Love and Friendship
Love and friendship. They are frequent topics in dramas and movies. It's too common, but it's always a subject many people look for from past times and is familiar all over the world. Without love and friendship, life would definitely be boring. Today, I prepared three dramas where you can see the life of Korea's 20s and 30s. All of them are relatively recent dramas, and they show Koreans' love, work life, fashion, and daily life well, and in particular, all of these dramas were especially loved by young people in Korea. So I think friends who are interested in Korea will be fun watching them.
Fight for My Way(쌈마이웨이/2017)
"Ssammyway" is a new word that combines Ssam(fight) in Korean and "Myway" in English. So, this title of this drama is meaning a fight to find own path and life. Like the name of the drama, each of the four main characters in the drama is having a hard time in their late 20s. The four have been friends since childhood and lived with each other in the same neighborhood. These four are so-called 'low Spec'. Spec(스펙) is a very common word used in the Korean job market. Spec in Korea is short for the English word "specification," which means all the abilities of a person, such as academic background, career, and certificate. And nowadays in Korea, even the economic situation of the family and appearance is called Spec as well.
Anyway, Korea is a society that is too hard to dream of what people want with its low Specs. The main character Dong-man gave up Taekwondo due to financial problems, and Ae-ra dreams of becoming an announcer, but the reality is not easy to become. The other two are a long-time couple who have been in a relationship for six years, and in the end a seven-year-itch (Kwontaeki in Korean)comes in front of them who have worked hard and loved passionately for a long time. This drama shows various situations that Korean people in their 20s are experiencing. They are discriminated against by their specs, not even allowed to challenge what they want, and they are evaluated as an external factor rather than themselves. In addition, many of them postpone or give up marriage(even going on a date) for economic reasons. That's why many people must have felt vicarious satisfaction and exhilaration watching this drama which Dong-man proudly appears in the fighting field with BTS's song 'Fire' and Ae-ra became a female announcer in men's sports.
(By the way, Fire(불타오르네) of BTS made me got me interested in Bangtan)
Be Melodramatic(멜로가체질/2019)
This K-rama is slightly different from the main characters of the above Ssammyway. While the above protagonists are struggling to find their way, the main characters of this drama, who are in their 30s, face other problems in their already established social positions. The stress at work has grown, bosses have made life more painful, balancing work and love is not easy, and working every day has become most of their lives. As for love, became skeptical that it might be a momentary illusion, and admit that love begins and ends for various reasons.
However, it is hard to deny that it is love that eventually makes us overcome all these situations. The Korean title of this drama, "멜로가체질Melo Is My Nature(or could be translated: born to be melodramatic/melodramatic constitution)" is a quite Korean-style expression. In Korea, the dictionary meaning of the word 체질(constitution) is physical and health characteristics. So, this is used to express something natural and habitual to someone or something that agrees with and fits for. Eventually, this title will mean us who end up in love naturally and inevitably. The objects of love vary. As in general meaning, it can be love for lovers, family, and friends, or could be work, nature, culture, knowledge, hobby, etc. We are in love with anything, and we seem to want to love more. Even though the way we love and the way it ends up may going in the direction we don't want to.
The main characters' situations are all dramatic, but their actings and lines are very realistic and honest. There are also many monologues. I recommend it because all characters are intense and attractive, and the lines were really good. (An additional thing, most of the actors and actresses in this K-Drama are rising stars in Korea)
Work Later, Drink Now(술꾼도시여자들/2021)
This drama is defined by two keywords. Alcohol and friendship. Unlike the dramas above, the proportion of love in this drama is very small. Also, it is a drama that shows the atmosphere of drinking and drinking culture in Korea. All the main characters drink alcohol (especially Soju) so much for every episode that I feel like drunk when I watch it. It is also good to see various Korean side dishes, called 안주Anju (foods that go well with alcohol). Anyway, three city women who are heavy drinkers, when they are sad, happy, angry, or just without reason, drink together. Of course, there are many incidents caused by alcohol and this is really funny. However, in later parts of the drama, the serious situations of the main characters begin to come to light.
Everyone spends every day fighting their own wars. Sometimes we open up problems or troubles to our close friends, but sometimes it's not easy to talk about because they're precious people, and we decide not to talk about it. While watching this drama, I used to think about friends and friendship. We've spent a lot of time together with friends, and we know each other's history, but in the end, we can't know everything and it's hard to know deep inside of them. We need to and will admit that. However, watching this drama, I realize again that friends are the ones who try to understand and comfort each other.
Nevertheless
All three dramas introduced today are happy endings after all. It's a happy ending because everyone keeps going forward. And as we can find in the dramas, love and friendship are values that give you the strength to keep going. not every day is happy and easy as you all are experiencing. There are days when we're tired, exhausted, and sometimes want to give up everything. Nevertheless, our lives are happy-ending since we are finding a reason to live and keep going forward step by step without giving up.
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