This time it’s female combat survival. Netflix is joining the “female physical era. with the upcoming original series Siren: Island of Fire. The series follows 24 specialty women, including police officers, soldiers, firefighters, stuntwomen, bodyguards, and athletes, as they fight for survival on an isolated island. The women fight with survival methods that utilize the characteristics of their professions. Following Kim Min-kyung, an ‘athletic’ comedian who showed that ‘skinny’ is not the only answer through web entertainment in 2020, female physical entertainment has already become a trend in the last two to three years, as women have been kicking balls on sports fields that were once thought to be reserved for men (SBS’s ‘Goal Hitting Girls’ in 2021). Even Netflix has jumped on the bandwagon with a survival game for “strong and professional women. The era of female physicals has literally opened up.
In the web show “Do It! Today I’m an Athletic Woman’. Captured from YouTube
Breaking the old conventions of ‘slender bodies’ and putting women in the spotlight메이저놀이터
Women’s physical entertainment is breaking the stereotypical image that women must be thin or skinny to be beautiful. Comedian Kim Min-kyung’s web show “Do it! ‘ (hereinafter referred to as ‘Exercise’) is a typical example. As a spin-off project of IHQ’s “Delicious Guys,” Kim gained attention for her unexpected talent in various sports, including golf, soccer, and Pilates. He was eventually selected for the national shooting team last year. The program was initially created because viewers were worried about Kim Min-kyung’s health, as he weighed more than the standard weight, but the show broke the stereotype in a beautiful way. The outdated grammar of the media, which has been busy whitewashing fat bodies, has also changed. Hwang Jin-mi, a pop culture critic, analyzed, “It showed that there can be a strong female body that is not only consumed as a ‘sexy or cute body’ in the media, but also a body that is the result of self-effort, not just a body to be seen by others.”
A scene from the broadcast of “Goal Hitting Women. Captured by SBS
The same can be said for SBS’s “Goal Scorers,” about women playing soccer. However, since it is a team sport, solidarity is emphasized more. The show’s narrative emphasizes competitiveness and the growth of the team through individual efforts. “In the past, content was often viewed through the lens of otherness, with men taking the lead and teaching women who didn’t know how to play sports, saying, ‘Women like this, too,'” said Kim Kyo-seok, a pop culture critic. “Now, the main difference is that there is a strong sense of agency, and women express their own desire to grow.”
Strong, professional women in law enforcement and firefighting evolve into survivalist roles
A still from the Netflix original series “Siren: Island of Fire. Courtesy of Netflix
In this trend, Siren goes a step further by showcasing strong, professional women. Whether they’re police officers, firefighters, or members of the military, it’s not uncommon for women in these professions to face prejudice that they’re underrepresented or incapable of performing their jobs. “Firefighters are doing a good job in the field regardless of gender,” said Kim Hyun-ah, the fire team leader of “Siren,” at the production announcement on the 24th, “but because I’m a woman, (my abilities) were doubted.” “I wanted to show that I’m already doing a good job through this show,” she said.
Overcoming prejudice is one of the challenges of releasing “Siren,” which features a female lead. “I don’t want to hear ‘she’s good for a woman,'” says PD Lee Eun-kyung, emphasizing that the cast members are not female firefighters, female soldiers, or female police officers, but representatives of firefighters, soldiers, and police officers. “It will be refreshing to see people you’ve never seen before because the existing survival shows are male-dominated, and the images representing the cast’s professions are mainly male,” she said.