The Fearless and Vulnerable, a Documentary Filmmaker’s Recommended Film
By
Kwon Ohyeon
Published
Jan. 8, 2025
Translated
by Marilyn Hook
Feminists
must be proud [in order] for the country to live
On
Saturday, December 7, 2024, I went to Yeouido for the first rally to impeach
Yoon Suk Yeol. The People Power Party refused to vote on the impeachment bill
against President Yoon and left the National Assembly. The rally, which started
at 2 p.m. with chants of “Vote!”, stretched until 10 p.m. On that day, when a
very long street rally was predicted, I still had no idea what form this huge
wave of change that was once again sweeping through Korean society would take.
However, I was nervous there in the plaza, hoping that the voices of the
minority would not be silenced amidst the huge national debate on the
impeachment of the president following his unprecedented martial law
declaration. Among the speeches given that day, something that a Femidangdang
[loosely translated, “Proud Feminist Party”] activist said stuck in my ear.
“Minority
groups, including the Femidangdang, have always been here in the public square
to protect space for women, feminists, and queer people. We will not give up
and will continue to call for the impeachment of the president while at the
same time keeping hatred against minorities out of the scene of the struggle!”
The Femidangdang flag flutters at the Dec. 7 rally
in Yeouido demanding Yoon Suk Yeol's resignation. (Source: Femidangdang’s X.com
account - @femidangdang)
Eight
years ago, during the protests to oust President Park Geun-hye, there was a
“Femi Zone” that stood up against misogyny at the protest site. I remember
looking for those flags whenever I went to the protests. Among them, I vividly
remember the flag that had “Femidangdang” written in pink letters on a black
background. When I heard that name again during the rally to impeach Yoon Suk
Yeol, I felt happy, as if I were greeting an old colleague.
On
my way home afterward, I became curious about what Femidangdang had been up to
in the intervening eight years. I searched online and found that a documentary,
The Fearless and Vulnerable[1],
had been made about the group. Unfortunately, the film is no longer available
for viewing. Nevertheless, I wanted to bring back Femidangdang’s story, that of
a group once called “new political agents” in the public square that was
quickly forgotten after a short period of time. I would like to thank the
film’s director, Jeon Seong-yeon, for sending me a screener so that I could
write about the film.
Fearless
and Vulnerable
The
Fearless and Vulnerable tells the story of the
feminist cultural and artistic activity group Femidangdang. Femidangdang
started in 2016 and carried out activities that left a deep impression during
that period of feminist resurgence that spanned incidents such as the Gangnam
Station femicide, the movement calling for Park Geun-hye’s resignation, and the
“Black Protests” for the abolition of the anti-abortion law. The group’s name
came from an inside joke among friends about the lack of suitable voting
options for feminists, and while Femidangdang started as a small gathering, it grew
into an active organization that organized a variety of rallies and
performances.
To
me, then a woman in my early 20s who had just recently found feminism, the
image of these women, confident and free, walking the streets with loudspeakers
and shouting the slogan, “Feminists must be proud for the country to live,” [2]
was so appealing. Perhaps that’s why the image of Femidangdang in my mind was
the image of heroes striking cool poses on top of a Queer Parade truck, like a
movie poster. However, the movie skirts this confident image of Femidangdang that
was spread through social media and goes deep into the community itself. To do
so, it focuses on the individual figures that participated.
A still from the movie The Fearless and Vulnerable
(directed by Jeon Seong-yeon, 2019). Femidangdang activists are posing on top
of a Queer Parade truck. Behind them, parade spectators and fluttering rainbow
flags can be seen. (Source: Seoul International Women’s Film Festival)
The
English title of this film is The Fearless and Vulnerable. I feel that
title is a good encapsulation of the film’s theme. The film doesn’t trace the
history of Femidangdang or place its activities in a hall of fame for the era’s
feminism. Rather, when I watch the film now, six years later, the time from
2016 to 2018 feels like a roller coaster. The [activities in response to the] murder
of a woman near Gangnam Station, the candlelight vigils demanding Park
Geun-hye’s resignation, the hot summer Queer Parade truck, and the “Black
Protests” where participants swallowed Mifegyne (an oral abortion pill) flash
by like a kaleidoscope. The element that connects these incidents like a thread
is not others’ evaluations of or the results of the group’s activities, but the
inner changes and concerns that individual activists experience in the midst of
the tsunami.
Neville
moments and brave friendship
The
film moves from the streets, where Femidangdang activities unfold, to the
living rooms of the activists, where heated discussions and meetings take
place, and to the separate personal spaces where each activist lives their
daily life.
As
part of the Collective Action for the Decriminalization of Abortion for All
(hereafter “CADAA”), Femidangdang organizes a performance to promote the oral
abortion drug Mifegyne. During this process of expanding the scope of its
solidarity activities, the group has to have many discussions both internally
and externally about the method and direction of the movement. During meetings,
members learn where their opinions and positions differ. And although those
differences can create discord and conflict, the activists do not avoid the
fierce discussions that come with the political decision-making process but
confront them head-on. Member Min-ah says, “We started out as friends and we
are similar, so it seems more difficult to have conflicts.” Finding
commonalities is fun, but facing differences is difficult.
Another still from the movie The Fearless and
Vulnerable (Jeon Seong-yeon, 2019). Participants in the “My Body is Not
Illegal” protest read a declaration together in front of Bosingak in Seoul.
