Now, why am I writing this? It is simple, because Boon Ok is Life, and I am set to try to prove it. Keyword here being TRY. I am fully aware that Boon Ok is not a very popular character in Snowdrop. My aim is simple, if I cannot convince anyone to sympathize with her, I will at least hope that whoever reads this will consider sympathizing with the next tragic hero that comes along in Kdrama. And if I can just get one person to sympathize with Boon Ok’s character, then I have accomplished my mission, and I can rest assured, I am not alone in my beliefs. I may edit this from time to time to clean up my thoughts better, please bear with me.
To begin, let us look at the definition of a tragic hero.
- The idea of a tragic hero was first defined by ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle based on his studies of Greek Drama.
- Despite the term “Tragic Hero” it is not always the protagonist, and even antagonist can be seen as Tragic Heroes. Case in point, Darth Vader is considered a Tragic Hero.
- A tragic hero will normally have noble qualities, but not always.
- A tragic hero always has a tragic flaw, also called hamartia, that often leads to that characters downfall
- A tragic hero will normally experience a reversal of fortune, from good to bad, or bad to good. And at times it is felt that the consequences outweigh what the character actually deserved.
- In modern tragedies, the tragic hero is no longer considered someone who has only noble qualities, or even the protagonist.
- The tragic hero, at the end of the story, comes to fail due to their tragic flaw.s
Some modern examples of Modern Tragic Heroes are Darth Vader of Star Wars, Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman, and Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby.
And for today, I present you, Book Ok, the tragic hero of Snowdrop.
How easy is it to dislike Boon Ok? Very easy actually, the plot has showed her in the worst light, every time a decision has to be made, she makes the one that the audiences absolutely dislikes. She’s not a very popular character because her actions often act as hindrances to the main couples romance. Whether she is trying to steal the paper airplane, or when she is blaming Young Ro for getting favoritism, she is constantly derided in the comment section week by week. I feel that too many people are focusing on the WHAT and the HOW, but not really delving deeper into the WHY.
Let’s look a little deeper. I am a big believer that someone’s tragic family history has the power to dictate who you become as an adult. From what we can tell, Boon Oks is the younger of two daughters. And it seems that her parents favored her older sister. We don’t know the age difference between Boon Ok and her older sister, but if the age difference is significant enough, it is not surprising she would be favored, especially in Asian culture. Now having said that, it is not uncommon for poor parents to only have enough money to send one child to higher learning; in fact in other Asian countries where parents have multiple children, sometimes only the boys are able to be sent to university. Since we hear Boon Ok talk about now being born to a great family name, we already know that she was born to a poor family. On can only imagine what Boon Ok is feeling, not only does her parents not have the capability to send her to college, but it appears they invested most of their savings into their “Golden Ticket” child, the eldest daughter who would go to Germany, make money and help her parents. Unfortunately, for reasons unexplained, that sister was framed for being a communist by the ANSP and tortured and eventually died. The father, lately falls ill out of shock, and in complete irony, the daughter, who wasn’t expected to amount to much due to lack of education, is suddenly the one who is earning money to support the father. Now keep in mind in 1987, for a woman to have no college education, essentially meant you could not get any other job except for sex work, due to the patriarchal society in South Korea in 1987 (gender discrimination and etc…). In fact, the radicalized women’s movement started at around this year, headed by college students.
