I’m about to watch the final episode, but I will say this about Run On: it really gave us some beautifully complex and real female characters who were flawed but also ambitious and who really showed their work when it came to the things that they wanted to go after.
All of the major female characters – Mi-joo, Dan-ah, May, Eun-bi, Seon-gyeom’s mother, Ye-jun’s mother – are all ambitious and hard workers who love their careers, but also don’t let themselves be defined by that. They are good at their jobs and what I appreciated was that we were shown this rather than told. We see that Dan-ah is successful, and she can handle a bad PR situation, we see Mi-joo grab opportunities and hustle, we see that May worked hard to establish a successful company, etc. But the thing that I love is that even though they are all these things – with the exception of Dan-ah and her extraordinary circumstances – is that none of them seem to think that they can’t also have love, or friendships, or a family, or a good life; sacrifice is not needed to “have it all”. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.
Which is why I appreciate that then the show sets up Dan-ah as a contrast to these women now, because we see that she is capable of love and being loved, but she is working against forces that are refusing to let her ambition prevail. So she makes a choice. And I don’t think there is a wrong choice here, but she does have to choose for now. The setup here is more interesting to me than the usual “love or ambition” choice female characters are usually given, because I think it says a lot about how in society women are often told to pick one, when the drama has shown us from the start that women don’t always have to choose between love and ambition.
Dan-ah is constantly treated as an object and is aware that she is not valued as a person by her family. As a result, she struggles just to be seen and heard. So it makes sense that she is also the one who has the most trouble opening her heart up. Despite her feminine dress, she pushes away from feminine traits and the softness that is associated with femininity. I often think of how she contrasts to Seon-gyeom, who has given so much love to the people around him that he forgot to love himself along the way; meanwhile Dan-ah has no love for the people around her, but she clearly does love herself and sees herself as worthy of her ambition, even if her family fails to see that. Both want to be seen, but by different people: Seon-gyeom wants to see himself and not for the world to just see him, while Dan-ah wants to be seen by the world and not be the only one who sees herself. But at the core of it, they both just want to be free to be themselves and not have to protect their heart.
I would argue that the women were not able to “have it all”. The two with children seemed to be unable to have all consuming careers and still be the parents they wanted to be. (And yes, the burden of raising children still falls disproportionately on women’s shoulders which is a significant part of the issue.)
I remember a locally famous news anchor in my area saying that women can have it all, but not all at the same time. She voiced some regret that she missed being able to be active in her children’s schools and help them with homework.
I guess it’s not about “having it all” so much as being able to chase ones ambitions – which is what these women want, not what society dictates that they should want.
What I mean is that we don’t necessarily know if Yook Ji-woo wanted children; that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love her children and want what is best for them. But to me it seemed that she had them out of a duty rather than a need to be a mother. She chose her career because that was her ambition. Not motherhood. I know women like that, who were pressured into motherhood because that’s what you do when you get married, and while they love their children unconditionally, but if given a choice now, would never have had children. And I think that’s ok. There’s a complex relationship between loving your children and wanting motherhood. And the two are not always hand-in-hand but that doesn’t negate the love you have for your child. It just makes the woman’s relationship with motherhood more complex.
As for Ye-jun’s mom, I think that she was a good mother, and her “failings” were no different than any working moms. She wasn’t struggling worse than any other single mom, and her children seem to have grown up well. The relationship between the three of them is strong, and the issues aren’t bone deep the way they are in the Seo family.
Yes to all this. DA and SG actually had a story with background info, purpose and reasons behind their behavior. And DA surely was a contrast to SG. SG could go on easily with MJ because he left behind anything that would trap him, the same cannot apply to DA who could not leave her responsibilities and would be in much more scrutiny compared to any man in the same position. I’m not sure if they left DA and YH’s journey open ended with the possibility of them being together in the future because even if I wanted them to be together, the conversation between YH and SG convinced me that they were better apart. Also as you said, the women in this show had life, they had much more to do and nothing was sacrificed. Even if sacrifice or better so compromise seems to be a part of life in certain situations, I like how thr show conveyed that it’s possible to keep striving for yourself without any sacrifice as well.
I just realized that this show makes me think a lot about pacing. Everyone moves at different speeds, and even those speeds adjust depending on your time of life. Like when SG told MJ that it’s okay to slow down, and when DA talks about how YH was heading for the finish line, but she was just getting to the midpoint. In the beginning of the drama, SG and MJ were running at different paces but through their arc managed to click into a compatible stride in the end. If I think about it, all my relationships have different strides – and sometimes, despite it, one of you pulls ahead or falls behind, be it for a while or be it forever.
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SnarkyJellyfish
February 4, 2021 at 4:13 PM
I’m about to watch the final episode, but I will say this about Run On: it really gave us some beautifully complex and real female characters who were flawed but also ambitious and who really showed their work when it came to the things that they wanted to go after.
