The Evolution of Strong Female Leads In Dramaland

^{*I did my best to avoid spoilers, hope this article is safe for you.}

Allow me to take you with me and go back, way back to the previous decade, the 2010s. Now that it’s 2020 let’s look at how strong female leads were written and portrayed.
You see, these great early 2010s dramas, which started the drama journey for a lot of us, had something in common; a physically strong female lead and a somewhat cowering male lead.

At the time, rich man poor woman trope was all the rage so in Secret Garden (2010) and Protect The Boss (2011), the women weren't just physically strong but also financially struggling and trying to survive. Their character strength had to be highlighted with their physical strength. Identifying strong women was still very shallow and basic at the time, but it showed how physically strong women could be feminine despite some old misconceptions. By the way,  Ha Ji Won showcased a great hardworking stunt woman. I appreciated her stunts after trying the Thai remake more than ever.

	Then came the year 2012 with King2Hearts (2012), a strong drama with, YES, a physically strong female lead, (also  Ha Ji Won). Yet that wasn’t the only thing highlighted. She was also a smart and resourceful person who used that to survive marriage with her literal enemy and stay mentally strong in the most hostile environment.
And in the same year The Reply Series, the Queen of all love triangles began with Reply 1997 (2012) which had a confident, resilient fangirl and offered a new cute and a little aggressive female lead with nice non-cowering male leads.

With I Hear Your Voice (2013), came the thick-faced unorganized strong woman but the year really didn’t offer much; I mean, it’s when we got when a man's in love, a drama without a single redeemable female. Then You Who Came From The Stars (2013-2014) (time does fly) which wasn’t tagged as strong female lead, and I know the controversy, but she’s a confident woman who chased after the man she loved, stood up for others, withstood cyber-bullying and when she fell she cried her heart out, wiped her tears and went to war looking fabulous. 

So far, in most dramas, they were still painted or hinted as hysteric, cold or rude, especially if they weren’t poor and struggling. As in Cunning Single Lady (2014), a flawed drama that still demonstrated, how a hardworking woman can be viewed in society because of her circumstances. On the other hand, Healer (2014) praised Yeong Shin’s strength; who always fought through her fear and trauma despite being mostly terrified and in dangerous situations. She cared for herself, her family and never let her own fear stop her.

Then we got Heard it Through The Grapevine (2015) which is this underrated family drama about teenage pregnancy and classism and Splash Splash Love (2015) that is a drama special about a teen stressed because of the exams, who time travels to Joseon and finds her strength. Both aired in 2015 with other popular romcoms featuring various aspects of strong women like Kill Me Heal Me (2015) and others. 

Now, if we’re to talk about Goblin (2016), then my thoughts on the romance are irrelevant (I watched for the top-notch bromance). Despite that Eun Tak was undeniably a strong female lead in every decision and action she made.	The shining one in Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim (2016) was Dr. Yoon, always focused on what matters all through the drama; she’s fair and fierce while battling for her mental health.   SHOUT OUT to Nurse Oh cause, duh.

2017 was a great year for strong female leads; dramas like Chicago Typewriter (2017) offered the badass female lead, in both timelines. It was tough to find anything to complain about her.
	Avenger’s Social Club (2017), a truly underrated gem, stars three middle-aged women and their avenging journey to become unlikely friends and find strength. Can't talk without spoiling so let's leave it at that.
Oh, and we also had Because This Is My First Life (2017), in it not only did Ji Ho have a patriarchal family that she did her best to survive away from but her friends were strong women with totally opposite personalities and goals in life.
	When it came to A Korean Odyssey (2017), I remember arguments at the time for calling Seon Mi strong. Yes, she was needy. But she was lonely all her life, she wanted companionship. She survived all her life on her own, so wanting to be loved shouldn’t make any less of her.

2018 had little powerful romcoms to offer, but we still had dramas like 100 Days My Prince (2018) that showed a common woman in Joseon surviving with her family in crazy times and hard conditions.

With the end of the decade, 2019 shined with a lot of strong female leads, the characters weren’t just well written but also the shining stars of the stories. They offered so many strong women stories and showed their hardships and their points of view. It was the best closure to the decade. we had dramas like:

* Her Private Life (2019), as fans we relate to Dok Mi and her struggles a lot. She shined doing what she loves, and she always found a way to do it. Watching her juggle fan life, work-life and the judgment from everyone but our dear lion hit a chord with me (I am sure am not alone here). may we all have a successful fan life with her strength in fighting for it all?

* Search: WWW (2019), the whole drama is about badass, strong women. They were always sharp, they were tough at times, and they were soft at times, but they fought till the end. The drama didn’t excuse bad behaviour and revealed how these women were looked at and what they were really are made of. Another great addition to 2019.

* When The Camellia Blooms (2019), finally, a single mother as the lead, and the drama shows the prejudice and the difficulties she faces, all the ugly and suffering she endures, while painting her as a nice, bit of pushover, keeping her head low, trying to survive kind of person. in the same time relating her to other single mothers society accepts more.

* The Tale of Nokdu (2019), I wrote a whole article about the female representation in this drama. It’s remarkable how they set a great example for others.

Strong women evolved slowly yet steadily through the decade, they were all different, but they had one thing in common they were fighting one way or the other. Dramas can now show more issues and present more empowering and dimensional characters. The hope that the older dramas tried to present is shining, now with more diverse stories and more evolved content while preserving the light and romantic core of it all.

  <sup>* Honorary mention :   
- My Father Is Strange (2017), I am a big fan of the family and the drama, it shows a loving father raising all these different strong women and their journey to be better and stronger while the actual plot happens.</sup>

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