*wolf whistle* niiiiice. fantastic food for thought, girlfriday, as always. these pop culture posts are getting better by the post. i have to admit, it's made my interest in the show shoot up even more, because all this gender politics stuff will be prevalent in my mind. the Hong sisters are known for doing cliches well and for subverting them, but their female characters have actually been getting less and less hardcore by the drama, so this is even more fascinating to keep an eye on. i'd love it if they messed with the tale and gave patriarchy and misogyny a kick up the backside. thank you! <3

please recap My Girlfriend is a Gumiho....

Being clueless about gumihos, I was waiting for this post-- thank you, girlfriday! I agree, these pop culture posts are a feast for a reader's imagination. =-) Please keep 'em coming.

So I was wondering, what's up with the claim that gumihos used to deliver books to the king? Is that an actual part of the legend, or did the Hong sisters just insert that into the mythology to show that maybe gumihos are getting a bad wrap? Kinda suggests how intricately sexuality and knowledge are linked, and how being too clever for their own good got the gumihos in trouble...

I can't wait to see what they do with this tale! Thank you for providing us with a firm basis in gumiho-lore.

Hmm.. I love a good breakdown of mythical creatures.

The gumiho, Eve, Pandora...I guess passing the buck to women (which is silly) is a universal condition.

Thanks for clearing it up. On a related note: the image of women as wily creatures trying to seduce men using their feminine charms has always bothered me. (WTF? Isn't it the man's fault as well if he can't keep it in his pants?)

Oooh, THIS is very very very INTERESTING and unique, yupz. O__o

Love these different styles of gumiho culture with their colorful eyes!

oooooh thanks for clarifying the legend!!! though i initially thought the hong sisters would just use the legend to full comic effect, now i wonder (and hope!) that they can do something different too!

AWESOME! This makes me see the Gumiho in a different light. I mean jb once mentioned how using "fox" towards a woman in Eastern culture carries a negative light, but it also makes me look at "Gumiho: Tale of the Fox Child" in a whole new light. BRILLIANT. To think there is so much underlying meaning in all of these folklores/myths. Encore! Encore!

Sorry, but something else occurred to me, something that is a constant question when it does arise. Why is it when women sleep around they are, excuse me for this SL*TS or WH*RES, but when men sleep around they are "just boys being boys"? I mean geez, way to give the guys the upper hand. But I'm not male bashing, just wondering.

i've seen a chinese movie about gumiho or nine tails fox, called "Painted Skin"...i think it's a good movie. I think they made it based on the tale of gumiho because it really similar with the gumiho you've decribed (sorry for my poor english)

Interesting. I've heard of the gumiho creature a lot, but I had always wondered about its origins, especially now that I'm watching Gumiho: Tale of the Fox's child so this has definitely shed a little light on the subject.

This was an interesting viewpoint on the gumiho, and it makes me wonder why female sexuality is always seen as a bad thing, even nowadays. A woman who is openly sexual must be "evil" or "crazy" or something like that and if a man is sexy, he's just being a man. I really don't understand but I guess these ideas are rooted in ancient myths like these.

Intelligent and thought-provoking articles such as this one make dramabeans.com THE site for great kdrama info. Many thanks girlfriday for this post!

Oh, I LOVE it when you do articles like this. I really get a lot out of them. I hope you continue writing such articles.

Having known that this drama was coming out, I had already tried to research it on my own. But with all the varying legends out there, it was very refreshing to read this and get a clear understanding.

Thank you!!

One of the reasons why this awesome blog is like no other: The 'deconstructing' part of kdramas and kpop culture.

Give yourself a pat on the back, Girlfriday! :D

My parents got us these books on Korean folklore to teach us Korean when we were little kids and I remember being SO scared of the gumiho. In the picture, she would sit in her room and sharpen her knives in the middle of the night to eat the male traveler. Not the best story to tell a child! Haha

where does kim tae-hee come from? where did she have a gumiho role?

Interesting. Immediately reminds me of Native American Shaman women who wore fox tails. The more they wore, the older and wiser it meant they were.

Male shaman also wore fox tails, as well as wolf.

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http://www.cherokeevisions.com/images/28-blufox_m.jpg

Thanks for this post! i'm really excited for My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, and I hope you guys will recap it. (:

Also, i realised the layout of this website is new. I miss the simple, good ol' layout, but I guess change is good too.

1. Of course, there's the male equivalent in wolves (늑대). In k-dramas, it's not uncommon to see dads warning their daughters to be wary of all men cause they're all wolves.

