a funny scene, which I also agree it is, but I think it is a great scene that represents perfectionism and the deadly beauty standard of South Korea. Even though someone else thinks he is perfect, he is eager to be ‘more’ perfect and look even nicer. I could make connections from this scene to young girls and female K-pop artists. When young girls admire female K-pop artists, they want to follow everything about them, including their appearance. They think being skinny is beautiful and try to become as skinny as possible by eating almost nothing. Their obsession with beauty leads to danger to their health, more beauty products, and also plastic surgery.

There was one scene that portrayed the 소문(So-moon)(rumor) culture of South Korea. Kim Mo-mi accidentally saw her boss whom she was in love and another female worker having an inappropriate meeting in the office at night time. During lunch with other co-workers, she told the story of what happened. Then, she could hear other people that she didn’t know talking about that story with exaggerated scenarios. They said rumors that the female worker got pregnant, and already given birth, and the boss is 두집 살림(Do-jip-sal-lim)(living in two houses). I think this scene did a good job of capturing the atmosphere of the pressure and rumor culture of Korean companies. Koreans usually have the pressure of worrying about what other people are thinking about them. That is why beauty products and plastic surgery are well-developed in South Korea. Even though everyone has the same worries and concerns, people do not mind talking negatively and gossiping about someone else. I have not experienced the rumor culture in South Korea, but you can easily find this cliché in many Korean movies, dramas, and other media. 

During September, Rachel and I completed the first two episodes of Mask Girl. The second episode introduces a new male character, Joo Oh-nam. Joo Oh-nam works at the same place as Kim Mo-Mi. He was bullied since he was young because of his appearance. He likes to be by himself and watch live-stream content for adults. As Joo Oh-nam gets to know that Mask Girl is Kim Mo-Mi, the episode ends. I am planning to keep watching it and discuss the cultural aspects of South Korea.