KJCKorea
Journal Central

This study examines the meaning of war and love in the historical drama <My Dearest>, and in particular, examines through gender geography the process by which female characters become subjects while experiencing the events of war. Since <My Dearest> uses the The Manchu War of 1636(丙子胡亂) in the late Joseon Dynasty as its historical background, the violence caused by the war and the resulting destruction of daily life are treated as important. Gilchae, who lived peacefully in Neunggun-ri, is kidnapped as a prisoner, becomes a slave to a Qing official, and is sold to the slave market, returning to her hometown with physical and mental scars. <My Dearest> deals with the Neo-Confucian order and justification of the ruling class men of the late Joseon Dynasty who despise the ‘returning woman’ who endured the war and returned to her hometown from a critical perspective. This process includes dismantling the ideology that divided public and private spaces gender-wise and drawing new spaces and maps through the geographical movement of female subjects. When exploring the main locations and spatial movements of <My Dearest>, we can confirm that this historical drama is reconstructing the meaning of ‘war and women’, which had been marginalized in official history.

<My Dearest>, gender geography, Manchu War, returning woman, place, space