We also see, from how Boon Ok talks, that although her parents favored her sister, she LOVED her sister. And based on how she is acting now, she LOVES her father. It’s entirely possible that not only was the father hoping for the sister in Germany to succeed, but so was Boon Ok, because if the sister can succeed and earn enough money, she may be able to finance Boon Ok’s college education. It is entirely possible as well, that Ms. Pi was the person who got Boon Ok’s sister involve, and that Boon Ok secretly blames Ms. Pi for her sister’s death. Maybe it was easy for her to pull the trigger on the gun, because of this reason. But here is the thing, although we don’t know the circumstances of the sister’s life in Germany, we do know that in 1987, Germany was herself heading to a unification, which meant radicalization was rampant on both sides of Germany. It is entirely possible that the sister could have gotten herself mixed up in fellow radicalized college students (Ms. Pi) and inadvertently gotten herself mixed up with the ANSP. I don’t want to blame the sister, but that is something Boon Ok would not have done in the same position. I have read stories of students from China, who are only child, and the parents saved up all their life savings to send their son/daughter to US/Europe hoping that they will be that “Golden Ticket” child, only for that child to end up in the wrong side of the road, doing drugs, not taking the studies seriously, and eventually wasting their parents money.
I am thinking this may be the case with Boon Ok’s sister. If you knew your family in South Korea are counting on you and your success, you may not want to even consider joining any public demonstration. In some ways, it was a tad bit selfish of Boon Ok’s sister to be tied up with that type of crowd, if that is indeed what happened. At this point it’s all assumptions based on how she ended up with ANSP. Look at Lee Gwang Tae for example, the ANSP only tortured him due to his association with Soo Ho. In a display of life’s little ironies, the daughter who was not expected to succeed is the one who ends up taking care of the family. And her filial piety, and her love for her father, being the sole breadwinner on a small salary is effectively her tragic flaw, and it is what will constantly rear its head and make her end up in poor decisions that will constantly causes her downfall in many situations in the drama.
To further talk about Boon Ok, we need to quickly touch on the characterization of Young Ro. Are we surprised Disney is behind Snowdrop? Young Ro’s characterization literally screams Disney Princess. The romanticized fantasies, the prince charming, the evil stepmother, the heroic tendencies and the overly optimistic persona are all qualities most modern Disney princess encapsulates. But you know what? Disney princess are called that for a reason, most of the time, they are gilded in fantasy, they don’t often represent realistic portrayal of life. In many ways Young Ro represents the best side of humanity, the side is always optimistic, the hero in all of us. It’s the goodness in humanity we don’t see often. She’s the perfect Kdrama Mary Sue, the heroine, she allows us to stay entrenched in the escapism Kdrama offers.
Then we compare it to Boon Ok, who once we know her character better, forces us to view a mirror we often hide in the recesses of our purses. That side of us we would rather hide from others; the jealousy, the anger, the cynicism, the hopelessness of it all. She is the character that wakes us up from our reverie, reminds us that Kdrama is not only a medium of escapism but also sometimes a mirror that allows us to see our inner weaknesses. We see through her POV, a woman who has had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at her, and yet she cannot give up, she takes all the insults, the judgment from her juniors and she pocket it in, because she cannot fight back, she needs the money she makes, someone counts on her not to lose her job, not to lose her life. I feel she portrays what a person who has experienced such terrible tragedies would be like when not given any hope or any means of TRUE friendship to better herself.
Throughout the drama we see that some words that easily trigger Boon Ok are implications on her lack of intelligence, focus on her lack of ability to find work, and her financial status. These triggering situations give us a view on how insecure Boon OK is and how cynical her family’s history has made her. Initially in the first episode, we see her attempt to stand indignant, but in the end stand down as she is brow beaten by society that constantly reminds her of her place in the social totem pole, as well as the financial hierarchy. While in the dorm, she is at the bottom of the barrel, probably her only co-conspirator is the old man, who eventually jumps on the train of Team Young Ro, and in that way, she loses her only ally. She stands alone in a dorm that hurls insult at her, demeans her. She is powerless. In fact, she probably revels at her job as phone operator. We see this in EP. 1 of the drama where she handles the phone as if she was Judge, Jury and Executioner, who decides who is able to answer phone calls, and who doesn’t. In her mundane life and job, this is probably the only time when she is able to have any semblance of power, and she leans into it. Because outside of her controlling the phone calls, she is often ridiculed by Queen Bee Hye Roung, who makes it clear she is the most popular girl in the dorm.
