02. The Maiden Who Went to the City (Dosilo gan cheonyeo) Kim Soo-yong, 1981
When I grow into an adult, I wondered where they all had gone. They were ‘bus guide girls’ whom I met every time I got on the bus standing in front of the back door of the bus wearing a uniform, shouting for a stop every time the bus stopped, and getting paid to open and close the bus door. In the '90s, a TV comedy show called “Young-ja’s Heydays” was popular for portraying the bus guide girls of the '70s. Lee Young-ja, a popular comedian of the time acted as the bus guide girl, and star entertainers who were invited to the show appeared as bus passengers, creating fun situations and making a pleasant laugh in the bus. And Lee Young-ja's comment “If there's no one to get off, let’s go!”, which marks the end of the show, was the hottest buzzword at that time. Although ‘Bus Guide Girl’ has forgotten these days, there have been works that dealt with their lives in the past. I would introduce one of them, director Kim Soo-yong’s THE MAIDEN WHO WENT TO THE CITY. The bus guide girl was urban female workers’ common job until the early '80s, but it was often seen as an image of immoral conduct in daily newspapers and magazines. This film using their poor labor environment as the main subject describes the dark side of urbanization and industrialization at that time. Although it is curious that the slogan "Let's Remember Lee Moon-hee" on the back door of the bus is so instructive that the main character's high-flying struggle on the roof came from his colleagues’ ‘pocketing’ rather than at a bus company that violated human rights. But despite these scenes, the value of this film is good enough because I think that these are just intentional device against censorship by the authorities. The film consistently shows the human rights issues of ‘female’ workers and their solidarity. (Audience Yoo Moon-bong’s Recommendation)