Chunhyang: #Metoo in the Pentatonic Scale

A young woman from Namwon known for her virtue captured the unwanted attention of the newly installed magistrate who was arrogant, cruel, and narcissistic. The young woman's father was a government official, but her mother, whom she lived with, was a courtesan, and so perhaps the magistrate believed he could easily coerce her to be his companion. But she had a secret. She had fallen in love with the former magistrate's son, Myongyong, who became smitten with her at first sight. They were married in a short time in a secret wedding, and she swore her love and faithfulness to him. They were pressed for time, in part, because the young man was due to go away with his father, who had been recalled by the king. The new magistrate was his father's replacement and was told of the woman's legendary beauty, and he had to possess her. But despite increasing verbal and physical threats by the elderly new magistrate, the young woman resisted. She remained steadfast in her love for her husband and encouraged the magistrate to focus on his duties of governance, rather than on her. This enraged the magistrate, and he lashed out by locking her away in a jail cell. Still, she persisted.

This is the basic plot of one of the most famous tales in the Korean oeuvre of pansori (a traditional form of musical storytelling accompanied by a drum) titled Chunhyang (“Spring Fragrance”). The title's namesake and her unshakable virtue are at the center of a story that long predates the #resistance and #metoo movements, though it has resonances with them. Perhaps it is not coincidental that of the major economies of East Asia, it is only Korea that has seen much progress in terms of the #metoo movement. The “resistant woman” trope was already in the culture despite its equally long history of Confucianism and its attendant views of women. Certainly, there have been female resistors throughout Asia historically, and the complex dynamics

of the #metoo movement are still developing. But nonetheless