Representation of Female Identity and Emotional Healing in Korean Drama “When Life Gives You Tangerines” in Indonesia
Keywords:
K-drama, Korean Culture, Media Studies, Representation Theory, Female-Centric Media
Abstract
Korean wave or hallyu has grown very popular worldwide over the years, starting from its foods, culture, K-pop, K-movie, and K-drama. K-drama has become a source of entertainment for many people because of its actors and actresses, story line, and impeccable acting skill. Recently, both K-movie and K-drama have changed its cliche poor girl and rich guy plot towards socio cultural issue, such as rich-poor gap issue in Oscar awarded movies Parasite, structural poverty in the hit Netflix series Squid Game, and most recent is When Life Gives You Tangerines where it tells a story about women in different generation struggling to survive. It is heavily focused on women as they face hardships and struggle to break the generational pain. This study applies Stuart Halls representation theory since audiences responses are divided into relatable with the drama, relatable but to some extent, and not relatable at all. The scope of this study is in Indonesia, and employs a qualitative study by collecting data through questionnaire, textual analysis from some of the key episodes, and social media response analysis. The finding of this study is expected to contribute to the ongoing research on media studies, particularly within Asia and concentrate around women issues.
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References
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Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2015). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing (3rd ed.). London: Sage Publications.
Deller, R. A. (2023). Soap opera/serial narrative research. Media, Culture & Society, 45(6), 1032-1039. https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020231198597
Gledhill, C. (2013). Genre and Gender: The Case of Soap Opera. In S. Hall, J. Evans, & S. Nixon, Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices (2nd ed.), 335-391. London: Sage Publications.
Greenhalgh, S. (1985). Sexual Stratification: The Other Side of "Growth with Equity" in East Asia. Population and Development Review, 11 (2), 265-314. https://doi.org/10.2307/1973489
Hall, S. (2013). The work of representation. In S. Hall, J. Evans, & S. Nixon, Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices (2nd ed.), 13-74. London: Sage Publications.
Hall, S. (1980). Encoding/decoding. In S. Hall, D. Hobson, A. Lowe, & P. Willis (Eds.), Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies,128-138. London: Routledge.
Hall, S. (2019). The work of representation. In D. Morley (Ed.), Essential essays: Volume 2, Identity and diaspora, 57-74. Durham: Duke University Press.
Hall, S. (2024). Selected writings on visual arts and culture. Stuart Hall Foundation. https://www.stuarthallfoundation.org/stuart-hall/publications/
Li, T., & Cheng, S.-t. (2015). Family, Friends, and Subjective Well-being: A Comparison Between the West and Asia. In M. Demir, Friendship and Happiness: Across the Life-Span and Cultures (pp. 235-251). Netherlands: Springer. 10.1007/978-94-017-9603-3_14
Park, I. H., & Cho, L.-J. (1995). Confucianism and the Korean family. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 26 (1), 117-134. https://doi.org/10.3138/jcfs.26.1.117
Philo, G. (2008). Active audiences and the construction of public knowledge. Journal of Contemporary Sociology, 37(3), 173-187. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700802114217
Postill, J., & Pink, S. (2012). Social media ethnography: The digital researcher in a messy web. Media International Australia, 145(1), 123-134. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X1214500114
Platonov, A. (2025). Deconstructing Western culture: Stuart Hall's approach to critical theory. ResearchGate. 10.17323/3034-4409-2024-1-2-62-80
Raymo, J. M., Park, H., & Yeung, W.-j. J. (2015). Marriage and Family in East Asia: Continuity and Change. Annual Review of Sociology, 41, 471-492. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112428
Rose, G. (2022). Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials (5th ed.). London: Sage Publications.
Saulius, T., & Malinauskas, R. (2025). How do foreign students from different collectivist countries perceive interpersonal emotion regulation? A thematic analysis in Lithuania. Education Sciences, 15(1), 46. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010046
Sechiyama, K. (2013). Patriarchy in East Asia: A Comparative Sociology of Gender (The Intimate and the Public in Asian and Global Perspective). Netherlands: Brill.
Whyte, M. K. (2005). Continuity and Change in Urban Chinese Family Life. The China Journal, No. 53, 9-33. https://doi.org/10.2307/20065990
Elesser, K. (2024, February 27). Women held only 35% of speaking roles in 2023 films, according to study. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2024/02/27/women-held-only-35-of-speaking-roles-in-2023-films-according-to-study/
Netflix. (2025, March). Global Top 10 Non-English Shows March 3 - March 9, 2025. Retrieved from Tudum by Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/top10/tv-non-english?week=2025-03-09
Gazettely. (2025, March 15). When Life Gives You Tangerines Season 1 Review. Retrieved from https://gazettely.com/2025/03/entertainment/when-life-gives-you-tangerines-season-1-review/
Sportskeeda. (2025, March 15). 'When Life Gives You Tangerines': Netflix series' hidden cultural meaning, historical references, symbolism explored. https://www.sportskeeda.com/us/k-pop/when-life-gives-you-tangerines-netflix-series-hidden-cultural-meaning-historical-references-symbolism-explored
Ostby, I. (2025, March 19). When Life Gives You Tangerines: What to Know About the K-Drama. Netflix Tudum. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/when-life-gives-you-tangerines-release-date-news
Kim, P. Y. (2025, March 24). "When Life Gives You Tangerines," Turn to Your People. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culture-religion-and-psychology/202503/when-life-gives-you-tangerines-turn-to-your-people
Burt, K. (2025, March 28). The Meaning Behind the Emotional Ending of Netflix K-Drama When Life Gives You Tangerines. Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/7272692/when-life-gives-you-tangerines-ending/
Time. (2025, March 28). The meaning behind the emotional ending of Netflix K-Drama 'When Life Gives You Tangerines'. https://time.com/7272692/when-life-gives-you-tangerines-ending/
Netflix. (2025 , April). Top 10 Non-English Shows Overview April 16 - April 22, 2025. Retrieved from Tudum by Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/top10/tv-non-english?week=2025-04-13
Park, J. (2025, April 9). Diving into Jeju's distinct culture with hit drama 'When Life Gives You Tangerines'. Korea JoongAng Daily. https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-04-09/entertainment/television/Diving-into-Jejus-distinct-culture-with-hit-drama-When-Life-Gives-You-Tangerines/2281093
The Daily Star. (2025, April 10). 'When Life Gives You Tangerines': A love letter to endurance, memory, and the women of Jeju. https://www.thedailystar.net/entertainment/tv-film/news/when-life-gives-you-tangerines-love-letter-endurance-memory-and-the-women-jeju-3866546
Kim, R. (2025, April 23). How 'When Life Gives You Tangerines' explores Korean history and culture. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/reginakim/2025/04/23/how-when-life-gives-you-tangerines-explores-korean-history-and-culture/
Published
2025-10-15
Section
Original Articles
Copyright (c) 2025 Lady Yusticia Oceanie, Miftahul Nurul Janah, Winda Galuh Desfianti
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