Colby Miyose and Erika Engstrom
becomes complete. A gang of men kidnapped Jan Di, and it is Jun Pyo who
goes to the abandoned warehouse where Jan Di is being held. The kidnappers
ambush him, and tell him that the only way that he will walk out of the warehouse
alive is if he says that he would give up on Jan Di and his relationship with
her. Jun Pyo refuses. Then one of the men grabs a chair and as he is about
to break it over Jun Pyo, Jan Di jumps over him and the chair breaks over her
instead. Jun Pyo does not attempt to save Jan Di for his own self interests,
but takes physical abuse from the men so that Jan Di doesn't have to. Though
Jun Pyo and Jan Di both end up getting brutally hurt, and the chair ultimately
breaks on Jan Di’s back, it was Jun Pyo’s initial decision to risk his life and use
violence to save another.
Conclusion: Boys Over Flowers and
the Making of the “New Man”
This paper examined hegemonic masculinity and counterhegemonic
masculinity as depicted in the K-drama Boys Over Flowers. The transformation
boy” version of the new man, a persona achieved by these males’ interactions
with the two principal female characters. The self-centered F4 members evolve
into young men who come to view women as equals rather than objects,
suggesting that men have the capacity to be more egalitarian within a culture
that has experienced compressed industrialization; learn how to be trustworthy
and expressive best friends with females, debunking the hegemonic ideal that
men are to be dominant, while women are to be submissive; and use violence
not to exert status but to protect others.
Although Boys Over Flowers provides evidence that the “new man”
image may be taking hold in Korean mass media, especially texts th ] \