24 Quincy St.
Cambridge
Sun., Dec. 3, 2023, 7 – 8:45 p.m.

Female Boss centers on the transition of Yoanna from charismatic women’s rights activist to housewife as she falls in love with her hardheaded employee Kim Yong-ho. Appropriating Hollywood screwball comedies that foreground a battle of the sexes, the film caters to the restoration of Korean patriarchy. The fact that the original eponymous play was written in 1948, yet appealed to audiences in 1959, demonstrates that ambiguity surrounding the accommodation of “American values” in South Korea persisted even after the Korean War and the signing of the alliance treaty. Female Boss is also of importance in the history of Korean film technology, as the earliest existing Korean film in Cinemascope. The set of Yoanna’s women’s magazine company was specifically designed for the film’s aspect ratio, with its multiple rooms linked perpendicularly and horizontally, adding visual depth to the space she reigns over as the owner.

Gazette Classification: Diversity and Inclusion, Film
Organization/Sponsor: Harvard Film Archive
Cost: $10 / $8 seniors & non-Harvard students / Harvard Affiliates
Ticket Web Link: harvardfilmarchive.org…
Contact Info: bgravely@fas.harvard.edu
More info: harvardfilmarchive.org…