The drama aims to portray Young Ro as a poor girl at the same level as the old man and Boon ok. In fact, note in EP. 1 or 2, Young Ro opts to share her Rice Balls with the two people who are similarly financially challenged, the Old Man and Boon Ok. Yes, it could be argued, she may only have given it to them as a way of thank you. But it is symbolically important in showing their financial/social status. But is Young Ro really in the same status as them? Arguable even if you don’t consider the wealth and status of her father, the fact that she is in Hosu Dorm as a student already puts a power/status discrepancy between these 3 characters. And being in the same dorm room as the coolest most popular girl in Hosu doesn’t help Young Ro’s sympathetic case.
Interestingly enough, one would wonder, why someone as shallow as Hye Roung would even be friends with Young Ro given Young Ro’s poor financial background.It is not like Hye Roung knew about Young Ro’s hidden secret. It has to do more with circumstances. Eventhough Young Ro is not shown to be rich in the dorm, circumstances have allowed her to be in the same dorm as Hye Roung, and it becomes some sort of forced camaraderie where differences are set aside for the common health of room 207. And so, just like Cady Heron in Mean Girls, the “poor” Young Ro is suddenly part of the cool crowd. And when pushed comes to shove, she chooses the cool kids over her poor friend in Boon Ok. It’s the same choice that Cady makes in Mean Girls. Because as much as she wants to relate to Boon Ok’s life, she can’t the power/social discrepancy between the two doesn’t allow it. Someone like Boon Ok can’t even get a copy of Romeo and Juliet herself. It’s a symbolic scene to show how Boon Ok, as smart as she has been shown to be doesn’t have access to education.
Now, people may say, Boon Ok is not a good person, she is so nosy, and she eavesdrop. Think about it, as the person who is watching the students while on phone calls, she is trying to grasp the only power she can have access to, the power of information. She creeps about, she sneaks, similar to Vary’s in Game of Thrones, because information has that power that even paupers and the poor can have access to. It is the one power that equalizes over different financial and social statuses, which we later see repeatedly shown with the different ANSP members.
It’s a symbolism being portrayed several times in the drama of how men/women who think they are in absolute power, look down and treat people under them like ants. They hurl insults, share information with those lesser than them, because they can never in a million years imagine that ant suddenly rising up and seizing power for their own. Just like how Hye Round parrots “Gizzard” and the girls of the dorm talk willy nilly in front of Boon Ok, because they don’t consider her an equal. In the meantime, these underlings, Boon Ok, Chief An, and the seamstress are biding their time, collecting information, getting smarter, finding for an opportunity to gain power, or in the case of Boon Ok, all she wants is to be treated like an equal by the girls, to be a College Girl. She wants the opportunity that her poor financial status was denied her, an education, a career, and respect.
Now, let us quickly look at the concept of Kindness. People keep bringing up kindness Ms. Pi and Young Ro has bestowed upon Boon Ok, but lets’ study that. Are they really kindness? Based on Ms. Pi’s many conversations, it seems more like she is repaying a debt. I suspect that it is really Ms. Pi’s fault that Boon Ok’s sister got involved with such a radical group, and probably Boon Ok’s sister loyalty to Ms. Pi that causes her death. Boon Ok may know this, and secretly blames Ms. Pi. And when Ms. Pi keeps calling Boon Ok’s sister a communist spy, in probable hopes of scaring her against the ANSP, it has the opposite effect, it instead reminds Boon Ok, of Ms. Pi’s part in her sister’s demise. And Ms. Pi know this is a trigger word for Boon Ok, as she has always shown to be very vocal about it, and yet Ms. Pi keeps pushing. It is my suspicious that Ms. Pi also feels bad about it, and she has basically become very loose with her life because of it. In that scene with the stand off notice the actions of Kang Moo and Soo Ho versus that of Ms. Pi. While Soo Ho and Kang Moo were trying to diffuse the situation with words, they dare not rush Boon Ok. Ms. Pi on the other hand, she may claim to know Boon Ok well, but it was still a very neurotic/psychotic thing to do what she did. She could easily have been shot accidentally the way she just rushed a novice shooter like that. It’s my belief, Ms. Pi feels guilty about Boon Ok’s sister dying, and may be rushing to death herself. But of course nobody sees this, because it’s easy to just blame Boon Ok for being evil.
