The first one to choose is Jeon Do-yeon. Jeon Do-yeon presented a lovely romantic comedy in the role of Nam Haeng-seon, a former national volleyball player and owner of a side dish store, in tvN's recently concluded 'One-hit Scandal'. At the time of planning and filming, there were question marks about whether a romantic comedy featuring an actress in her 50s would work, but Jeon Do-yeon proudly broke the preconceptions and colored the character with her own color, and also developed a love line with actor Jung Kyung-ho (played by Choi Chi-yeol). It was portrayed convincingly.
Following Uhm Jung-hwa, Lee Young-ae transforms into a conductor and knocks on the screen. Lee Young-ae played the role of Cha Se-eum, a female conductor with a secret, in tvN's new drama 'Maestra'. 'Maestra' described Cha Se-eum as 'a world-famous classical music star who dominates the stage, captivating performers and audiences with his bold and strong personality.' Attention is focused on how Lee Young-ae will embody Cha Se-eum's character. In particular, Lee Young-ae, who experienced box office failure in the JTBC drama 'Gugyeong', which ended in December 2021, is expected to make this work even more important.
The increase in the proportion of female-led narratives is also captured in a recently published study. According to a recent diversity report jointly published by Netflix and the Annenberg Inclusion Policy Research Team at the University of Southern California (USC), 55 of the Netflix movies and series released from 2018 to 2021 featured women as solo or co-leads. It was %. In 2018, the first year of diversity analysis, the percentage of female leads started at 48.6%, and is showing an increasing trend, reaching 55.2% in 2019, 56.7% in 2020, and 61% in 2021.
It is believed that the reason women's stories are selling well is because the proportion of women who make up content providers and consumers has increased compared to before. The number of women who create content has increased, and the proportion of women who consume or purchase content is also high. In addition, it is analyzed that the main reason is that women's advancement into society has increased, but it has also become more diverse and can cover more diverse and new stories than before.
An industry official told Ten Asia, "Recently, as many female directors and content creators have emerged, the supply of women's stories has increased and the quality of their work is fresh. We are trying to produce stories that women, who are the main viewers or purchasers of content, will be interested in. “This trend continues,” he said.
Another interesting thing is that the actors mentioned who are playing the top female leads in Korea are all in their 50s and over 1,000 years of age. In the past, actors who would have simply played the roles of mothers or wives are flying high by taking on the title role.
Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr