Episode 1 Synopsis and Analysis

The “Loser” Image of Leading Casts – Lisa Wu/Jenny Zhang

The first episode of “Fight for My Way” gave a brief introduction for the four main casts in the drama, with the flashback of their school-age when they still dreamed of a big dream and expected bright future, it was the time they never need to worry about tomorrow. But at the current time in the drama, four of them are failed to pursue their goals. The Ep1 especially portrayed Ko Dong-man and Choi Ae-ra’s pathetic and miserable adult life, a life of “loser.”

Ko Dong-man, who watched Tony Jaa’s fight scene in Ong Bak 1 with his best friend Kim Joo-man in Seoul at the beginning of the Ep1, was very concentrated on taekwondo which is something he excelled at. Although he came from Choongnam with no intention to change his act or dress to fit into the atmosphere of Seoul, he still became a rebellious hero in the school and won hearts of girls and the ire of teachers and other male “rivals”, regularly caused trouble along with Kim Joo-man in the class. However, contrary to the glory of old days, his adult life seemed dull and pitiful. The scriptwriter and director emphasis two major points of change: his current marginal occupation (tick doctor) vs. a famous taekwondo prodigy in the past, his unsuccessful experience with the date vs. a heartthrob in his high school. There are two things consistently exist from the past to the future though: the features of his incompatibility with Seoul (e.g., fashion, speak annoyingly loud, etc), and the warm-hearted long-term friendship with Choi Ae-ra, which will develop into romantic relationship in the rest of the episodes.

On the other hand, Dong-man’s longtime friend, Choi Ae Ra is a vigorous and sassy girl, and also his biggest fan of taekwondo. They both lived in the same hometown in Choongnam before Ko Dong-man moved to Seoul studying high school, about 1 hr driving from Seoul. In school, she dreamed of being an anchor, and loved taking her fake microphone to Dong-man’s matches. Later, she became a department store of employee, and continued striving for her dream to come true. In ep1, it seems that she was not satisfied with her life. She had to break up with her boyfriend, Kim Moo-ji, who cheated on her by having a sexual relationship with a wealthy, middle-aged woman. However, Ae-ra and this middle-aged woman shared a common features that they both spend plenty of money on Kim Moo-ji. The differences are the gap of wealth between Ae-ra and this middle-aged woman. In comparison, the middle-aged woman was capable of afford luxurious life that Kim Moo-ji was seeking for. To emphasis her miserable situation, there is also a comparison between her and her university friend. Though these two girls had similar background, her friend won a better life. She would marry to a wealthy man, she was able to buy expensive staffs and wear fashion cloths because of his credit card. It is so ironic that she shopped in the store that Choi Ae Ra worked for. The situation leads these two girls into different levels of social hierarchy. There is a huge difference between her dream and the reality. It seemed that her real life is such a big mess, with no romantic relationship and lack of money. The director uses comparisons to emphasize the unsuccessful beginning after graduation to lead the following story.

The other two leading characters, Kim Joo-man, the best friend of Ko Dong-man, and Baek Seol-hee, the best friend of Choi Ae-ra, were revealed that they were in the underground relationship for six years (so far it did not show that whether Dong-man and Ae-ra know about their relationship, at least their relationship is a secret in their company). Their dream seemed not fulfilled as well, Kim Joo-man was very keen to taekwondo too but worked as, Baek Seol-hee dreamed of being a kind housewife, but her boyfriend Joo-man was hesitating whenever she asked about their marriage. But their love seemed lovely and both caring for each other for now.

In general, it is a fascinating drama at first sight. As a K-drama blogger commented about this show, there are neither wealthy handsome, perfect princes nor feisty poor girl-next-door girls who have a million part-time job, this drama seemed goes completely opposite direction with only one remained theme: love. Their life used to be full of sparks and possibilities, their worlds were at their feet. But now their life was considered as “three rated,” with negligible occupations, painful romantic relationship experiences for both Dong-man and Ae-ra, lack of belongingness in Seoul, and stagnant in the crossroad of their life. The director and scriptwriter shape the image of “losers” on the four leading characters, which also represent the young generation who suffered from the burden of reality.

The Importance of Quality of Marriage – Daisy Zhu

In the first episode of “Fight for My Way”, I find an interesting scene that shows the chat between Choi Ae-ra and her previous school friend in a coffee shop. They came from similar family background but had very different life when they met at the department store where Choi Ae-ra worked at. The girl told Choi Ae-ra that she would marry with an old rich man soon and advised Choi Ae-ra not to take high expectations for her marriage. While, Choi Ae-ra did not listen to her and satirized that she was a snobbish person. From this scene, I think it reflects a younger generation’s issue of marriage in Korea. In class, Dr. Saeji mentioned there was a trend of single life in the aging society of Korea. I think one reason behind this is Korean people start to value more on their quality of marriage. For example, in the two girls’ chat scene of the drama, the girls showed an opposite attitude towards marriage so it helps to illustrate a worry on marriage for Korean young people. Choi Ae-ra disagreed with her friend’s view that to marry with a not bad person because she still considered her marriage should contain love even though she needed to struggle for a better life by herself. Therefore, she valued her marriage that should waiting for the true love. In this drama, the character of Choi Ae-ra can represent some Korean people’s attitude on marriage. They are willing to stay in single until they find the right person so resulted a delay on the age of marriage. However, for the character of Choi Ae-ra’s friend, she also valued her quality of marriage but was related to her material living standard. Her time was spent on seeking a wealthy man to marry. No matter what type of attitudes for the two girls, it can show an existed phenomenon that the quality of marriage becomes important for most Korean people. They are willing to spend more time to find the right person so it can become a reason to cause the trend of single life in Korean society.

