EPISODE #1 (Lee Dong-jae)
- UBC
- Sep 14, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 20, 2018
Funeral Culture in South Korea
- Lee Dong-jae
Links for watching the drama (Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/search?q=stranger
Links for further information about the drama (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_(TV_series)
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Episode #1 - Synopsis
The prosecutor Hwang Si-mok discovers that his person of interest has been murdered. Police lieutenant Han Yeo-jin assists him in arresting the suspect, who makes a not guilty plea. Despite suspect being convicted with evidence, Si-mok is left uncertain about it and passes his verdict to the deputy chief Lee Chang-joon as a robbery involving a third party instead of murder. Meanwhile, Yeo-jin tries to comfort the victim's family (Wikipedia 2018).
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Discussion Essay: Funeral Culture in South Korea
The funeral culture has been established in the way of showing respect to the deceased. However, the way to honor the deceased is different from culture to culture. South Korea also has its own funeral culture. In Episode #1 of ‘Stranger’, I want to concentrate on following two aspects of funeral in Korea.
Firstly, Korean funeral culture is conservative. It regards formality as really important. We could find its formality in something called ‘the chief-mourner’ (someone who represents the bereaved family wearing an armband with two lines and receives visitors). Interestingly, the criterion to decide who should be the chief-mourner is 'gender'. According to the ‘Korean Funeral Culture & Policy Institute’, the order of priority to be the chief-mourner is as follows: (1) the deceased’s eldest son (2) the deceased’s eldest grandson (3) the deceased’s eldest great grandson. In drama, the victim has two family members: his mother and his son. His mother is the eldest family member and grieves for son’s death, while his son looks like he is not caring much about his father’s death. However, his mother cannot be ‘the chief-mourner’ just because she is woman. This shows a patriarchal system still remains in Korean society. Nowadays, there is much discussion about the gender equality in various sectors. However, it does not appear in funeral culture as much. Most of the funeral proceeds in a sudden and is treated as sacred activity in Korea. Therefore, the woman has difficulty in insisting on gender equality during the period of memorial. The funeral culture is hard to be changed.
Secondly, the meaning of visitors in Korean funeral culture is important. In general, the reason why visitors come to the funeral is to show their respect. However, nowadays in Korea, the number of visitors indicates the deceased’s or the bereaved family’s social life. Therefore, the funeral functions as a social event to establish the relationship (Kang 2010, 100-102). In the drama, there is a scene that shows there is no visitor in victim’s funeral. By showing the empty funeral hall, the drama emphasizes the failure of the victim’s social life. In reality, this directly connected to the ‘shame’, one of the important concepts that explain Korean society. Korean people are always conscious of the eyes of others. Just like drama, it is possible that few visitors come to the funeral. To prevent the situation like this, someone hires people to attend their parents’ funeral. In other words, there is a part-time job that pretends to be a visitor in funeral. All they have to do is just go to the funeral, so the funeral seems to be more crowded (Park 2017). Someone believes making a funeral crowded is filial duty.
The funeral scene shows gender inequality and importance of the number of visitors in Korean funeral culture. There are endless controversies between someone who wants to keep tradition and someone who pursue its own way of respect. Nothing is right or wrong, but this is the time to think about which value Korean society should pursue.
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Discussion Questions
Among these aspects, these are discussion questions.
(1) What do you think of a custom that only man could be a chief-mourner? Is the thing that could be understood under the name of 'tradition'?
(2) If not, what could be the new order of priority to be the chief-mourner? Why? For example, the family member who sorrows the most should be the chief-mourner.
(3) Is ‘hiring part-timer as a visitor’ the true meaning of respecting the deceased? Between the authentic condolence and crowded funeral hall, which one is the true meaning of the respect? Why?
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Citation
Kang, Joonmann. "Jugeumui munhwajeongchihak: hangugui ‘jangnye’ keomyunikeisyeone gwanhan yeongu [The Cultural Politics of Death: A Study on the Communication of ‘Funeral Rites’ in Korea]." Hangugeollonhakbo [Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies] 54, no.5 (2010): 86-107
Park, Sujin. “Hagaekdaehaeng-alba jeonmuneopche 'Jeonghagaek', gyeolhonsik-doljanchi mit jomungaekdaehaeng [Part-time wedding guest company, ‘Jeonghagaek’, provides guests for wedding, first-birthday party and funeral].” NBN News Agency, Nov. 13, 2017. [http://www.nbnnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=116444]
“Sangjuui useonsunwi [The order of priority to be the chief mourner ].” Korean Funeral Culture & Policy Institute. http://www.kfcpi.or.kr/infoMadang/funeral_info.do?cid=c124 (accessed 9/16/2018).
"Stranger (TV series)." Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_(TV_series) (accessed 9/16/2018).
In Asia, a man is more likely to be seen as the person who has the responsibility to take care of the whole family; however, in recent year, this stereotype is slowly disappearing, as more people are encouraging the idea of that women can be independent and have their own values and businesses. In my opinion, this rule that only man could be a chief-mourner could be understood, but only under the name of ‘tradition’, because I think anyone in the family can competent this role, not just only man. However, in Korea society, they were born and raised in this culture, so when there is such incident, the men will be more prepared and take the responsibility - culture…
Hello everyone,
This is a difficult and sensitive topic to tackle, and kudos to Dongjae for attempting to breach the subject. It might be difficult to connect a subject of such specificity to our class topics in a non-general manner, and I would be wary of making generalized observations. Since the blog-writing is intended to help you think about analyzing Korean society more holistically, it might be better to consult with the teaching team beforehand if you want to try integrating something a little bit more unique.
As to the discussion, there seems to be a fair amount of dissent. Traditions ARE something to be understood; following them blindly is not a way to contest them, but nor is ignorance.…
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/culture/2016/02/399_147320.html
People also hire wedding guests (esp. if they are afraid that their side of the family will have fewer guests than the new spouse's side)
I actually didn't notice these aspects about the funeral scene in episode one; thanks for pointing that out, Dongjae.
As for my answer, I'll start with the first question. Like Wonny said, sometimes tradition still exists not because they're practical, but just because. However, society has changed drastically from the period that this funeral custom was made, and I feel like the need for a man to be the chief-mourner is no longer needed (though it is to my distaste that the custom was invented in the first place). Korea has started its shift toward a more gender-equal society and I believe that unneeded traditions should be modified or put to a stop to follow this flow of evolution. I…