"Itaewon class", which started broadcast on January 31, 2020, is produced by Netflix and is adapted from the comic of the same name. It is a Korean-style drama about the theme of "revenge". It currently has a Douban score of 8.7 and has been on the second place on Douyin's hot search list. It has played related to one million views on B. So how can this popular drama that seized the title of "the first cool drama in 2020" realize the real compensation psychology of and act as a social pressure relief valve? This article will analyze its cool drama logic from three perspectives: sensory pleasure, classic narrative and identity of "Itaewon class" (with spoilers).
Sensory pleasure: the id of irrational factors presents
male protagonist Park Se-ro and female protagonist Zhao Yirui as the "satisfaction" sense of responsibility for this drama, is essentially an ideal character who transcends the rules and realizes the id. They have experienced justice aphasia personally, but still choose to fight against the jungle society. When the inner will is restricted by the rules of order, they tore open the fig leaf of morality and trampled on injustice in a radical way that transcends the secular world. This subjective need to constantly reject the objective environment (commonly known as "the god blocks the gods, the Buddha blocks the Buddha blocks the Buddha") plot compensates people's self-repression psychology in the surrounding environment, especially in the workplace culture.
(Picture shows: Park Se-lou beats up the rich second-generation classmate who killed his father on a rainy night)
In the campus bullying drama, Park Se-lou, who adheres to the "disagreement on the road and helps each other", injured and bullied the weak rich second-generation, and beats up the rich second-generation who killed his father on a rainy night, responding to people's expectations of "retribution in this life" for those who are at ease with the law.
(Picture shows: Zhao Yirui, who has an antisocial personality, was criticized by the teacher after slapping the district mayor's wife)
is not afraid of the mayor's wife of the power class being a hooligan, because Zhao Yirui, the heroine of "antisocial personality", is more arrogant than the hooligan, and she directly slapped the mayor's wife. Referring to language and physical violence, releasing irrational "evil" factors, the sensory pleasure brought by the screen presentation of "vindictive" completes people's revenge imagination of the privileged class in real life. The moral sense of "drawing swords to help each other when seeing injustice in the character of the male and female protagonists" is that the chivalrous style of has become the screenwriter's guarantee for human nature. This power of virtue provides rationality for the violent expression of the soul characters in the play.
In addition, just like Wei Yingluo, who killed the villain in "Yanxi Palace" and " Deadly Women ", and Simone, who resisted cheating on scumbags, Zhao Yirui in "Itaewon class" appears as a high-IQ woman who can be literary and martial, strong and independent, and does not fall into the rut of "all-round male lead with silly and sweet female lead". The image of the "literary and martial" heroine hits the "satisfactory" point of the female target group , reflecting the radiation of feminist thoughts on artistic creation.
Classic narrative: 1:1 construction of "abuse point" and "cool point"
(Picture: Park Se-lou beats a rich second generation and is invited to his parents)
Father faces the threat of the principal and boss to recognize Park Se-lou's belief
The classic narrative of the type film lies in the 1:1 construction of "abuse point" and "cool point". The theme of revenge requires the sacrifice of death. In the first two episodes of "Itaewon Class", the male protagonist's father, as a guide who symbolizes justice, dramatizes contradictions and conflicts, breaks all the balance of Park Selo's life, and triggers the rational need for Park Selo's revenge. This is the strong motivation for the character's actions, and all subsequent plots revolve around this event. The death of a father is also the "abuse point" of the script. Without the "abuse" of the male protagonist in the early stage in the severely hierarchical society, there would be no "feeling" of finally avenging his father.
(Picture shows: facing Park Se-lo who was imprisoned for attempted murder)
The boss of the chaebol performed a thick black doctrine
In addition to the tragic role, , as the evil crowd of the game power, is a practitioner of the law of the jungle and a fan of social Darwinism . They do not have pure evil, but instead look like every ordinary person struggling with secular desires, living in the gap between "righteousness and justice" and "sleekness and sophistication".
The second female self-interest Wu Xiuya firmly believes that "people are evil at the beginning." In order to obtain funding to complete their studies and get high-paying jobs, she chose to stand opposite Park Selu; the boss of the big chaebol told the prisoner that he could survive better in society by servile and flattering. In the face of the murder of the eldest son of the chaebol who used his power for personal gain, the police chief said, "Don't mess with unnecessary justice, think more about your family." In such a social environment, the male protagonist who insists on heroism will inevitably be accompanied by the price of blood while upholding justice. Compared to the game between good and evil forces, the drama is more like a fierce confrontation between two values.
Orphan-born second girl, although she likes Park Sei-ro, she will not marry a poor boy
Identity: Humanistic care in a diverse context
For the audience of "Itaewon class", in addition to following the protagonist to feel the empathy pleasure of entrepreneurship and upgrading, is more important to discover yourself and know yourself in the diverse context of the play. Kristeva mentioned in the book "The Stranger Self" that the others are also part of our psychology. Therefore, when a society defines a group as others and rejects them, it rejects and rejects them not others, but is part of itself, that is, those energies and impulses that it cannot understand and accept.
The screenwriter set the restaurant's location in Itaewon, which has a profound meaning. After the Korean War truce, many American military families lived in Itaewon, Seoul, including many American and Korean mixed-race children. In Korea, which has long emphasized a single ethnic group, they are called "different fetus". The first time in the play describes Itaewon as a special festival - Halloween. Why isn't it the Chinese Valentine's Day or other festivals? Because the "Halloween" with a Baccarat and a flaunting personality is most in line with the tone of Itaewon, the bizarre and strange behaviors release the impulse of being ununderstood and suppressed in the form of entertainment. The marginalized personality of the mainstream discourse system of is integrated into the "Halloween" carnival.
The restaurant in the protagonist is a microcosm of Itaewon. Among them, the chef is a transgender person with poor cooking skills, the waiter is a irritable ex-convict, the lobby supervisor is an anti-social violent woman, the illegitimate son of a big chaebol, a black man with mixed races of Korean and American, etc. They all find self-identity in this restaurant and complete the dynamic growth of "character arc". Itaewon is a diverse and inclusive field. Park Se-ro likes Itaewon not only because he first met his old friend after prison, but also because Itaewon's "tolerant" attribute made him feel the warmth of home.
Whether it is the early Jin Yong literature, Yu Zheng's "Story of Yanxi Palace", or the popular "Qing Yu Nian" and "The Deadly Women" last year, they all state a social and cultural landscape, namely the hot drama. There are deep social and psychological roots behind the presidency of .
The anxiety about class solidification in reality can only implement justice in virtual scenarios on the Internet. Once the shackles of rational education woven by reality in action may affect their career and family at the least, and at the worst, they will be sent to jail. Therefore, the public will map the desire to subvert the reality hierarchy and strict discourse system into literature and art, hoping to obtain emotional experiences that are difficult to touch in real life during the process of watching the drama, such as obtaining the pleasure of class leaping by substituting the protagonist, etc. In the market, it is the rapid progress of "male frequency", "female frequency", and cool culture.
Currently, the development space of cool dramas in the market has increased significantly, but "Itaewon class" is separated from the label of ordinary cool dramas. Overall, it is a work of realistic themes. On the basis of adhering to the soil of reality, it maintains the exploration of ideological nature. Through reasonable positioning, can create film and television works that are healed without lacking depth, refreshing and endless aftertaste.
