lmangla
This review may contain spoilers
Fluffy and funny but with hidden depth -- some unique real life themes
I rewatch the drama after several years and it was a fun ride.
It was interesting to watch the drama's theme especially in today's social media context where things happen even more quickly:
- How are images constructed and how a single event can drop the person's influencer status.
- How someone can go from the height of popularity to being the bottom of the pile.
One thing the drama didn't delve too much is why the general public are so mean over social media. We see the people making terrible comments turning out to be very ordinary folks and mostly teenagers. However, what is that drives people to log in and make awful comments directly? It is one thing to be critical of a drama but another to personally attack the actor; but that is today's audience. Why do we struggle with drawing a line and what should be government policy? Should there be better guidelines? How should guidelines be implemented? Is the platform responsible for those making comments? Can those running the platforms be held criminally responsible? (Not to bore people but these are real policy questions and debated by IT ministry and policy makers in my place.) So those were the serious kind of thoughts that the drama reminded me of given today's context.
It is interesting to see that the drama was written in 2011 when these issues were in its infancy and far less toxic. This drama was first and foremost meant to be a romance fluff and it is credit to the writers that they managed to weave in some interesting serious insightful themes about entertainment and social media without getting too serious. These days, it feels like dramas that want to say something are frankly a bore. They preach to the audience that I just fall asleep. So it is great to see the drama focused entirely on bringing the entertainment quotient while weaving in lightly the more serious themes.
In terms of romance, it reallly felt like an adult romance. We often have this misconception that there is no risk involved in some decisions but the truth is even safe decisions (whether it is investment or other areas of life) carries some amount of risk. The question is if you are okay with that risk and willing to accept the lows. So we have two adults who constantly debate the risks. For Ae Jeong, she is very clear that she will not involve herself in a short term relationship as the fallouts are simply not worth it and her pride will not allow herself to be used. Despite all the negative criticisms, it is her pride and her sense of protecting those she loves has kept her going. As she sees no future, she would rather not start something.
With Dokko, initially he would prefer something short-term so that he can get it out of his system and not have it disrupt his life. He is hilariously vain that it does pain him that his heart is leading him to a relationship where there seems to be more risk (public backlash) than reward (love). It is interesting to see that Dokko actually becomes quite serious really early on but Ae Jeong is very slow to catch that because Dokko is way too comical that it is hard to take him seriously. So, there is a slew of confusion and conflicts that essentially have these characters determine if the reward is worth the risk for this relationship.
Really enjoyed that neither Dokko or Ae Jeong change much and actually remain the same people. Dokko's vanity hilariously helps him tide over the negative backlash because he is supremely confident in his ability to bounce back. Ae Jeong's perseverance and tough hide means she takes the backlash about their relationship without really affecting her. She sticks to her ethics and protects those she loves.
In some ways, this is a typical 'modern romance' but thank goodness, it was on MBC. If it was on some cable channel, we would have darl lighting, long shots without any dialogues, them staring at each other for minutes on end, tons of boring existential dialogues, really slow episodes that can be basically FF and watched in ten minutes or less; or even better, just watch the preview - basically cardboard characters that look pretty and pretend to have depth.
So it was great to see a 'modern love' type romance with real teeth but also real fluff. This is actually a tough balance because fluffy romance these days are a bore because it is way too sweet and unrealistic whereas real romance are such a bore that documentaries on disease are far more entertaining. At no point, does this drama get so serious that it becomes super boring and made me fall asleep. At no point does this drama become so fluffy that it made me get teeth ache. Definitely a fun re-watch!
It was interesting to watch the drama's theme especially in today's social media context where things happen even more quickly:
- How are images constructed and how a single event can drop the person's influencer status.
- How someone can go from the height of popularity to being the bottom of the pile.
One thing the drama didn't delve too much is why the general public are so mean over social media. We see the people making terrible comments turning out to be very ordinary folks and mostly teenagers. However, what is that drives people to log in and make awful comments directly? It is one thing to be critical of a drama but another to personally attack the actor; but that is today's audience. Why do we struggle with drawing a line and what should be government policy? Should there be better guidelines? How should guidelines be implemented? Is the platform responsible for those making comments? Can those running the platforms be held criminally responsible? (Not to bore people but these are real policy questions and debated by IT ministry and policy makers in my place.) So those were the serious kind of thoughts that the drama reminded me of given today's context.
It is interesting to see that the drama was written in 2011 when these issues were in its infancy and far less toxic. This drama was first and foremost meant to be a romance fluff and it is credit to the writers that they managed to weave in some interesting serious insightful themes about entertainment and social media without getting too serious. These days, it feels like dramas that want to say something are frankly a bore. They preach to the audience that I just fall asleep. So it is great to see the drama focused entirely on bringing the entertainment quotient while weaving in lightly the more serious themes.
In terms of romance, it reallly felt like an adult romance. We often have this misconception that there is no risk involved in some decisions but the truth is even safe decisions (whether it is investment or other areas of life) carries some amount of risk. The question is if you are okay with that risk and willing to accept the lows. So we have two adults who constantly debate the risks. For Ae Jeong, she is very clear that she will not involve herself in a short term relationship as the fallouts are simply not worth it and her pride will not allow herself to be used. Despite all the negative criticisms, it is her pride and her sense of protecting those she loves has kept her going. As she sees no future, she would rather not start something.
With Dokko, initially he would prefer something short-term so that he can get it out of his system and not have it disrupt his life. He is hilariously vain that it does pain him that his heart is leading him to a relationship where there seems to be more risk (public backlash) than reward (love). It is interesting to see that Dokko actually becomes quite serious really early on but Ae Jeong is very slow to catch that because Dokko is way too comical that it is hard to take him seriously. So, there is a slew of confusion and conflicts that essentially have these characters determine if the reward is worth the risk for this relationship.
Really enjoyed that neither Dokko or Ae Jeong change much and actually remain the same people. Dokko's vanity hilariously helps him tide over the negative backlash because he is supremely confident in his ability to bounce back. Ae Jeong's perseverance and tough hide means she takes the backlash about their relationship without really affecting her. She sticks to her ethics and protects those she loves.
In some ways, this is a typical 'modern romance' but thank goodness, it was on MBC. If it was on some cable channel, we would have darl lighting, long shots without any dialogues, them staring at each other for minutes on end, tons of boring existential dialogues, really slow episodes that can be basically FF and watched in ten minutes or less; or even better, just watch the preview - basically cardboard characters that look pretty and pretend to have depth.
So it was great to see a 'modern love' type romance with real teeth but also real fluff. This is actually a tough balance because fluffy romance these days are a bore because it is way too sweet and unrealistic whereas real romance are such a bore that documentaries on disease are far more entertaining. At no point, does this drama get so serious that it becomes super boring and made me fall asleep. At no point does this drama become so fluffy that it made me get teeth ache. Definitely a fun re-watch!
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