Now I often see people say that Boon Ok is ungrateful to the “Kindness” that Young Ro shows her. Let us look at certain things. Young Ro has been in the dorm a max of 2 years, if not just 1 year due to how Korean age works. This would mean her “friendship” with Boon Ok is not a very long one. And yet because of the camaraderie of RM 207, we see that Young Ro is closer to her dorm mates. This is Cady Heron in Mean Girls all over again. She will hang out and do some nice things for Boon Ok, but in the end, she’s not a dorm mate, she’s staff. There is that power/status barricade that won’t allow their two worlds to meld together, especially when she is the source of Hye Roung’s consternation. There is trust issues between the two, as when Young Ro hides things from Boon Ok. Clearly she doesn’t feel the same closeness with Boon Ok as with her dorm mates, which is ok to me. It seems to me that Young Ro has a type of personality, where she cannot stand people not liking her, and so she just makes friends with everyone, even people who are dislike din the dorm like Boon Ok, regardless of how false the friendship may be. Although, it may be false to Young Ro, we need to see how things look to Boon Ok. Imagine this girl, who already has self-esteem issues, and is very cynical, opening herself up slowly to this girl named Young Ro. And finally you feel that there is some sort of connection, but before you can strengthen the bond, this girl, and her friends make a fool of you. Basically all the things you fear by making friends with people come to fruition. It is no different than the girls who taught Cady was being nice to them, only to be made fun of by the cool kids. The betrayal is much more painful than if Hye Roung were to just call her Gizzard. Because Boon Ok already expects harshness from her detractors, but to see her only possible in ally in Young Ro, not only join the mob, but also go after Soo Ho has to be incredibly painful to Boon Ok, because in the dorm, once again she is alone with no ally, no one to call friend. I am not saying she owns Soo Ho, but put yourself in her shoes, her retort to Young Ro, it all hits home really.
Probably the best display of the power/social dynamic between the students, including Young Ro and Boon Ok came in the earlier episodes. Boon Ok has been accused of stealing items, and Hye Roung comes swinging and pulling hair, with Seoul Hui in tow. And it’s such a powerful scene to see the two girls go back to vent and talk bad about Boon ok. The phone rings, and Boon Ok, has NO TIME to vent, no one to rant to, all she can do is answer the phone, and let her emotions go from 100 – 0, and do her job. Such is the predicament of the poor and powerless, they are not even allowed to feel human, because of their obligation to their job. She has no power here, so she can do nothing but deny repeatedly of her innocence. This scene comes full circle in Ep. 11 where we hear the rationale of Boon ok for stealing those items. They are items that both Hye Roung and Seoul He have forgotten, left unused, gathering dust. But because someone lower than them dare steal from them, they become indignant, they suddenly remember these items. It is very selfish really, you neglect an item for years, but when someone takes it, you act like it’s a family heirloom, just because the person taking is someone you view as inferior.
The hostage situation is the turning point of Boon OK’s character. She went from a person who was universally disliked, to just another hostage, just another person. The power/social dynamic literally came crashing down on everyone as status/riches were stripped in one fell swoop. Suddenly Boon Ok’s life was worth as much as Hye Roung, as much as Young Ro, as much as any other person in that dorm. And yet, the hostages didn’t see it that way. They still felt very entitled, they still felt superior to Boon Ok, they still wanted her to know even in a world where they are all powerless, Boon Ok is somehow lower than them still. The entitled hostages then, in an act of pure hubris, saw the hostage taking as just another hindrance for their ambitions and desires, as if they are still unaware of the gravity of their situations. Even as the episodes piled on, the hostages never seem to truly understand the gravity of the situation. It is only when Boon Ok actually received actual and perceived power than they suddenly shook themselves awake of their reverie. They finally realized at that point at the gravity of the situation. But the minute Boon Ok loses her power, they go back to dreaming once again. It’s an interesting concept of how power works. Power and status only exist when there is somebody beneath you. The dorm hostages all felt power and status because they knew Boon Ok was always beneath them. But when the roles are reversed, suddenly they see their power disappear.
