Sex, Nationality, and Wealth: Examining Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden Through an Intersectional Lens
Presentation Type
Textual Analysis
Release Option
Event
Description
This presentation will examine two of The Handmaiden’s principle characters, Hideko and Fujiwara, and their intersecting identities. The close readings I conduct will be bolstered by the aforementioned intersectional lens, historical context regarding Japan’s occupation of Korea, criticisms from other scholars, scholarship on violence in Asian cinema, and scholarship on lesbian cinema. Ultimately I argue that The Handmaiden is a feminist film for its deft handling of intersectionality.
Abstract
Set in Japanese-occupied South Korea, The Handmaiden (2016), directed by Park Chan-Wook, depicts the struggles of language, nationality, female sexuality, and class. It is an adaptation of Fingersmith, a critically acclaimed novel set in Victorian Britain by Sarah Waters. The film is a rich text with its depth providing room for a multitude of lenses, as evidenced from the numerous articles already addressing the film. Rather than addressing each of these subjects alone, an intersectional lens proves especially fruitful. Through careful characterization and a winding plot, The Handmaiden presents a film in which class struggle is inextricable from colonialism and patriarchy.
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Helen Howells
Department of Primary Presenter's Major
Department of Literature
Location
Armstrong Campus
Symposium Year
2023
Sex, Nationality, and Wealth: Examining Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden Through an Intersectional Lens
Armstrong Campus
Set in Japanese-occupied South Korea, The Handmaiden (2016), directed by Park Chan-Wook, depicts the struggles of language, nationality, female sexuality, and class. It is an adaptation of Fingersmith, a critically acclaimed novel set in Victorian Britain by Sarah Waters. The film is a rich text with its depth providing room for a multitude of lenses, as evidenced from the numerous articles already addressing the film. Rather than addressing each of these subjects alone, an intersectional lens proves especially fruitful. Through careful characterization and a winding plot, The Handmaiden presents a film in which class struggle is inextricable from colonialism and patriarchy.