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| Actress Shin Hye-sun, top right, in KBS romentic comedy "My Golden Life" / Courtesy of KBS | Actress Jung So-min in tvN drama "Because this is My First Life" / Courtesy of CJ E&M |
'Earth Spoon' female characters draw young viewers
By Park Jin-hai
In the popular KBS drama "My Golden Life," Seo Ji-ahn, played by actress Shin Hye-sun, is a smart and hardworking contract worker. At the end of her two-year contract, she is promised a full-time position in recognition of her job performance. But at the last minute, the job is given to a new applicant from a rich family background.
After she loses her job, she starts to work at a neighborhood chicken restaurant as a part-timer to make a living.
Although the drama follows the footsteps of many other Cinderella stories with a twist _ Ahn turns out to be the lost daughter of an entrepreneur and her position is elevated before another fact turns up that her younger sister is the real daughter of the rich family _ it has been enjoying soaring popularity. Its latest episode aired Sunday hit a record 36 percent in viewership, and it is now looking to hit 40 percent.
Successive dramas tell the story of female leads born with an "earth spoon," the lowest social class below those born with "golden" and "silver spoons." Although they are all well-educated and smart, their poor family backgrounds cast a long shadow over their lives.
The tvN Monday-Tuesday romantic comedy "Because this is My First Life" features Yoon Ji-ho, played by actress Jung So-min, a young scriptwriter who struggles to pay rent and makes a marriage contract with her housemate. In exchange for a comfortable home with small monthly payment, she works chores and continues to chase her dreams. She gets knocked down, but gets back up and deals with the challenges life gives her.
In tvN's Saturday-Sunday romantic comedy "Revolution," actress Kang So-ra plays a hardworking young woman named Baek Joon, who has a good education but makes a living working part-time jobs. She works as an intern at a major company to improve her resume, but instead of using time and money to build up her resume, she decides to begin her life as a "freeter" _ a free-spirited young person who deliberately chooses not to become an office worker and instead earns money from low-skilled and low-paid jobs. She works multiple jobs around the clock, but is always confidant and bright.
Although the plots of these dramas are somehow predictable, they receive strong responses from viewers by showing the reality of youngsters living today. Also, what makes these Cinderellas special is that they are not passive characters waiting for princes on horseback, but ones who actively face challenges, which makes viewers support and root for them.
"My Golden Life includes the spoon theory, which says a person's future is largely determined by their parents' assets. In the drama, it has a microcosm of what is now in Korean society," said "My Golden Life" producer Bae Kyung-soo.
