@article{ART003220563},
author={Jun Jeenee},
title={A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024)},
journal={Journal of Popular Narrative},
issn={1738-3188},
year={2025},
volume={31},
number={2},
pages={79-117}
TY - JOUR
AU - Jun Jeenee
TI - A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024)
JO - Journal of Popular Narrative
PY - 2025
VL - 31
IS - 2
PB - The Association of Popular Narrative
SP - 79
EP - 117
SN - 1738-3188
AB - This paper discusses the representation of apartments in popular culture in relation to the concept of women’s crime. This term encompasses both crimes committed against women and those committed by women. In doing so, it examines the cultural sociology of female crime within apartment settings from a diachronic perspective, spanning from the 1980s to the present. The analysis focuses how the apartment, and the moral ideal of “freedom,” are connected to crimes involving women—either as victims or perpetrators—and identify how such crimes reflect the desires and tensions of their respective eras.
The analysis focuses Madame Aema (1982) and Flower of the Equator (1983), which explore sexual liberation through apartment living and taboo relationships; A Dog Day Afternoon (1995), which dramatizes women’s resistance to gender-based violence; Catching Up with Gangnam Moms (2007), which addresses class mobility and maternal ambitions for educational success; and The Great Bang Ok-sook (2019–2020) and Lethal to Those Without Real Estate (2024), which focus on female crime in relation to real estate.
In analyzing these texts, this discusses the forms of freedom that apartment dwellers pursue—sexual freedom, freedom from violence, and economic freedom—and examine how women’s crimes are portrayed in the process.In line with the time periods in which these works were produced, this paper will also consider how they reflect or challenge dominant discourses of patriarchy, misogyny, and the capitalist order. These narratives will be linked to the broader anxieties of their times, as embodied by female characters who are caught between investment and speculation, and between the roles of criminal and victim, all within the symbolic and material framework of the modern apartment.
KW - Apartment;Freedom;Female Criminality;Class Mobility;Neoliberalism;Madame Aema;Flower of the Equator;A Dog Day Afternoon;Catch up with the Gangnam Mom;The Great Bang Ok-sook;Lethal to Those Without Real Estate
DO -
UR -
ER -
Jun Jeenee. (2025). A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024). Journal of Popular Narrative, 31(2), 79-117.
Jun Jeenee. 2025, "A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024)", Journal of Popular Narrative, vol.31, no.2 pp.79-117.
Jun Jeenee "A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024)" Journal of Popular Narrative 31.2 pp.79-117 (2025) : 79.
Jun Jeenee. A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024). 2025; 31(2), 79-117.
Jun Jeenee. "A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024)" Journal of Popular Narrative 31, no.2 (2025) : 79-117.
Jun Jeenee. A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024). Journal of Popular Narrative, 31(2), 79-117.
Jun Jeenee. A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024). Journal of Popular Narrative. 2025; 31(2) 79-117.
Jun Jeenee. A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024). 2025; 31(2), 79-117.
Jun Jeenee. "A Cultural History of the “Freedom” Discourse through Apartments and Female Crime (1982–2024)" Journal of Popular Narrative 31, no.2 (2025) : 79-117.
