"Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982" Review

Released on October 23 of this year, “Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982” is the movie adaptation of the best-seller of the same name written by Jo Nam-Joo. This movie directed by Kim Do-Young features several episodes of discrimination that Ji-Young faces as a daughter, as a young mom, and as a women in the patriarchal Korean society. In order to raise her daughter, she has quit the job that she loved and had studied for, and she is now living a more than ordinary life as a stay-at-home mom. Her name “Kim Ji-Young”, that is extremely common for women of her age, illustrates her situation that is anchored way too much in the norms.

Although making an adaptation of such a controversial book was a pure challenge given all the venomous critics that the book had received, the director did it with flying colours.

Kim Ji-Young faces discrimination after her pregnancy. She has to deal with discrimination inside her own family due to her mother-in-law who doesn’t allow her to go back to work and her father adoring her brother just because he is a male. She also suffers from social pressure during national holidays when she has to cook for hours for all the family while the men are only watching TV or chitchatting between them. All those subjects need to be talked about. She is sadly the Korean woman of today, but will she be the one of tomorrow? Thanks to the release of this movie the vivid discussions and debates that have already taken place when the book came out have been revived. It is by talking about the problems that things can change.

Just like in any other adaptation, some episodes of the struggles she has to face have been waved aside because it is too difficult in two hours to put on screen all of what the novelist wrote.

There is nothing really shocking nor surprising at the end of the movie, so we end up questioning ourselves. Korea is changing so fast in so many ways, for better and for worse. Is there a hope for a rapid change in the fast changing Korean Society? Several personalities have given public support to the book such as Girls’ Generation’s Choi Soo-Young and Irene of Red Velvet, and they have been attacked and cyberbullied for that. Some anti-feminists announced that they would boycott the film but the movie has already made way more than 1 million entries. By closing their eyes, the situation will not get better in any way for anyone. People have to open their eyes and open them wide to get through it. But is Korea ready for the change?

To watch the teaser click here.

★★★★★

DREAM IT REAL: ERROR 404

When the man told her that she was a month too old to go to Japan to study in an international program, Manon experienced the biggest deception of her life.

In 2015, when Manon was still studying in high school, her family welcomed a Japanese student named Shiori for 10 months as part of an AFS intercultural experience (click here if you want to know more about it!). Everything went extremely well and it gave Manon the hope that she could also go in a Japanese high school for a year.

She dreamed about how her life could be there, and was picturing this dream in her head thanks to the numerous stories that her Japanese sister would tell her.

After many researches, she found out that there was a limited age to go and realised that it might not be possible for her to experience a year abroad. Her Japanese sister helped her a lot by sending emails to the association but at the association meeting, an organizer finally told her to give up this destination. 

“It felt like my dream went to Neverland”

When they came back home, Manon and Shiori cried a lot. “It felt like my dream went to Neverland”, she told us. “Shiori was crying with me, like it was her fault if I couldn’t go, or like if she was the one that had got a refusal.”

They tried by several other means to find a solution, but it was either too expensive or too late. Already interested in Korea at that time, going there was still an option for Manon but because of the stressful high school life in Korea, her parents didn’t allow her to go.

“Looking back at it, I think it was for the best”

She stayed in France and studied for her high school diploma. It wasn’t easy because she was passionate by languages but had to study maths and chemistry that she was really bad at. Thanks to her hard work and the support of her parents, she managed to graduate high school with mention and got accepted in the university where she wanted to go, a university with courses that would allow her to study both Japanese and Korean at the same time. Thanks to the partnership of this university and the huge help of Mrs. Smith, the teacher in charge of the bachelor and thanks to Mrs. Chabal, her Korean teacher, she is now studying in a Korean university in Seoul, living her best life.

“I met beautiful people in my University in France and that would not have been possible if I had been a year abroad during high school. I felt bad at that time but looking back at it, I think it was for the best. If I couldn’t go despite my efforts, I think that it was not meant to be. Maybe I wasn’t ready. Now that I’m here, I think that Campus Life is the best experience that I could have got. I’m now studying abroad, my dream came true.”

Setting : Manon, France and Korea, 2015 and today.

Problem : She wants to go study abroad in highschool in Japan but it is impossible.

Solution : She works hard, graduates high school, chooses a university that allows her to study both Korean and Japanese. She’s now in a Korean University living her best life.

Moral : Never give up. Working hard and searching for opportunities is key. If something is still impossible after you really gave your best it was not meant to be.