The best bloody revenge drama is always a story in reality.
When love is a thing of the past, the once sweet "Double Song couple" of Song Hye Kyo and Song Joong Ki has become a "Double Song Showdown", and the audience only cares about "fight fast".
In the last month of 2022, Song Joong-ki set a South Korean ratings record with "The Little Son of a Chaebol Family", but due to the plot opening and low ending, he overturned in word of mouth and left the scene sadly amid a scolding.
South Koreans, who were angry because of the bad end, also selected the top ten bad TV series, and "The Little Son of the Chaebol Family" topped the list. / Douban screenshot
With different lives, similar year-end launch time, and the same revenge genre drama, "Dark Glory" starring Song Huiqiao became the fifth series on Netflix's global list as soon as it was released.
In terms of acting, Song Huiqiao received one-sided praise, and her ex-husband reaped one-sided group ridicule, who watched it has to say that even if it is a "revenge" drama, the reality is far more wonderful than the TV series.
"What I need is not a prince, but an executioner who can dance with me."
In "Dark Glory", Song Huiqiao's confession to the male protagonist speaks the same audience's mental journey.
"Dark Glory", there is always a golden phrase for you.
No longer looking for illusory redemption in beautiful and romantic idol dramas, hearty revenge counterattack has become the traffic password of Korean dramas in recent years.
The revenge cool drama of "hating everyone equally" has inadvertently become the main theme of the popular Korean drama.
Revenge cool drama, the focus is cool
What are the advantages of a catchy revenge drama? There is a sense of suspense from weak to strong, an immersive sense of refreshment when executing, and a cheerfulness at the level of moral values.
The "cool" sense of revenge cool drama is basically inseparable from a happy ending of evil and evil retribution.
From this point of view, "Dark Glory" (a total of 16 episodes), which has only released 8 episodes, may still overturn in the future. Because in the content that has been broadcast, the heroine Wen Dongen played by Song Hye Kyo is still a long way from "revenge".
You can even think of the first 8 episodes as a long "trailer": the entry of different characters, the arrangement of the main dark line, the explanation of various forces... Like the last tranquility before the storm.
Strictly speaking, "Dark Glory" is not yet a "cool drama", but the reason why it can firmly grasp the hearts of the audience before reaching the end depends on developing the audience's "empathy mode".
The miserable scenes of the heroine being bullied in high school and the slow and forgiving revenge work in the reality line are constantly interspersed, and the contrast between this repeated emotion between the unfortunate tragedy and the revenge cool drama makes the audience naturally and unconditionally choose the heroine's camp, and the simple sense of justice of confronting the strong and evil with good and weak is born.
Coupled with the combination of class contradictions and school violence, the two highly discussed social issues, and the popular revenge and cool writing routines in "Dark Glory", the audience is not only immersed in the story, but also soberly contrasted with reality.
Incorporating criticism and thinking about real social issues like this is a common expression of Korean revenge dramas in recent years. Amplify the "evil" in the abuser to explore the nature of injustice in reality.
In 2022 alone, in addition to "Dark Glory", high-scoring works that explore the issue of school violence include "Weak Heroes" and "The King of Pigs".
And "The Little Son of the Chaebol" and "Eve", which target the chaebol shady class contradictions, are also the "black and red traffic" that the audience scolds and watches: word-of-mouth overturns is only because the plot is outrageous and cannot be understood, not that the theme setting is not attractive enough.
The revenge side of the revenge drama carries the audience's desire or emotion about reality. And the corresponding practical problems in these expressions, the "unrealistic" solutions in the play open the channel of "cool drama":
Since fairness cannot be achieved, the victim no longer expects to be redeemed, and pushing the perpetrator into hell has become an inevitable choice for every protagonist, which is also the scene of "killing all sides" that the audience wants to see the most.
Unable to escape. / "Weak Heroes"
People who are trapped in reality and eager to break the game, revenge cool drama has become a "electronic squeeze" that diverts attention, enough to let people escape the troubles of life for a short time.
Even in this acre and three-point land where the theme of revenge is endless, when it comes to the impressive Korean revenge drama, it is probably impossible to bypass the "top stream in the revenge world" - "Penthouse" as the name of this drama.
Cheating, domestic violence, revenge, school bullying, chicken and baby education, murder and prison escape, chaebol monopoly, collusion between officials and businessmen... In "Penthouse", which is full of villains, there is only a plot that the audience can't imagine, and there is no content that it dares not shoot.
The screenwriter of "Penthouse" is Kim Soon-ok, known as the "bloody godmother", and his famous work is the classic revenge drama "The Temptation to Go Home".
The revenge drama of all the wicked also means that all the members go to tragedy. / "The Penthouse"
Kim Soon-ok once said that in fact, she did not intend to write "dog blood", she just wanted to write a TV series with a bright pace, an urgent plot, and so that the audience could not be distracted when watching, "I hope that my work will be interesting enough to make those who have decided to commit suicide and have put one foot on the Han River Bridge to put their feet down a little because they are too curious about the plot of the next episode."
Behind the endless desire and absurd plot of the revenge cool drama, what we should see is actually hope.
The "revenge" road of Korean movies
South Korea's national director Park Chan-wook once said that "the most dramatic theme in the world" - a relentless creative exploration of the motive for revenge.
