[Opinion] Hurray for Sam-soon

The heroine in the movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” released in 2001, is viewed as a female figure that may secure a place in movie history.

Bridget, the heroine in her 30s, is not that pretty and has an ample body of 129 pounds (58.1kilograms). While she makes promise herself not to complain about not having a boyfriend, she keeps worrying about her uncontrollable love and weight. She has become the idol of “ordinary women” around the world. In Britain, there was talk of an emerging “Bridget Jones economy,” which is marked by consumption patterns of 30-something single women and the bars and gymnasiums they frequent.

In Korea, a female figure who can match Bridget turned up. Her name is Kim Sam-soon, a heroine in an MBC TV drama, who is not young, pretty, and slender. While saying she realized that love is nothing, she shed tears, saying, “I want my heart to become hard, daddy.” She shouted to rich Sam-sik, “You are relishing affluence thanks to your rich parents. Who do you think you are?” She expressed her sexual desire, saying, “I am starving.”

She is neither Cinderella, nor candy. She is far from “Candyrella” that combines Candy and Cinderella. She is more like “Soondaerella,” who is down-to-earth, sometimes seeks solace in dreams and fantasies, and has good luck at times.

Without the actress Kim Seon-ah, the success of the drama would have been impossible. She gained some seven kilograms to play the role and received rave reviews for her realistic acting performance with no pretense of beauty that is rarely found in other actresses. Cakes named after “Sam-soon” are selling like hot cakes. Parody commercials are being made. On TV home shopping channels, there is a “Sam-soon effect” which means products that Sam-soon is likely to buy sell well. These developments may have something to do with her passionate performance.

How the drama ends on July 21 is a secret. Even if the drama does not have a happy ending between Sam-soon and Sam-sik, Sam-soon will certainly be well off, since she has the ambition and capability to become the world’s top pastry chef. Even with the pain of love problems or unemployment, she healed herself by baking cakes during the wee hours of the morning. She will never lead a dull life.

I root for all women like Sam-soon, “who realizes their dreams by working hard without financially resorting to others,” just like Sam-sik said.

Kim Soon-deok, Editorial Writer, yuri@donga.com