Confronting the Gaze of the “Other”: A Feminist Interpretation of the Film Kim Ji-young: Born 1982

The film, Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 shows the survival predicament of the female groups under the context of the male gaze in South Korea and the persecution of females from the “other” in Korean society through the triggers of mental illness. It illustrates how females lose their voices under the Synopticon, adopting a strategy of internal focalization, which means the female groups may face a loss of power and be at a disadvantage in the social fields. The film tries to rationalize its narrative by constructing the image of one particular mental patient, and satirically highlighting the collective identity crisis among females caused by their low status, to starkly present a grand spectacle of the patriarchal siege on females in the Republic of Korea.