Adultery, Evil Mothers-in-Law: Korean Soaps in 2007
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The hottest topics in Korean TV soaps in 2007 were adultery and conflicts between woman and her mother-in-law, and the resolutions were inevitably physical.
Viewers were treated to cheating spouses being cursed, kicked in the stomach and hit over the head with a washboard. The stock conflict between women and their mothers-in-law also reached new heights of intensity on TV.
◆ Coming to blows
The SBS series "My Man's Woman" offered a slightly new angle on the age-old adultery problem. In an early episode, Junpyo, the male lead who is having an affair with his wife's friend Hwa-young, is caught kissing her by his sister-in-law, Eun-su. Viewers were stunned when Eun-su kicked Hwa-young and hit her in the face.
The characters in the SBS drama "First Wives' Club" also came to blows. In the drama, Han Won-soo who has an affair, beats his wife Nah Hwa-shin, and Han Bok-soo, who is angry with her husband's affair hits him over the head with a washboard.
"In the past, Korean drama showed fantasies about adultery, like something out of a fairy tale", cultural critic Kim Jong-whee says. "But now dramas show the reality that is created by adultery". Kim Su-hyun, the writer of "My Man's Woman", earlier told the Chosun Ilbo, "I write my script based on in-depth inquiries of adultery itself, rather than dealing with it as an episode".
◆ Nasty mothers-in-law
Conflicts between women and their mothers-in-law reached new pitch. One mother-in-law in MBC series "Winter Bird" accused her daughter-in-law of being "spoiled goods in a pretty package". In KBS' "Golden Era of Daughter in Law", a woman is seen to cause the death of her daughter-in-law when she visits her in hospital and harangues her about splitting up with her son. Some viewers felt this was going too far.
◆ Regressing
Some experts say these storylines are a step back in time. Park Woong-jin of the Korea Broadcasting Institute said, "It remains a question whether viewers can feel catharsis from such fights". In the case of Eun-soo, viewers were impressed already by her feisty character; the fisticuffs were surplus to requirements. "The fight was a hackneyed old device to attract viewers", Park says, but admits that the ubiquity of such scenes suggests viewers prefer action to storyline.
Viewers were treated to cheating spouses being cursed, kicked in the stomach and hit over the head with a washboard. The stock conflict between women and their mothers-in-law also reached new heights of intensity on TV.
◆ Coming to blows
The SBS series "My Man's Woman" offered a slightly new angle on the age-old adultery problem. In an early episode, Junpyo, the male lead who is having an affair with his wife's friend Hwa-young, is caught kissing her by his sister-in-law, Eun-su. Viewers were stunned when Eun-su kicked Hwa-young and hit her in the face.
The characters in the SBS drama "First Wives' Club" also came to blows. In the drama, Han Won-soo who has an affair, beats his wife Nah Hwa-shin, and Han Bok-soo, who is angry with her husband's affair hits him over the head with a washboard.
"In the past, Korean drama showed fantasies about adultery, like something out of a fairy tale", cultural critic Kim Jong-whee says. "But now dramas show the reality that is created by adultery". Kim Su-hyun, the writer of "My Man's Woman", earlier told the Chosun Ilbo, "I write my script based on in-depth inquiries of adultery itself, rather than dealing with it as an episode".
◆ Nasty mothers-in-law
Conflicts between women and their mothers-in-law reached new pitch. One mother-in-law in MBC series "Winter Bird" accused her daughter-in-law of being "spoiled goods in a pretty package". In KBS' "Golden Era of Daughter in Law", a woman is seen to cause the death of her daughter-in-law when she visits her in hospital and harangues her about splitting up with her son. Some viewers felt this was going too far.
◆ Regressing
Some experts say these storylines are a step back in time. Park Woong-jin of the Korea Broadcasting Institute said, "It remains a question whether viewers can feel catharsis from such fights". In the case of Eun-soo, viewers were impressed already by her feisty character; the fisticuffs were surplus to requirements. "The fight was a hackneyed old device to attract viewers", Park says, but admits that the ubiquity of such scenes suggests viewers prefer action to storyline.
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