All of the major female characters – Mi-joo, Dan-ah, May, Eun-bi, Seon-gyeom’s mother, Ye-jun’s mother – are all ambitious and hard workers who love their careers, but also don’t let themselves be defined by that. They are good at their jobs and what I appreciated was that we were shown this rather than told. We see that Dan-ah is successful, and she can handle a bad PR situation, we see Mi-joo grab opportunities and hustle, we see that May worked hard to establish a successful company, etc. But the thing that I love is that even though they are all these things – with the exception of Dan-ah and her extraordinary circumstances – is that none of them seem to think that they can’t also have love, or friendships, or a family, or a good life; sacrifice is not needed to “have it all”. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.
Which is why I appreciate that then the show sets up Dan-ah as a contrast to these women now, because we see that she is capable of love and being loved, but she is working against forces that are refusing to let her ambition prevail. So she makes a choice. And I don’t think there is a wrong choice here, but she does have to choose for now. The setup here is more interesting to me than the usual “love or ambition” choice female characters are usually given, because I think it says a lot about how in society women are often told to pick one, when the drama has shown us from the start that women don’t always have to choose between love and ambition.
Dan-ah is constantly treated as an object and is aware that she is not valued as a person by her family. As a result, she struggles just to be seen and heard. So it makes sense that she is also the one who has the most trouble opening her heart up. Despite her feminine dress, she pushes away from feminine traits and the softness that is associated with femininity. I often think of how she contrasts to Seon-gyeom, who has given so much love to the people around him that he forgot to love himself along the way; meanwhile Dan-ah has no love for the people around her, but she clearly does love herself and sees herself as worthy of her ambition, even if her family fails to see that. Both want to be seen, but by different people: Seon-gyeom wants to see himself and not for the world to just see him, while Dan-ah wants to be seen by the world and not be the only one who sees herself. But at the core of it, they both just want to be free to be themselves and not have to protect their heart.
mugyuljoie is preciousss
February 4, 2021 at 6:25 PM
I would argue that the women were not able to “have it all”. The two with children seemed to be unable to have all consuming careers and still be the parents they wanted to be. (And yes, the burden of raising children still falls disproportionately on women’s shoulders which is a significant part of the issue.)
I remember a locally famous news anchor in my area saying that women can have it all, but not all at the same time. She voiced some regret that she missed being able to be active in her children’s schools and help them with homework.
SnarkyJellyfish
February 4, 2021 at 6:57 PM
I guess it’s not about “having it all” so much as being able to chase ones ambitions – which is what these women want, not what society dictates that they should want.
What I mean is that we don’t necessarily know if Yook Ji-woo wanted children; that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love her children and want what is best for them. But to me it seemed that she had them out of a duty rather than a need to be a mother. She chose her career because that was her ambition. Not motherhood. I know women like that, who were pressured into motherhood because that’s what you do when you get married, and while they love their children unconditionally, but if given a choice now, would never have had children. And I think that’s ok. There’s a complex relationship between loving your children and wanting motherhood. And the two are not always hand-in-hand but that doesn’t negate the love you have for your child. It just makes the woman’s relationship with motherhood more complex.
As for Ye-jun’s mom, I think that she was a good mother, and her “failings” were no different than any working moms. She wasn’t struggling worse than any other single mom, and her children seem to have grown up well. The relationship between the three of them is strong, and the issues aren’t bone deep the way they are in the Seo family.
mugyuljoie is preciousss
February 4, 2021 at 9:28 PM
Yes, I agree they each pursued the work life that they chose for themselves. I don’t have an issue with the choices they made.
wapz
February 4, 2021 at 11:43 PM
Yes to all this. DA and SG actually had a story with background info, purpose and reasons behind their behavior. And DA surely was a contrast to SG. SG could go on easily with MJ because he left behind anything that would trap him, the same cannot apply to DA who could not leave her responsibilities and would be in much more scrutiny compared to any man in the same position. I’m not sure if they left DA and YH’s journey open ended with the possibility of them being together in the future because even if I wanted them to be together, the conversation between YH and SG convinced me that they were better apart. Also as you said, the women in this show had life, they had much more to do and nothing was sacrificed. Even if sacrifice or better so compromise seems to be a part of life in certain situations, I like how thr show conveyed that it’s possible to keep striving for yourself without any sacrifice as well.
OLakes
February 5, 2021 at 2:32 AM
I just realized that this show makes me think a lot about pacing. Everyone moves at different speeds, and even those speeds adjust depending on your time of life. Like when SG told MJ that it’s okay to slow down, and when DA talks about how YH was heading for the finish line, but she was just getting to the midpoint. In the beginning of the drama, SG and MJ were running at different paces but through their arc managed to click into a compatible stride in the end. If I think about it, all my relationships have different strides – and sometimes, despite it, one of you pulls ahead or falls behind, be it for a while or be it forever.