Initially during the dorm situation, Boon Ok, realizes sadly that even in a hostage situation where the power/social dynamic should be equalize, she is still the lowest rung, she is still the weakest character. This realization really hits home that the despicable son of Man Dong, is actually even considered higher than her in the hierarchy, mostly because of his gender. And yet Boon Ok, used to being condescended by everyone, including Ms. Pi, is not one to back out from a fight, no matter how little they make her feel, no matter who she faces. And this is why Gyeok Chan is vital in the character development of Boon Ok. His presence confirms to Boon Ok, what she has suspected, the power imbalance has shifted. Hye Roung being popular, Seoul Hee being rich, and other social factors didn’t matter anymore. Here is a man who saves her from injustice because of their shared hardship. Both people being passed over, being forgotten, just because they were not born to the right family. For the first time in her life, Boon Ok has found someone who actually respects her and her freedom, and ironically it is one of the hostage takers. This throws Boon Ok’s reality in for a loop.
Here is the thing, we need to understand, while people misunderstand Boon Ok’s relationship with Young Ro as Boon Ok just using Young Ro, that is clearly not true. Boon Ok’s first step in developing a meaningful friendship/relationship is to test her power in a relationship, to see how much favors she can ask that other person. It all stems from a life where she has very little power, and very little self esteem. Like a child suddenly given a gift by a stranger, she is apprehensive to grasp it, lest is hurt her. So she pitter patter’s around the relationship, testing the strength of it. In Young Ro’s case, she asks for favors, like the Romeo and Juliet Book. In Gyeok Chan’s case, it’s simple request like wanting to get access to her room. For a girl like Boon Ok, who is starved of true connections, Gyeok Chan’s unintended kindness to her is understandably enough for her to show loyalty.
In fact, that is one frustrating things being portrayed by the drama. Whereas Young Ro were doing menial, material favors for Boon Ok, Boon Ok is actually putting her job in jeopardy, she and old man both lie for Young Ro and Boon Ok even attracts the ire of Ms. Pi for Young Ro. This just shows me, as much as they want to label Boon Ok a traitor or whatever, when Boon Ok values you as a person, when you have convinced her that you have her best interest in mind, when you have shown her, it is ok to let down her defenses sometimes, she can be fiercely loyal. She isn’t some lame duck switching allegiances at a drop of the hat as the drama is showing. The scene of her hiding the money bag was very symbolic of hey loyalties to her new found “Family”. A group of people, that although they are communist and hostage taker, are actually treating her with far more respects than people who proclaim to want what is best to her.
Kang Cheong Ya is shown to be very charismatic, she is able to look at Boon Ok’s file and correctly implement what she assumed to be the necessary words to convince Boon Ok to be loyal to her. And it all honestly boiled down to the gun that she gives Boon Ok. That gun represents so much things, but it most importantly represent actual and perceived power. Suddenly the hostage situation had gone full circle, the girl that was at the bottom of the rung, suddenly is at the top. As if years of putting up with condescending college girls have finally bubbled over; she looks over at Gyeok Chan, and her new “Family”, and she feels like she belongs somewhere finally with people who respected he enough to give her such a powerful tool. Finally people will not make her feel small, slander her, or look down at her. At this moment, her character reaches her crescendo. She had reached the pinnacle of what she wanted and longed for so long, power. Because of Kim Hye Yoon’s excellent acting, we see the way she looks at Eun Cheol, the way she looks at Gyeok Chan, the way she looks at Cheong Ya, she trusted them completely, for the first time in her life, she feels like she is part of a team, she has a “Family”, she has people who respect her enough to give her an important job.
