Although the Korean pop is not as popular as a few years ago, it still has a considerable influence. Korean waves can be divided into two stages in China, one is the public TV stage and the other is the cable stage. A few years ago, the Korean TV drama market was mainly monopolized by the three major wireless TV stations MBC, KBS and SBS. Korean dramas that caused a sensation in China all came from the three major TV stations. However, since December 1, 2011, four comprehensive compiled channels including JTBC have been broadcast, and the catfish effect has occurred. The Korean TV series market has entered the "Warring States Period". Whether it is the subject matter, setting or casting, the TV series compiled by TVN and JTBC are more bold, new and creative. Cable TV stations have gradually replaced the traditional three TV stations and become the leader of Korean waves. Like "Please Answer Series", " Smart Prison Life ", and "Secret Forest" are all produced by TVN, while the popular " Tasteful Her ", " Fog ", and " Beautiful Sister who often invites to dinner " are broadcast on JTBC. The temperament of Korean dramas has become more diversified, and traditional aesthetic style is still the mainstream, but new Korean dramas prefer realistic themes. A series of Korean dramas that reflect the actual problems of South Korea have attracted more and more attention.
"Live" poster
For example, TVN recently released another popular drama - "Live". Just like the title of the drama, the drama is related to real life. The heroine Han Jingwu did not find a suitable job after graduating from university and worked odd jobs in a small restaurant to make a living. The male protagonist Lian Shangxiu is from a poor family and is intern in a company. In order to become a regular, he used his mother's pension and brother's savings to claim the company's shares, but the boss ran away with the money. At this moment, the two saw the recruitment notice of the patrol police. In the next three and a half years, they worked hard to pass the training and exams and finally entered the police station for internship. They thought they were about to usher in a glamorous workplace life, but found that the daily work of the patrol police was to check drunk driving, pick up drunk men on the roadside back to the police station, and help them clean up the vomited garbage...
The greatest charm of "Live" lies in reality. There is no "golden finger" and no protagonist halo, but it truly reproduces the difficult and cruel life situation of Korean young people. Many domestic audiences feel sad, but some people feel "unfit" and why is Korean dramas so "depressed". In the usual imagination, the real life of South Korea should be as long-legged, pleasing to the eye and rich as shown by the "Three Treasures of Korean dramas"; but the fact is that "Live" may be closer to the life reality of most young people in South Korea, lifting up the beauty of Korean dramas, and the lives of young people are messy.
Korean dramas are the best filter in Korea
Korean waves were at their peak, and most mini idol dramas were popular in Asia. The eye-catching combination of handsome guys and beautiful girls, the rich and rich life, the fresh pictures and delicate emotions not only give the audience an aesthetic feeling, but also provides the audience with a window to see another kind of life. Many viewers imagine their ideal life through Korean dramas. In Korean dramas, we rarely see real poverty. Even if there is Cinderella, her poverty is for the sake of being a tall, rich and handsome man to save her in the future. We rarely see conflicts between classes. Most of the time, the loving rich and handsome man can always have fun with everyone. Most Korean dramas have beautification of reality to varying degrees, and even some Korean dramas with praise are no exception.
For example, "The Wise Prison Life" reflects prison life was very popular. The director of the drama Shin Yuanhao once directed the famous "Please Answer Series". "The Wise Prison Life" reflects Shin Yuanhao's delicateness as always, but this drama still makes people feel "disgusting". Prisons are a punishment machine. Only those who seriously violate the law will enter the prison. Prisons should play a deterrent role - people will avoid intentional or unintentional crimes because they are afraid of going to prison. But in "The Wise Prison Life", prison is like a "utopia". People in the same prison room get along like brothers and friends, saving each other and having fun; even those who are guilty and evil, the screenwriter focuses on discovering his shining points and cuteness... The deterrent and educational role of prison has become a bit attractive after being constantly faded and seriously beautified.This is a "common problem" in Korean dramas. Even a famous director can't help but put a pink veil on it when filming cruel real problems.
