Female-centric narratives are gaining attention in various forms of pop culture, including dramas, films, and musicals, and are even considered a key to success as the MZ generation has emerged as the primary consumers of pop culture.
According to the content industry on December 22, stories focusing on the narratives of female characters were very popular among dramas, musicals and films released this year. In the case of dramas, tvN’s “Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born”, SBS’s “Good Partner” and JTBC’s “A Virtuous Business” are projects with female character narratives that have been hugely successful.
In particular, “Good Partner” and “Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born” gained enormous popularity, exceeding 17.5% and 16.5% viewers respectively. “Good Partner” is about female lawyers, while “Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born” is set in a national theater company made up of female performers. Additionally, “A Virtuous Business” tells the story of middle-aged women looking for someone to sell adult products door-to-door in a time when sex was still considered taboo.
In the case of films and musicals, “Moana 2” chronicled Moana’s journey as a female leader, not a heroine, while “Wicked” was about the friendship and growth of rivals Elphana and Glinda. Meanwhile, “Substance” is a horror film based on women’s obsession with appearance. Musicals with similar content about women have also received keen support and love from the audience.
In particular, instead of focusing on rivalries and conflicts, these projects highlighted the solidarity and growth of women and their relationships.
However, as female narratives and content about sisterhood have become a trend, unexpected issues have also emerged. For example, the Netflix series “The Trunk” failed to maintain its popularity due to criticism over the content of a year-old marriage contract that reminds viewers of prostitution.
With the growing trend of female-centric narratives, the pop culture industry is striving to discover more aspects of women, actively monitoring issues of gender insensitivity. An insider commented: “The key to success is finding female-centric narratives and gender-sensitive works that Generation MZ, pop culture’s primary audience, can resonate with.” Another insider shared, “Situations that may not have been problematic in the past are now considered sensitive issues. It would be difficult to manage risks if we didn’t know gender-sensitive codes.”
