[LAUGHING THROUGH HISTORY 29] 'She Saw the Mt. Nam Signal Beacon and Shouted Fire!'

Today I’m translating a joke about a conflict between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. This is a relationship that has been depicted as contentious in Korean media from premodern writing to TV dramas today. The mother-in-law here demands obedience and silence from her daughter-in-law, but isn’t very clear in her instructions.

This joke could be read as mocking the daughter-in-law for lacking the common sense (or social sense) to know what’s expected of her. But there’s also room for seeing it as a mockery of the mother-in-law. By following her instructions to the letter, with absurd results, the daughter-in-law undermines the mother-in-law’s authority.

The joke itself gives no insight into what the daughter-in-law is thinking in this situation, which forces the reader to speculate about how intentional her choices are. There’s room to wonder whether she’s using some degree of malicious compliance against an overbearing authority figure who she isn’t able to oppose directly. Underneath the absurd punchline, this joke hints at unspoken tensions within Korean society