" Fuyan Cave Avengers " Stills
Before "The Wise Prison Life", another TVN drama "Fuyan Cave Avengers" also attracted countless fans. "The Avengers" is a woman's drama. It tells the story of three women with different identities and backgrounds uniting together, planning to take revenge and putting it into practice. One is a rich girl from the upper class who lives a pampered family, but her marriage life is not happy, and her husband has an illegitimate child and takes her home; the other is a "goddess" of a middle class family. The family seems perfect, but in fact she endures domestic violence from her husband; the other is a widow from the lower class society who does business in the traditional fish shop market and lives a poor life... The class gap is so big, but they accidentally become close sisters. It’s like Zhang Zetian and Fan Yusu became best friends and united to take revenge against men, which was very satisfying.
Korean dramas have become the best filter in Korea. Domestic audiences see a romantic and beautiful South Korea through it. But is reality really as charming as Korean dramas?
tablespoons class theory
There is a Western proverb "Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth", a child born with a silver spoon in his mouth is rich and has good tutoring, and is born blessed. This has evolved into a very famous "spoon class theory" on Korean social networks. The younger generation in their twenties and thirties compared personal family background to "spoons". According to their parents' financial ability rather than personal ability, they are divided into four categories: "gold spoons", "silver spoons", "copper spoons" and "earth spoons".
The family born in a family with assets of 2 billion won (100 million won is equivalent to 590,000 yuan) or an annual income of more than 200 million won is the "gold spoon" class; the family with assets of 1 billion won or an annual income of more than 100 million won is the "silver spoon"; the family with assets of 500 million won or an annual income of more than 55 million won is the "copper spoon"; the "earth spoon" refers to the assets of less than 50 million won or an annual income of less than 20 million won. Behind the popularity of "spoon class theory" is the very serious class solidification in South Korea. Parents' education, occupation, family background and social status largely determine the future class of their children. The phenomenon of intergenerational transmission is becoming increasingly serious, and class mobility has become very difficult.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published the report "Distribution of Economic Growth Achievements - Inequality Analysis in Asia". The report shows that as of 2013, the income of the top 10% of the upper class in South Korea accounted for 45% of the overall income, the highest among Asian countries. South Korea's revenue share was 29% in 1995, and soared by 16 percentage points after 18 years. During the same period, the overall upper 10% revenue share of Asian countries only increased by 1-2 percentage points on average. According to the analysis data on the changes in the ratio of families of the upper class, middle class and poor class in South Korea in the past 10 years released by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), the proportion of middle class has been shrinking, but the proportion of poor class has been expanding.
generally believes that the intensification of South Korea's class solidification is related to the neoliberal economic strategy vigorously implemented after the 1997 economic crisis. The neoliberal policies of "the state withdraws and the market enters" have led to the infinite expansion of market forces and forced the South Korean government and society to be shaped into a "government system" and "social structure" that is "market-friendly"; the South Korean working class has lost legal protection and can be freely fired and replaced, and they have become "castrated classes", and they are unable to organize forces to resist. Data shows that in the decade after the "97 Crisis", South Korea ranked first in the proportion of temporary employees, first in the OECD countries, first in suicide rate, first in the elderly poverty rate, third inequality, and second in the relative poverty rate.
In the free-flowing market, young people seem to have more employment options, but they are difficult to obtain stable and secure jobs. There is a crisis of unemployment again at any time. Many people have become "working poor people".For example, according to the report of Yonhap News Agency , the unemployment rate of youth in South Korea in 2017 was as high as 9.9%, and the somatosensory unemployment rate included in actual unemployed people such as doing odd jobs while looking for jobs, preparing for exams and looking for jobs is as high as 22.7%.
Therefore, even though the male protagonist in the Korean drama always lives in high-end apartments, has luxury cars when traveling, and often goes to luxury restaurants with the heroine, many young Koreans are deeply in poverty in reality.
