Initial thoughts on Jewel in the Palace

I've only watched the first two episodes of Jewel in the Palace, so what caught my attention was not necessarily the traditional food featured but the depiction of women. The place of women in neo-Confucian Choson dynasty was extremely limited, and yangban women especially were relegated to the private sphere. So, I can see how then the kitchen became an important place of power for women in the palace. I was intrigued by the fact that there was a whole hierarchical system in place in the royal kitchen with some boss ladies having all the power and striking fear in the hearts of all their culinary workers. Still, while women could have authority in this domestic area, their position was still so much lower than men's.

The other thing I noticed was the use of han'gul, the Korean script. It was my understanding that learning how to read and write was reserved for men and that women who did learn to read and write (and even when they did, they were only really allowed access to han'gul since that was considered lower than classical Chinese) were usually yangban women or maybe the kisaeng. So, I was confused as to how Jang Geum's mother had learned to read and write seeing as how she only worked in the palace and wasn't actually part of the yangban class. She is also shown at the end of episode 2 as having some knowledge of Chinese characters.

In any case, I am assuming that this drama is especially favorable to women and has had the effect of empowering them. Storey talked about how popular culture can have the connotation of "the other." Since men have been traditionally (and still to an extent today) dominant in society and thus have also dominated "culture," things that are popular culture, such as Jewel in the Palace, can provide necessary social commentary.