'Drinking Solo' finds empathy for young people
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The cast members of tvN’s new drama “Drinking Solo” pose at a press conference at Times Square in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, last Friday. From left are Min Jing-woong, Hwang Woo-seul-hye, Ha Seok-jin, Park Ha-sun, Gong Myung, Key, Jung Chae-yeon and Kim Dong-young. / Courtesy of CJ E&M
By Choi Ha-young
More and more young Koreans eat alone, shop alone, travel alone, and drink alone. “Drinking Solo,” tvN’s new drama to premier on Sept. 5, reflects this trend.
The drama is based in Noryangjin, western Seoul, an area known “hagwon,” or private educational institutes, and “gosiwon,” single room accommodations usually used by students preparing to pass state examinations.
Against this backdrop, ”Drinking Solo” evolves around hagwon lecturers and students, who try to survive and drink alone out of financial reasons or simply want to be left alone. This tendency reflects young generation’s individual lifestyle, out of Korea’s collective culture.
“I sometimes drink alone too. Everybody has a different reason for drinking alone. I hope to find emotional sympathy,” Choi Kyu-sik, main producer of the program told reporters at the press conference at Yeongdeungpo Time Square, Aug. 27. “I focused on finding the sympathetic point rather than simply showing drinking scene,” Choi said.
Main character Jin Jeong-seok (Ha Seok-jin) is a star Korean history lecturer in Noryangjin for his lecturing ability and good-looking appearance. After his work hour full of talks, he doesn’t want to waste his energy and time for company dinner. Instead, he enjoys luxury atmosphere alone, with wine.
Another main character Park Ha-na (Park Ha-sun) has an opposite reason to drink alone. The junior lecturer who just jumped in Noryangjin is ignored by Jin and the hagwon’s owner Kim Won-hae (Kim Won-hae). She relieves stress by drinking alone at her basement apartment and singing alone at karaoke.
“I tried to upgrade my drinking performance,” said Park, who is beloved for comic scene. “I decided to act for this drama, as I wanted to do comic performances again following my previous work, ‘High Kick: Revenge of the Short Legged.’”
Producer Choi said the writers for the drama actually studied people’s lives at Noryangjin to describe the reality. “I imagined heartless daily lives there, but the examiners have funny stories and date. It was interesting that some star lecturers are called Noryangjin idol,” said Choi.
Based on the reality, the drama features love triangle between Jin, Park, and Park’s student Gong Myung (Gong Myung). Chae-yeon (Jung Chae-yeon from I.O.I), who acts a college graduate. Even though she attracts male examinees’ attention, she is never interested in dating. Majored in liberal arts at college, she solely concentrate on test to become a government official.
Like the gap between star lecturers and ordinary lecturers who are struggling to survive, there’s polarization among examiners as well, showing another aspect of Korean society. Ki-bum (Key from SHINee) acts a “golden-spoon” examinee who often goes shopping with his mom’s credit card. On the other hand, Dong-young (Kim Dong-young) is an “earthen-spoon” examinee, always wearing the same shirt.
“As I know how difficult he would be, I did my best to perform sophisticatedly, not to ridicule his life,” Kim said.
Interestingly, the drama’s main characters use similar name to their original name. Like producer Choi’s intent, actor and actress could embody their own personality in performance. To act naturally, they sometimes drank beer. “Inevitably to drink more, we had to vomit and drink again,” Park said, with laughs.
For Key and Jung, this is their drama debut. “I have some burden, but it’s not due to perception about me, an idol star,” said Key. “I hope the audiences cheer for my challenge.”