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The Mayor
Movie

The Mayor

2017 • Unknown

Woke Score
4
out of 10

Plot

For the first time in Korean history, the mayor of Seoul attempts a third term in office, with his entire campaign team ready to soil their hands.

Overall Series Review

The Mayor (2017) is a cynical political thriller focused on the ruthlessly corrupt campaign of the incumbent Mayor of Seoul for an unprecedented third term. The plot centers on political performance, blackmail, and media manipulation, portraying a landscape where ethical compromises are standard operating procedure. The movie's moral core is a vacuum, with nearly all characters driven by insatiable and amoral ambition. The film functions as a stark critique of political corruption within contemporary South Korean society. The primary conflict is a power struggle, with universal themes of human fallibility and the corrosive nature of unlimited power, rather than a focus on Western-style social justice ideologies. The narrative suggests that the people ultimately lose to a system where power is the only morality.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The narrative focuses on universal human flaws like ambition and corruption in politics, judging characters by their amoral pursuit of power rather than immutable characteristics. Race-based conflict or lectures on privilege are absent, as the setting is culturally homogeneous. Casting is simply colorblind and appropriate to the South Korean setting.

Oikophobia4/10

The film heavily critiques the political system and the money-first policies of the home nation, framing its institutions (the government/electoral process) as deeply corrupt and cynical. This hostility is targeted at the political class and its modern practices, not at the entire Korean heritage or civilization, and it does not use a 'Noble Savage' trope or advocate for foreign cultural superiority.

Feminism6/10

Female characters hold significant positions of power and influence, including the Mayor's main political rival and an ambitious young operative who becomes entangled in the corruption. The women are depicted as distinct but equally susceptible to the corrosive effects of ambition as the male characters. The narrative features career-driven women in a power struggle but contains no anti-natalist messaging or 'Mary Sue' perfection, nor does it explicitly emasculate men for thematic reasons, though the central male lead is a thoroughly toxic figure.

LGBTQ+1/10

Alternative sexualities, gender ideology, and the deconstruction of the nuclear family are not part of the film's political thriller plot. The themes are entirely focused on corruption and the struggle for political office, leaving this category's concerns entirely unaddressed.

Anti-Theism6/10

The political world depicted operates on pure amorality, suggesting a spiritual vacuum where morality is entirely subjective and driven by power dynamics. While there is no explicit sermonizing against organized religion like Christianity, the complete absence of a transcendent moral law in the high-stakes political environment places the film in the realm of moral relativism in practice.