And watch that one scene where she lords over the hostages. She enjoys it, for the time first time she has REAL power. She is no longer afraid to hide, and she voices out her reasons for taking items from the girls. And you shed a tear, as Boon Ok’s carefully crafted armor start to crack, as we feel sympathy for how much she had endured at these hands of the very people who ridicule her and slander her. But, it surprised me not at all, that she would feel pity for the old man, her previous co-conspirator, the man who just like her, did not have an easy life. In many ways, she shown herself to be a benevolent leader, a sort of robin hood who took snacks from the privilege to spread around. She enjoys that people beg her, complement her now. This sad scene makes us realize, what could have prevented her tragic descent is just a little bit of respect, to be treated like a human being for one second.
One of Boon OK’s downfall is the fact that she is the sole breadwinner, the only person supporting her father. Many of her actions and decisions thus far have been because of this reason. But her actual tragic flaw is her cynicism. Because she feels the world has been unfair to her, she actually tragically becomes the architect of her own downfall. Her own view of how the world is unfair to her is what causes her to lose out on opportunities.
It’s quite tragic to see in the drama that Boon Ok, could scream Soo Ho is a spy, and even provide evidence, and it’s all swept under the rug, her voice holds no power, it convinces nobody. But someone despicable like Man Dong’s son, is treated as a reliable source. In fact any accusations levied at Boon Ok is immediately taken as truth. Nobody gives her the benefit of the doubt, people just quickly jump to conclusions with her. You can see in people’s eyes, even in the hostage situation, once she loses her gun, her source of implied power, she is back at the bottom of the rung. Should we then as people say, “Boon Ok, know your place”, how can we prosecute someone who merely wants to better herself, to just gain a bit of respect, to feel just a little bit human. To people like Hye Roung, they are miffed that someone as lowly as Boon Ok dares me human, and yet she receives no hate, because she is one of the dorm mates, she is shielded for her actions towards Boon Ok, because the popular sentiment is to hate Boon Ok.
Which is why, in the end Kang Cheong Ya’s word were so effective, she was able to see the weakness of Boon Ok. And it becomes so clear, why after that tense seen of her holding Young Ro hostage, she just slumps in the floor, because she realizes, the “Family” she thought she had created, the belonging and respect she thought she got was no more than another illusion, another “Young Ro”, just another reality that is shattered. For Cheong Ya to give her fake power, to so clearly show Boon Ok, that there was no trust there, but rather just pure manipulation, that even among these supposed “Family” she was treated as just another bottom rung. She is once again at the bottom of the power/social dynamic, but now the NK spies are on it either. It’s like people who are maybe bullied in High School, moving to a different school or college, hoping to have a fresh life, and then experiencing the same thing again.
It’s also tragic to see such a smart and competent person meet her comeuppance again and again, simply because of plot armor. She has done many things that defy the illogical plot of the drama, many things that would be considered clever, even strategic. But again and again, they are proven to be for naught, simply because she is but a support character. Many of her actions seem steeped and logic, but are hamstrung at every turn by illogical events.
Frankly, I am a bit surprised with so many shows that have come out with heroes across the whole spectrum of white and black, that more people are not sympathetic to a clearly grey heroine who has made some bad choices, but it’s clearly not psychopathic. We see her inner struggle so clearly portrayed by Kim Hye Yoon. It’s a double standard in that Soo Ho’s character, who has also done bad things are easily swept under the rug and forgiven due to him being painted as the protagonist. Even if Soo Ho were actually to kill someone, the viewers would allow Magic Coffee to erase it anyway. As if Boon Ok’s character is self-aware, we see her frustrations and her silent cries for help. I for one know that a tragedy is in her future, I am just hopeful that the writer will feel enough sympathy for her most complex character to give her a quasi-happy ending.
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