2. The word "foxy" in English is pretty gender specific to females as well. I've heard women be described as foxy ladies, but never men as foxy men.

Can anyone help me figure out where the 4th and 5th pictures came from? I recognize the 2nd and 3rd pics in the recaps on dramabeans (because I'm too scared to actually watch the drama).

Very interesting post. Loved the last shot, I guess she is unclothing him to reveal his true nature:). I'm going to miss the next two weeks of it though, because I'll be traveling, but I trust that the Hong sisters will give us a strong and cool female to cheer on like usual.

One question, when a gumiho transforms into their real form, are they always white?

Am so loving the new dramabeans website :)

Thanks guys!

Great job, girlfriday. I hadn't quite formulated the whole "gumiho-ness as female sexuality" angle yet. However, I have been vaguely disquieted by the general attitude in Tale of the Fox's Child. I'm enjoying it so far, although i don't know how much you've seen of it. I understand that in that superstitious time, you reeeeeally didn't want to be different. Still, I have been waiting for Yeon Yi to embrace- and ultimately subvert the evil of- her power and use it for good rather than this "If I'm a monster, I want to die!" shrinking violet crap. Hopefully it gets there. If either you or dramabeans have been watching that one, I would love to hear your thoughts in more detail.

I think it would be interesting and told him she wants his heart but in a way that made us and him think she was going to eat it, then in the end either by accident he falls in love with her and therefore she has his heart or she does go the typical gumiho route and uses her wiles to make him fall in love with her and again can claim ownership of his heart. I hope the Hong sisters go with the first one. Also if it hasn't been said, the writers of the legends were most likely (as in 99% sure) men so it comes to mind that they saw female sexuality as something fearsome and scary, it was also something that they couldn't control and could be unleashed at any time and if you weren't careful it could lead to a world of pain (i.e. that you fell in lust/love with her and she left you e.t.c). p.s. I love my run on sentences.

This was amazing, Girlfriday! Female sexuality = dangerous has been around for ages. I remember being a young girl in a land that is not the US, and being told to wear long skirts to cover up my legs up so that men didn't get the wrong idea or be tempted, because then they wouldn't be able to control themselves and it would be my fault. I was 10. WTF, indeed!

That last short of Gu Mi-ho reaching under Lee Seung-ki's shirt is really intriguing. I'm not sure if it's meant to be playfully sexual, or if she's trying to get a grip on his tasty, tasty heart. I too think that the female sexuality of the gumiho will be played for laughs. I imagine it'll go something like this: Gu Mi-ho throws Lee Seung-ki down and crawls on top of him, he FREAKS OUT all beta-like (cute!), completely losing the plot, at which point she sits back wondering what is wrong with this wimpy man-child. Or she spends half the drama attempting to lift up his shirt to get at his yummy liver, and is surprised to find yummy chocolate abs under that shirt, and all manner of sexual hilarity ensues. Naturally at some point he'll be completely shirtless, still freaking out! because she's all evil and carnivorous and sexual. I don't imagine it'll go much deeper than that. She'll be allowed to make a few pseudo-sexual advances as long as they're not realized and are played for humor, because sexually liberated women are the downfall of civilization. Obviously. Still, I am so watching this drama! Javabeans is recapping it, right? Or you switching off like you sometimes do?

I'm thinking about rewriting The Fairy and the Woodcutter. It'll be the Woodcutter and the Gumiho, and once that kidnapping ass reveals what he did, his "fairy" wife will reveal herself as a gumiho, seduce him into thinking they're about to have sexy times, and then have herself a heart-and-liver-of-woodcutter pie.

Huh, I sort of assumed the myth conveyed a message about female sexuality as well, but I had no idea how big of a role it played. Thank you, Girlfriday, for this article.

Guys, you are soooo awesome. I love this blog. And oh! I didn't notice that the new layout allows direct replies to each comment. SO COOL! \o/

excellent post girlfriday! liked how you linked it to gender politics, and especially loved your resolution (?) for MGiaG which is stated perfectly in your last paragraph.. now definitely looking forward to your recaps (or will it be jb's?)

on a related note, which many above mentioned: why is it generally worst for women to (overly) express their sexuality compared to men?

perhaps part of the reason to this is human nature. in fact, in animals, the sex that is bigger physically is the one that usually has more mates. and in humans, men are around 10% larger than women. thus, and even though we are mostly monogamous, it is more natural for men than for women to have more partners (if ever). unfair? yup. after all, not all that is more natural is better. i'm with girlfriday here, hoping that MGiaG will be a "step in the right direction."

