Family drama reflects changing ideas on marriage
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Poster for “My Father is Strange”
By Park Jin-hai
“My Father is Strange,” KBS TV’s weekend family drama, showing today’s different kinds of marriages, is enjoying huge popularity.
Now entering the latter half of the story, the Saturday-Sunday drama, starring Lee Joon and Lee Yoo-ri along with veteran actors, topped viewership ratings, hitting over 30 percent for two consecutive weekends. Despite the seasonal adversities -- warm spring weather usually leads to a drop in viewership ratings -- the family drama, depicting the story of Byun Han-soo’s family, played by Kim Yeong-cheol, with his three daughters and one son, continues its winning streak, selling out all commercial spots from the very first episode.
The 50-episode drama introduces a slew of controversial issues.
The show depicts the way father Byun, a warm hearted small restaurant owner on the outskirts of Seoul, lives after steals someone else’s identity. On top of that, the drama also shows other ways couples live together other than the traditional way of getting married, to reflect viewers’ changing perceptions on marriage. It deals with the issues of the generation gap looking into cohabitation, contracted marriage and premarital pregnancy. It also sheds light on the new social phenomenon called “jolhon,” literally translated as graduation from marriage, where old estranged couples live under the same roof but live separate lives.
Culture critic Seonwoo Eun-sil said the drama has been “strange” in a good way. “Traditionally the weekend evening dramas target family audiences, including the elderly. And they tend to be very conservative. I remember many dramas featured parents who controlled their children and had similar endings where female characters sacrifice themselves and accept the patriarchal system,” she said. “In that sense, the new family drama is a sensation.”
Featuring controversial elements, the drama still succeeds in telling a well-wrought story. KBS Viewers Committee, a watch body to protect viewers’ rights, recently acclaimed the show for its well-balanced views on living together before marriage.
“They gave high marks as the drama deals with different views on the issue in a realistic way, without bowing to extreme elements only to raise viewership,” said the drama’s producer Bae Kyung-soo.
In the episode aired last weekend, Cha Jeong-hwan, a TV producer, who got caught living together with his girlfriend, confronts his mother saying, “Mom, I’m 38. What is wrong with living with a woman I want to marry?” His parents insisted that if he loves her enough he should protect her by legally marrying her instead of living together. The couple is likely to accept a marriage contract as his girlfriend and lawyer Byun Hae-young proposed a “one-year marriage contract” to him.
If that was for the young generations’ new perspective on marriage, “jolhon” is for the older generations. “There are so many ‘undivorced’ old couples in real life, who live together but lead separate lives. Looking at the couple, the drama viewers could take some time to think about the issue,” said Bae. “We tried our best to picture the real issues of today in a balanced way and through discussions with the writer and staff, we aim to make it so that viewers can really get into those characters and feel for them.”