2017 kdramas vs Classism,Capitalism and Corruption

[meganbmoore]

I think about once a week, I see another post on tumblr about “oh, another kdrama this year about taking on corruption!” and, I mean, it’s true, tackling corruption and classism is The Big Thing in kdramas this year. (Based on information regarding the recent strike, it could be an attempt at damage control for KBS and MBC.)



What I find interesting is that, at least for the big three networks, they’ve each chosen a particular type of drama for that.



SBS and I have not been having a good year. They did Lee Young Ae wrong (despite my problems with Saimdang, I genuinely liked it and thought it was good, though not as good as it could have been, but they did Lee Young Ae wrong), Whisper had the female lead rape the male lead in the first episode, and the “twist” with the killer in the next to last episode of Suspicious Partnerwas so ableist and misogynistic that it ruined the entire thing for me. I haven’t been able to pick up any new shows of theirs in months. But I digress because my issues with SBS aren’t the point SBS has chosen to have their classism/corruption commentary take the form of office and legal dramas. I haven’t seen any of those besides Suspicious Partner, but I know those are their bread and butter this year.

MBC has a serious “VIVA LA REVOLUCION” bee in their bonnet. The Leverage/Robin Hood theme is strong, with Rebel, Bad Thief Good Thief, and Lookout all carrying that theme and spending weeks going “LET’S PUNCH CLASSISM AND PRIVILEGE AND CAPITALISM AND INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN THE FACE”. Ruler was less about classism, but big on the corruption, as well as terribly unsubtle with the “down with the puppet king and the man behind the curtain” message. (Note: I didn’t finish Ruler, so I can’t comment on if that carried through to the end.)

KBS is the “small guy/group trying to stay afloat in the capitalist and classist Hell that is society” station, with less focus on corruption than the other two. Fight My Way, Strongest Deliveryman, and Girls Generation 1979 are essentially about groups of people in a certain neighborhood who know they’re pretty low on the social scale and live in a society where everything is stacked against them, and try to do the best they can within that. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m told Father is Strange also fits into that category. School 2017 is about halfway between that and MBC’s VIVA LA REVOLUCION approach (Strongest Deliveryman also veered somewhat into that territory, though not as much), it’s still about a group of people trying to make a specific place better, but also has the vigilante-esque figure (and later group) pushing things along that MBC likes so much this year. (Thematically, Saimdang fits in more with KBS’s lineup this year than SBS’s. KBS may have done Lee Young Ae wrong based o n Seven Day Queen, but they probably would have done better by her and the show than SBS did.)



JTBC, OCN and TVN have also definitely put their feet forward and made their marks with this trend, but haven’t really had an ongoing trend with a specific theme they keep revisiting like the big three have.



I don’t really have anything deep or analytical to say about this, I just find it interesting how they’ve all chosen a particular approach to the same trend without a lot of overlap.

Comments

[china_shop]

That's really interesting. I don't pay a lot of attention to which network things air on -- I should start.

KBS' Chief Kim, which I'm 3/4 of the way through, is an office drama with a strong focus on corporate corruption, so perhaps is halfway between the SBS and KBS moulds.

I've just started Fight My Way too.

Btw, would you mind saying a little more about your issues with Suspicious Partner? I wasn't happy with the ending but more for the interpersonal friend/relationship dynamics. I wasn't paying much attention to the serial killer plot.

[meganbmoore]

*cracks knuckles*

So, throughout the series, they had the killer be opposed to violence against women (unless he was trying to kill them himself...) and treated this as an aberation and a weakness to be exploited. As opposed to, you know, smething most people should be. The one thing on his criminal record was when he was accused of assault when he saw a man abusing a woman. His hate for violence against women was used as proof that he was mentally unstable. The show clearly saw him as a sociopath even though, well, a sociopath wouldn't have such a strong moral stance.

So, we start out at : anger at violence against women is strange and unnatural, a weakness to be exploited, and proof of mental instability


Then we move on to the killer aspect. We get hints early on an later confirmation that he's going after men who attacked a woman from his past, presumably his girlfriend, who most likely died. Ok, fine, terrible handling of mental illness is still there and very troubling attitude abot what people's attitude towards violence against women should be, but sympathetic enough backstory.

Then we get to The Twist. She wasn't his girlfriend, but a girl he had a crush on. She was gang raped. He was one of her attackers, though I think the last episode (that I didn't watch) clarified that he chased her, but didn't participate in the rape, but also didn't do anything for her, and he's blocked those memories. so now we have a serial killer who's motivation is avenging a fridged woman who he himself attacked, whose insanity was him freeing himself of moral responsibility, and he only hates violence against women out of self-hatred. So opposition to violence against women (unless it's "your" woman, of course) is even more stigmatized, a greater proof of insanity, and still and unnatural general stance.

It was a bad plotline all along (interesting reveal that he WAS the killer after being proven innocent, but that was the only good thing going for it) on multiple levels that just got inifnitely worse with one scene.

[china_shop]

*nodnod* Thank you -- it left a bad taste in my mouth, but I couldn't articulate why (and as I said, I was mostly focused on other storylines, since serial killers are one of my least fav tropes). Ugh!

[meganbmoore]

Yup. I mean, you're right. I had issues with how the second female lead was treated by the show and other characters (I predicted that particular twist-the lack of actual cheating-early on, but they revealed it too late for it to work) but overall the lawfirm and parents and rivals minus the gross DA) were great and there were fun shenanigans and interactions all around. I kept watching for them even after the show in general stopped living up to it's initial promise, but that reveal just left me with a bad taste in my mouth for the whole show.