Very well done, Girlfriday. Intelligently written, but without lacking that all-too famous girlfriday humor :)

Anywho. The concept of the gumiho is worrisome to me. With the last pop culture bit on the angel and the woodcutter, and now this on the gumiho all point to disturbingly sexist elements running through the heart of Korean fables and culture. Of course such patriarchal elements exist in probably every society, no matter how developed (it doesn't help that many women rather prefer their men to "be the man"). Still, I'm looking forward to the series. TV usually is quite daring in how it portrays men and women and plays a big role in breaking down gender roles, so hopefully this drama will take some different turns with the gumiho concept.

:)

Nice post, thanks, gf! Foxiness in the sense of cunning ('sly as a fox') can be attributed to anyone in English, but foxy in the sense of sexy seems to be only used for women, so we have that in common with Korean usage. I don't know much about the history of the term foxy (for sexy) but I just looked it up in the Online Etymology Dictionary which says it ("Meaning attractive") dates back to 1895. It also, acc to Wiktionary, is used for people with red hair.

So is the Fox in the drama title "What's Up, Fox?" a reference to the supposed predatory sexiness of the older woman, with an intimation of gumiho?

Interestingly, "vixen" is the word for a female fox. I wonder if there used to be more explicit connections between female sexuality and foxes in English-speaking societies?

I love this post, GF!...it explains a lot and it also makes me think! I will watch the Hong sisters show now that my interest is piqued.

About women's sexuality being cast in an evil light, my theory is that men basically see women as good and as caretakers, generally,(their mother's being women and all that!) and they have a difficult time adjusting to the thought that women can take matters into their own hands and beat them to it! Hahaha! Just my two cents, people! It may also stem from the fact that sexually active women run the risk of getting pregnant and to prevent this she would have to use contraception which in the narrow minds of men might seem very wily or cunning as a forethought since many view women as timid and in need of help constantly.

Don't bash me for these thoughts...they are just what occured to me after reading the posts above!

This is something interesting that I just know, I don't remember where I heard it though but the Japanese greeting is "moshi moshi," meaning "hello." It is a way to know if the person is a kitsune or not b/c they can't say those words. :) Interesting, ey? Haven't been on your page in a couple of days and its changed! :D Nice look, seems like all kdramablogs are looking that way.

Oh, I forgot to say. I just finished watching Shining Inheritance and I loved it! And I'm glad to see LSG b/c I wasn't all that fond of him during Xman.

Another valuable lesson from GF & Javabeans... Thanks guys!

Yeah regardless its Korean, Japanese or Chinese...
Foxes always have that connotation... mostly is sly, vixen/foxy like... scheming to grab some unsuspecting man... the whole package...

And I realize... its almost surreal the similarity between Asian and Western foklore... Prolly only thing that amuse me is how different dragons are drew in those fairytales. ^^ haha...

Dragons anyone?

awesome post!

Thanks so much for this post Girlfriday !

I love these posts that give me so much information to understand the impact of the significance of these words to Korean culture and traditions, especially since I am not Korean. I can't wait to watch this now that I finally understand what Gumiho means.

Can't wait for more brilliant posts! :)

Uh wow. Get ready for this. Yesterday my dad pulled me aside as we were shopping to inform me (I am heading off to college in a couple of weeks as a freshman) that I must be very careful because "all guys are wolves." I IMMEDIATELY thought of dramabeans. :P

http://enc.daum.net/dic100/contents.do?query1=10XX109148

fantastic!!! very well written & observed social commentary!
its great u bring up the gender politics of this myth, which is pretty clear & overt in this case, because the same exists in so many folk tales & even currently popular fairy tales the world over. And I love the point about female writers now reinterpreting the legends to give the woman a voice and rework the ideology contained in the stories that have been brainwashing generations..
theres no point in denying these myths or stories, but there is a alot to be said for adopting the methods of the ruler & beat them at their own game, remaking myths & hence breaking down & changing age old notions..
Loving MGIG right now I hope the Hong Sisters have the guts and the insight to really rework the myth and give us something to celebrate & hand down as an alternative myth of our own..
great post keep it coming! \m/

Thanks a bunch for breaking that down for all of us who were going into this drama saying "whats a gumiho??!!!"

naruto comes to mind everytime i thought about gumiho...