The Regional Discrimination and the Importance of Social Class – Yang Li

In this paragraph, I will discuss the first episode of “ Fight for My way” regarding the geography and Demography of Korea.

From the “red evil” and Burberry scene, the director told us that Dong-man is not from Seoul, also, it took Ae-ra and Seol-hee three hours to go the stadium. Therefore, we know that the main characters of this drama might either from the suburban area or from countryside area, which carries a foreshadowing of their struggling life because of their lifestyle, social class, and career development. Those regional discriminations or cultural diversity can be found in almost every country. Such as north and south in the UK, east and west in USA and Canada and north and south in China. That regional diversity is consisted of many different aspects, such as language accents, dressing habits, lifestyles, and of course, different level of economic development.

In the second half of the first episode, we can see the director emphasized the topic of career. Occupation is one of the hottest social issues in Korea nowadays. One reason of that is the aging problem of Korea. The latest census statistic from the Korean government shows that the South Korea is aging faster than any other developed country. Here are some fun facts: it took Japan 24 years to go from an aging society to an aged one, it took Germany 40 years and France 115 years, and Korea became an aging society just 17 years ago. Besides that, about half of Korea’s elderly live in poverty. The aging problem brings the pressure to the younger generations. Imagine a mom and a dad who are both from the single child families. When they become 30 years old, they have to support four parents and at least one child; clearly, that is not an easy task. Therefore, the occupation becomes one of the most important topics when they date, so we saw some names of occupations in the drama, again and again, procurator, doctor, restaurant founder, and student.

Therefore, the first episode of the drama gives us the general background of four main characters and Korean society regarding geography and Demography, which also gives the audiences some hints about the following stories.

Social Class – Nicole Chan

As an introduction episode of the drama “Fight for My Way” (삼, 마이웨이), EP1 portrayed the dream of the two protagonists, Ae-ra and Dong-man, when they were at school. It then made a contrast by showing how they are living their “third-rate” lives after eleven years: Ae-ra, who wished to become an anchor, became a receptionist at a mall; while Dong-man, who wished to become a taekwondo athlete, failed to pursue his goal because of an accident, and became a pest exterminator. EP1 emphasizes the contrast between the two “third-rate” protagonists and other people who used to be on the same path as them, but are living much better than them after all these years.

The difference of social class is shown when a university classmate of Ae-ra, Chan-sook appears and announces her marriage with a wealthy bald man. Chan-sook shows off her huge diamond ring and her “oppa”‘s premium credit card. She asks Ae-ra to get married with a good (i.e. rich) man as soon as possible so that she does not have to work that hard as a receptionist with a small salary.

Nowadays, it is difficult to look for a job in South Korea, especially if one do not have a shiny education background, just like Ae-ra and quite a number of Korean students or fresh graduates. In class, Dr. Saeji has mentioned that students nowadays prefer to defer their university studies by looking for internships that cannot even support their daily expense. They therefore have more time as a student to look for the occupation they want and will not become unemployed. As a result, teenage girls seek a shortcut to a luxurious life, which does not require too much hard work – marrying a wealthy man who they do not like.

This is apparently a social phenomenon that should not be encouraged at all. However, if we dip deep the problem itself, it is not hard to realize that it arises from the governmental and social aspects. The price of apartments is surging; aging problem is serious which implies an adult has to bear 4 to 5 seniors; pension is not enough to support their retired lives. Citizens are insecure about the prospect of their society. Such situation can be worrying. A lot more problems can lie beneath. However the government and social atmosphere of South Korea are both inevitably to be blamed.

The Absurd Geography – Yoo Jung Kim

In the first week of studying contemporary Korean culture, I learned about Korean geography. While watching the drama, I have realized something very interesting. This drama, “Fight for My Way” was filmed this summer when I visited my family in Korea. You will probably think why this is an interesting thing. Because, you would have thought that this drama was taken somewhere in Seoul just like any other Korean dramas. But you will be very surprised to know where this drama was actually filmed. In this drama, “Fight for My Way” has a background of Seoul. Ko Dong-Man, Choi Ae-Ra, and Baek Sul-Hee lived in Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do since childhood. However, as becoming a high school student, Ko Dong-Man went to school in Seoul. Only, and Choi Ae-Ra and Baek Sul-Hee continue to live in Seosan. The background of this drama changes to Seoul entirely according to the time when Ko-Dong-Man, Choi Ae-Ra, Baek Sul-Hee, and Kim Joo-Man become adults. At the end of Episode 1, there is a scene where Ko Dong-Man and Choi Ae-Ra walk together on the pedestrian overpass. Looking at the background of this scene, you can see Namsan Tower on the back. Which indirectly indicates that Ko Dong-Man and Choi Ae-Ra are in Seoul. Then, the next scene shows the apartment they live in. Perhaps people will think this apartment is somewhere in Seoul, but actually this apartment is in Busan, not in Seoul. Now people may think where is Busan. Busan is located about 400km away from Seoul. it takes about 5 hours to drive from Seoul to Busan by car. So, if you think realistically, Ko Dong-Man and Choi Ae-Ra walk about 400 kilometers to go home. Also it did not appear on Episode 1, But the ”Nam-Il bar” (rooftop bar) that they use as a safe house (in this case, “safe bar”) does not actually exist on the roof of the apartment they live in. In fact, you need to drive about 15 minutes by car to get there. Korean dramas are very enjoyable by itself. Many people around the world love Korean dramas these days. People think that the places appearing in drama are beautiful when they watch Korean dramas. However, many people are not interested in where the places are located. Most Korean drama viewers unconsciously think that all these places are in Seoul. However, if you watch the drama with interest, you will find that there are various places to see not only in Seoul but also in various regions. Also, having more informations, you can have more fun watching Korean dramas. For example, you can laugh about the unrealistic geography in the Drama “Fight for My Way”.