[HanCinema's News] Grim History Becomes the Latest South Korean Trend

Two weekends ago, tvN and JTBC started airing two new dramas in their weekend evening slots dealing with two seldom discussed eras of South Korean history. In "Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born" an acting troupe struggles to survive in the fifties. Meanwhile, "A Virtuous Business" depicts nineties era saleswomen who aim to retire earlier by making a fortune selling erotic products in the rural southwest of the country.

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The main commonality between the two dramas, aside from their novel premises, is their willingness to take a grim look back at South Korea's recent history, tempering much apparent tragedy with other parts farce. The tone of these dramas is a notable departure from the more optimistic and even nostalgic perspectives of Korean history that the genre tends to be better known for. "Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born" has been a big ratings success to boot, with 12.726% recorded in its fourth episode.

"A Virtuous Business" which also aired on the 21st also had a ratings high of 5.924%. With initial ratings of 4.844% and 3.862%, these dramas have clearly exceeded expectations. But maybe they shouldn't have. Last year, "12.12: The Day" was a big hit at the South Korean box office, and that particular historical film quite literally depicted South Korea's collapse into a new dictatorship back in 1980. There's notable interest in such bleaker portrayals of history.

But there are limits to this interest. "The Land of Happiness" only earned 710,014 admissions at the South Korean box office this summer despite having Cho Jung-seok and Lee Sun-kyun in leading roles for the late seventies legal thriller, the latter his final one, before his unfortunate death last year. "Uprising" took the grim approach to the late sixteenth century, and while it's been reasonably popular, this is a low standard for South Korean Netflix films.

Ultimately, it's possible that the novel premises of "Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born" and "A Virtuous Business" are of greater interest to viewer than their historical perspective. Certainly humor goes a long way as well. Whatever the reason for their success, however, producers will only be that much more likely to cast a more mocking eye to history in future South Korean productions.

Written by William Schwartz