(Source: Seoul International Women’s Film Festival)
Ji-an
talks about the difficulties she faced while planning the event, “My Body is
Not Illegal.” This event included a performance art piece in which 125 women swallowed
pills simultaneously in front of Bosingak [a famous bell pavilion in Seoul].
Two participants took actual Mifegyne pills, and the rest swallowed
similar-looking vitamins. Femidangdang fought with other CADAA groups in the
process of planning this radical performance, and eventually decided to move
forward with activities that it wanted to do even if everyone did not agree.
Ji-an
also says that while doing Femidangdang activities, everyone experiences a
‘Neville moment.’ The term ‘Neville moment’ comes from a scene in the Harry
Potter series, where Neville tries to stop Harry, Hermione, and Ron from going
on a dangerous outing, even though he knows he will lose. (He ends up paralyzed
by a spell from Hermione.) However, later, Hogwarts’ headmaster Dumbledore
praises Neville’s actions and says, “It takes courage to stand up to your
enemies, but it takes even more courage to stand up to your friends.”
A still from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Neville is standing up to Harry, Hermione, and Ron. (Source: Harry Potter
Facebook page)
We
become friends because we are similar, and we create a community together based
on our commonalities. However, since each individual is unique, the process of
becoming aware of our differences is inevitable. When the film follows the
Femidangdang activists back to their daily lives after meetings, each discusses
moments when she has felt disconnected from the community. As a lesbian
feminist, Mi-sup feels frustrated by the heterosexism that still exists within
feminism. Ye-ji talks about her worries that while she wears bold makeup to
look confident when she goes to Femidangdang events, that doesn’t seem like her
usual self. And Ji-an reveals her struggles between the need to say the politically
correct thing as an activist and the desire to ask more probing questions as an
artist.
All
the activists have questions within themselves as they gather under the banner
of Feminidangdang. The Fearless and Vulnerable ends at a post-project
review meeting for the “My Body is Not Illegal” performance. Those who have shared friendship and engaged
in activism through Femidangdang share their burdensome inner feelings.
Although they still share the same vision, they will no longer be able to spend
all of their time on activism due to their upcoming [university] graduations
and their future careers, and so they decide to take a temporary break.
However, even in the process of choosing to stop, their fierce friendship
allows them to take an attitude of not giving up on trying to understand each
other even until the end.
Femidangdang activists sitting around someone’s
living room and having a meeting. Meetings are the activity that The Fearless
and Vulnerable pays the most attention to. (Source: Seoul International Women’s
Film Festival)
Sometimes
even feminists use the oppressive expression, “Don’t gather shellfish in the
face of a tsunami,”[3]
against each other. The attitude of treating minorities’ issues as trivial in
front of a greater cause clearly exists within those communities as well. In
order to be free from this oppressive mindset, we need the faith and courage to
face conflict and differences. Only when we have faith that our stories will be
accepted do we persist in revealing our differences even in the face of a
tsunami.
Alliances
between diverse bodies
The
rampant hatred and discrimination of this era begin with the exclusion of those
who are different from me. We are accustomed to the anxiety that our
differences will destroy our community. However, a democracy of diversity is
possible only when we can reveal healthy differences. In order to discuss those
differences, we need to believe that those differences will not destroy our
community. The scenes in The Fearless and Vulnerable where the activists
discuss their differences are based on strong friendship. That friendship is
not necessarily something that can only be built over time. I believe that we
can be in solidarity with each other when we simply acknowledge and respect
each other’s unique identity and concerns.
Even
in the dire situation of having to spend the year-end and New Year in the
public square, we were able to not lose hope thanks to those who stepped
forward to speak and the citizens who listened to their stories. And we are
witnessing people with differences standing by each other’s sides in
Namtaeryeong, in front of the National Assembly, and on Subway Line 4. The
experience of courageous friendship between diverse bodies banding together in
solidarity will change our future.
Various rainbow flags wave at a rally for Yoon Suk
Yeol’s resignation. The “Sexual Minorities’ Joint Action for Yoon Suk Yeol’s
Resignation” has been creating a rainbow zone at such rallies every week.
*Source: Rainbow Action’s X.com account, @rainbowactionkr
About
the Author: Kwon Oh-yeon began working at Pink Skirt in 2024. She co-directed
the short documentary About X, which showed conversations about feminism
that began with the Gangnam Station incident in 2016, and Teleportation,
which depicted the friendship shared by four feminists living in Korea and
Japan. As part of the media team for the 10/29 Itaewon Disaster
Citizens' Countermeasures Committee, she made a documentary about the tragedy
entitled The Stars Know.
About
Pink Skirt: Founded in 2004, Pink Skirt is an alliance for sexual minorities’
human rights. It pursues possibilities for communication and solidarity based
on feminist sensibilities, and makes alliances in various areas through media
work, producing documentaries, feature films, web content, etc.
Original
article: https://ildaro.com/10088
[1] Translator’s note: This is the English title given for the film on
the Seoul International Women’s Film Festival’s website.
Directly translated, the Korean title (Haeil Apeseo) means “in the face
of a tsunami.”
[2] Translator’s note: This is a play on the title of a famous Korean
book from 1999, Confucius Must Die for the Country to Live.
[3] Translator’s note: This expression basically means “Don’t focus on
trivial things when something important is happening,” and is sometimes used by
progressive men against feminists. It comes from a 2002 remark made by such a
man in response to multiple women in his party accusing another member of
sexual harassment during the run-up to a national election.
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