X throws the first generation of
Behind the difficult reality is the disappointment of young people with the status quo. Regarding the "spoon class theory", some media reported that 84.9% of Korean people believe this is an undeniable reality, especially among the 20-29-year-olds, the recognition rate is as high as 88.6%, and the recognition rate among the 30-39-year-olds is 83.1%. According to the results of the "2015 Social Survey" released by the National Bureau of Statistics of South Korea, four of the five Koreans believe that it is difficult to "class rise" among the same generation. When asked about "the possibility of improving one's social and economic status in the same generation through one's own efforts throughout one's life", only 21.8% of people answered "the possibility is very high", and 62.2% said "the possibility is very small."
Students from Seoul Women's University in South Korea take graduation photos. Image source: The Paper
In 2007, South Korea published a sociological book "880,000 Generations". The book points out that after the "97 Crisis", Korean society has transformed into a "winner-takes-all" jungle society. The first ones are college graduates around 20 years old. Only 5% of them have the chance to be registered as company formal employees, and others will become temporary employees, with an average monthly salary of only 880,000 won. "880,000 yuan generation" then became a popular word, and various new names for young generations spread wildly.
In a report in 2011, South Korea's "Jingxiang News" named the younger generation "Three-drop generations". The report said: "Today's young generation suffers from temporary jobs, tuition repayment, employment preparation and rising housing prices, so they have to delay or even give up love, marriage and childbirth indefinitely, which is the so-called "three throws". The formation of "three throws" will inevitably aggravate social problems such as low birth rate and aging." Later, there was a saying that "five throws generations" was abandoned, even housing and interpersonal relationships were abandoned; and even some people claimed to "seven throws generations", even dreams and hopes were abandoned. Therefore, Korean young people generally dare not get married. According to data from the South Korean Statistics Department, the unmarried rate among Koreans aged 20 to 29 is currently 91.3%, and among Koreans aged 30 to 39, the unmarried rate is 36.3%. Both data far exceed Japan and become a "single power." A survey released by the Korean Population Health and Welfare Association in November last year showed that 44.4% of college students believe that getting married is "dispensable", and only 33.2% answered that "you still have to get married".
Sweet love in Korean idol dramas always makes the viewers urge to fall in love and get married. The reality is that most Korean young people abandon love and marriage under heavy pressure.
The political intentions of Korean dramas
It can be seen from this that most Korean dramas are actually very "taken of course", and they have made a colorful beautification of South Korea's class and real problems. However, another Korean drama "Her Tasteful" starring Kim Hee Sun and Kim Sun-er is closer to the reflection of the reality of the Korean class. The maids of the lower class entered the upper class step by step, but were still easily defeated; for the maids of the lower class of society, this path of movement is full of blood and tears, and even at the cost of the self-destruction of the soul, but ultimately failed. It’s not that she is not working hard enough or crazy enough, but that the iron walls cast by the upper class cannot be broken by flesh and blood. Similarly, compared with a series of beautiful TV series, niche Korean movies such as "The Fourth Class", "The Saint", and "Dixin God", it is also closer to the reality of South Korea.
"Fourth Class", "Sacred Saint", "Dixin God" movie poster
In a sense, Korean dramas have certain political intentions to portray the aesthetic portrayal of reality and the use of first-class Korean stars in public relations and publicity.It can numb the nerves of the people internally, cover up conflicts between classes, and cover up social problems; it can use the huge entertainment industry to create foreign exchange, drive the development of tourism and other industries, and establish a good image of South Korea, conduct cultural exports and national image exports.
Of course, every country has problems with every country. Uncovering the gorgeous robe of Korean dramas is not intentionally "black" South Korea; as a developed country, South Korea also has many advantages. What's more, from the perspective of script innovation and film and television production alone, the level of Korean dramas is far higher than that of domestic dramas, and there are many things worth learning from. But "listening to both sides" is still necessary, so as to avoid being confused by the beautification of film and television dramas, and even misunderstandings about life at this time and here.
Source of this article: Pengpai News
