Warning: the following contains SPOILERS for My Name.
Ji-woo quickly rises through the Dongcheon gang’s ranks to become a proverbial femme fatal, able to stand toe-to-toe with men in chaotic life-or-death brawls and knife fights.
My Name is a K-drama that’s definitely not for the faint of heart. While the show's plot follows a clever neo-noir detective narrative nestled within a heartwarming tale about family ties, the gratuitous violence in My Name stands out as a central theme. Not unlike its fellow Korean streaming sensation Squid Game, the graphic series has fans all around the world clamoring for more. At the heart of My Name's signature visceral violence is the Dongcheon gang.
The Dongcheon gang took in and trained protagonist Ji-woo, but the group is not based on any singular real-world criminal organization. The show's depiction of organized crime is based on Korea's long history dealing with gangs, and is also a reflection on the nation's modern, more strict gun laws and the evolution of how gangsters are depicted in Korean film and television. Organized crime rose greatly following the split of North and South Korea in 1948, and the political upheaval made way for the rise of South Korea's first gangs, who served as violent henchmen to ambitious politicians. This gave rise to Park Chung-hee, a former general who became the country's dictator from 1963 to 1979, during which the government's aggressive sweeping programs against organized crime virtually wiped out most Korean gangs. The final fate of the Dongcheon gang is ultimately a reflection of these events.
South Korea’s fierce stance against organized crime continued through the ‘90s, during which the government declared a war on crime. The real events that followed this war later inspired Yoon Jong-bin’s Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time, a 2012 film that is widely regarded as one of South Korea’s most influential gangster flicks. This movie popularized the image of gangsters walking around and breaking bad in crisp tailored suits, similar to the signature suits worn by My Name’s Mu-jin and the other high-ranking of the Dongcheon gang.
As for why the Dongcheon gang prefer fighting up close and personal with knives and fists, this is because guns are very rare, and often considered a sign of high rank in what’s left of the real South Korean criminal underworld. The government’s hard stance on gangs has come to include very strict gun laws, thorough background checks for potential gun owners, and long sentences of jail time for violators. As a result, the remaining Korean gangs rarely use guns, and instead arm themselves with a variety of traditional and modern knives and swords. The same is true for My Name’s Dongcheon gang.
If My Name gets renewed for a second season, these elements will continue to influence its central themes. Fortunately, My Name’s showrunners left much room for the detective neo-noir story to continue in season 2. And considering how My Name quickly rose to Netflix’s top ten soon after its release, the streaming giant is likely to green-light more of the show soon.