"Revenge is a taboo in modern society: everyone has a strong desire, but it is completely forbidden. The pent-up desire in each of our hearts – it appears in ancient stories around the world, so I also wanted my story to have the atmosphere of an ancient, heroic story. ”
Park Chan-wook, who laughs at himself as "an old man who likes to listen to dirty stories", will never be separated from the labels of revenge, violence, blood and sex. / "I Want Revenge"
Park Chan-wook, who relentlessly explores the theme of "revenge", handed over his answer sheet with the "revenge trilogy" "I Want Revenge", "Old Boy" and "Kind Gold".
The tough-guy, minimalist I Want Revenge describes the ultimate destructive nature of revenge; "Kind Gold" shows a rare perspective of female subjectivity.
And as the most well-known of the "Revenge Trilogy", "Old Boy" has a very different style and the way it handles the theme. The tone of Old Boy maintains a delicate balance between thriller violence and black comedy, and leads the ending to a philosophical question: When revenge is over, can the protagonist become his former self?
In Park Chan-wook's own words, he believes that "Old Boy" "explores the positive side of [revenge] that people can vent."
Beyond catharsis, there are more narratives to revenge. / Old Boy
In 1919, South Korea's first film "The Vendetta of Righteousness" was born, and the content of the film was the protagonist's revenge on his stepmother for his dead mother. It's like a fable that "revenge" and "hate culture" continue to rise and fall with Korean films, and this sentiment supports the sense of mission of Korean film creation.
In Korean culture, "hate" has diverse and complex characteristics and broad semantic coverage. Korean scholar Kim Yong-sook said: "'Hate' is the accumulated sadness caused by successive failures in life. ”
Everyone is one in ten million. / Squid Game
But this "hate" is not only resentment, South Korean professor Choi Ji-seong explained in "The Anthropology of Hate", "'hate' is an emotion precipitated in one's heart, and there is no specific object of revenge like that."
With the changes of the times, there will always be new problems and contradictions in reality, which will become the new inspiration for revenge dramas.
There is no "hate" of the object of revenge, put into the revenge cool drama has become the "ultimate behind-the-scenes black hand" that can be constantly iteratively replaced, and there are countless protagonists and countless goals on this road of revenge.
Korean youth, master of the inner roll
In July 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development officially recognized South Korea as a "developed country". Since the founding of UNCTAD in 1964, South Korea became the first country to change its international economic status.
According to a 2021 survey by the Global Inequality Lab, the top 10 percent of South Korea's richest earn 46.5 percent of all national income, and their average income is 14 times that of the lower South Koreans.
Different rooms, different views. / Parasite
"Opportunities in this country depend on what kind of parents you have, and I may not be able to do anything in my life!"
This common rhetoric on the Internet in South Korea comes from the "spoon class theory" popular among young Koreans in recent years: those whose family assets are less than 50 million won (270,000 yuan) or whose annual income is less than 20 million won (100,000 yuan) are called "earthen spoons".
The "soil spoons" also gave themselves other names - "three abandoned generation", that is, giving up love, giving up marriage, giving up childbearing.
A poll by the Korea Youth Policy Institute found that 42 percent of young South Koreans aged 19 to 34 believe they are in poverty, and 34 percent of them believe they cannot escape poverty. / Little Ladies
In contrast to this "lying down mentality", Korean youth have become per capita involuted masters.
"Coffee, health supplements, beauty, fitness, staying up late without sleeping, these keywords are enough to summarize the lives of most young Koreans."
As the world's first country to stay up late, Korean young people rely on "morning C and evening A" (morning coffee and evening alcohol) to survive; Beauty, fitness, light food... This is almost standard for young people in Seoul.
The extreme respect for individual refinement, young people's appearance and body anxiety are becoming more and more widespread, if they are not careful, it is easy to leave outsiders with the impression of "poor tutoring".
Perhaps these aspects are the easiest for individuals to control compared to housing prices and employment; In these narrow areas of autonomy, young Koreans use "involution" to actively strive for the real life they want.
Reasons to be addicted to alcohol. / "Drunkard City Women"
No matter how crazy this "refined and egoistic" lifestyle is, it is also the lowest-cost "decency" that young Koreans have to maintain. Just like a revenge cool drama, it is also a low-hanging fruit spiritual snack.
"Narrative transmission theory" in psychology, when people immerse themselves in a story, is a "unique mental process that integrates attention, emotion, and imagery." As if stepping through any Doraemon's door, the real world becomes "unreachable".
The "vicarious satisfaction" gained from the story gives the audience a great sense of accomplishment and self-worth to alleviate the trauma caused by reality.
Behind the explosion of the revenge drama, it relies on the self-satisfaction of "renewed". Until Korean young people can achieve real-life "revenge", the pace of revenge dramas will never stop.
Even if you are weak, try to live. / The Advocate
Although life has not been repeated, there are thousands of "second lives" that can be immersed in the revenge drama.
And the object of revenge, which people really want, is the longing for unfulfilled dreams.
Resources
[1] Song Huiqiao's new work "Dark Glory" is the revenge drama that the audience wants to watch? | North Park
[2] For Revenge: Park Chan-wook on "Old Boy" | iris
[3] Netflix's "revenge drama" at the beginning of the year, "Dark Glory" confronts the | of school violence Media No. 1
[4] "A Study of the Culture of Hate in Contemporary Korean Cinema," Wu Tong, | Shandong Normal University
[5] Why Korean Movies Are So Sensational: Take "International Market" as an Example | Mountain River Pictures
[6] Koreans can't have children anymore | Dr. X
[7] Repressed Korean youth are | addiction to Chinese goods Tiger sniff
[8] The People's Livelihood Defense War under South Korea's "Kimchi Crisis" | Southern Weekend