Category Archives: Paper

Working Class Koreans’ Social Relationships and Personal Development – Fight for My Way

Introduction

After the financial crisis in 1997, the middle class identification declined rapidly in Korea (Nam 2013: 255). The society appears many issues relate with social classes, and class also becomes a main reason to influence Korean people’s daily life. In my paper, I argue that an awareness of class issues and desire to arrest the membership in the middle class guided the social relationships and personal development of Koreans. There is a Korean drama called Fight for My Way, which is directed by Lee Na-jeong, broadcasts through the channel KBS in 2017. I will use this drama as a case to properly explain the Korean social class issues and explain how it might influence the working class Korean people’s lives. Firstly, I think classes obstruct the working class Korean people in their career development and create questions for them to deal with the working unfair treatments, and the combination of dream job and income securities. Then, classes also influence people’s value on the marriage market so leads working class people have disadvantages when they decide to have cross-class marriages. Also some Korean people tend to use marriages as tools to help them receive benefits from their higher class’s spouses because it exists a strong relationship between the social benefits and social classes in the Korean society. Finally, I discuss the friendship would be impossible for Koreans who want to cross their social class status. The moral exclusion and discrimination show in the mind of higher class’s people, and the working class people’s self-respect would hurt in the cross-class social contacts.

The Obstructions in the Career Development:

First of all, social classes create obstructions to working class Korean people in the path of career development and cause many problems for them to deal with the work-place politics. Due to the financial crisis in 1997, the increased competition has made Korean workers change their perception of work to be more realistic on their potential future and working conditions (Kim and Park 2005: 37). In this highly competitive labor market, the working class people who receive less education usually become the losers in the game. Their instable employment and underemployment gradually become one of the main social crises in the contemporary Korean society. In the Korean labor market, the low-educated workers are easily falling into an employment status called irregular workers, which means they are the temporary workers (Hur 2001: 4). Even though having the democratic labor movements happen in today’s Korea, these people still do not receive enough protects on basic labor rights and social wages from the labor union. According to the sociologist scholar Jennifer Jihye Chun, she says, “To demand basic labor protections, many of the irregular workers’ struggles are taking the form of protracted public dramas aimed at reclassifying the employer-employee relationship according to cultural norms, as opposed to legal contractual relations” (2013: 820). Hence, many irregular workers’ unemployment is resulted from the involuntarily dismissal in most cases. In the economist scholar Hur Jai-joon’s research, he indicated that the percentage of unemployed non-regular employees was 78.7 compared with the unemployed wage workers during 1998 to 2000 (2001: 3). Therefore, the instability of work becomes a serious concern for the working class people in the Korean society and sometimes they need to pay more attention on dealing with the employer-employee relationship in workplace because the rate of unemployment tend to be higher than other formal workers.

Some similar existed working problems among the working class Koreans can be seen from the recent Korean drama Fight for My Way as well. In this drama, the two main characters, Choi Ae-ra and Ko Dong-man are both working class Koreans. Both of them have faced failure in their own career fields because of their social classes. The classes make them receive unfair treatments that to compare with their working competitors. For example, between 44 and 50 minutes of episode 3, Ae-ra receives an unfair result during the interview process. In the drama, she has a dream about being a host when she is a child. Then when she is at a working age, she strives for gaining an opportunity to be an announcer in the department store. In this clip, Ae-ra has a competition with another professional graduate who also wants to get the job opportunity but she fails at the end because her competitor has a close relationship with the manager. When Ae-ra knows the result, she asks the manager: “ Since the result is like that, why did you find me at first in the beginning? ” Before the competition, she has already been chosen as the substituted announcer in the department store. However, on the next day, she finds her position is replaced by the other girl so the manager decides to use an interview to solve the conflict. Even though everyone thinks Ae-ra has done a better job than the other girl in the interview, the girl wins the announcer’s position and Ae-ra returns back to her previous position in the department store. Therefore, from Ae-ra’s case, the problem of social class can be reflected in the Korean working places and then to influence the career development of working class people. The unfair working treatments usually happen among the working class people in Korea.

Another example of Ko Dong-man also can show a realistic issue on income security for working class Koreans in the drama. Between 24 and 26 minutes of episode 3, Dong-man tells his coach that he wants to practice boxing again for money. He says: “Having a dream should based on having money and then it is able to express his intention”. From his saying, he worries about his future. He has a dream about boxing and he also realizes the importance of money so he wants to continue his dream with the realistic concern of earning money. The job security and income level are the most important issues in choosing job especially for the relatively lower education workers (Kim and Park 2005: 47). Between the dream and the realistic needs, he chooses the second one at the beginning. He is sensible to share the family’s responsibility from having a stable income. Due to his working class’s status, it brings limitations to his career path so he needs to make a choice between the dream and the reality of having job securities. Hence, from Dong-man’s example, it shows the income security becomes a conflict for working class Koreans to pursue their dream careers.

Overall, the class differences can lead working class people lose job opportunities to present their talents. The sociologist scholar Nam Eunyoung says, “After the financial crisis in 1997, the middle class identification declined rapidly in Korea. Many non-regular workers had to work in unstable, low-paid and poor working conditions without proper fringe benefits and insurance ” (2013: 255). The labor unions are not also enough effective to improve the economic and social status of these workers in the companies (Shin 2013: 222). Based on these general working conditions, working class Koreans are difficult to match their dream with the actual careers’ situation. They need consider the job and income securities as their first priority. As non-regular workers, they are easier to receive worse working conditions than the other workers and get depressed from achieving the dreams. The examples can show in the drama Fight for My Way: managers would firstly consider the benefits of employees who have special relationship with the firm’s director in the Ae-ra’s case; and Dong-man has to give up his boxing dream to exchange income security. The unfair treatments that are based on different social classes exist in the Korean working environment. Thus, this trouble environment can form a cultural norm in the Korean society so these working class people are hurt from the general acceptance. Their underemployment shows the unfair treatments in the Korean labor market, and the working environment is also harsh for them. I think the drama Fight for My Way successfully brings out this social issue on the working class people’s career development, but creates a positive intention that to encourage more of them to cross the obstructions to pursue their dreams even though the reality is harsh, particularly both Ae-ra and Dong-man have achieved their career’s dreams at the end of drama.

The Obstructions in the Marriage Market:

Moreover, classes influence people’s value on the marriage market as well. Korean traditional values can be reflected from the culture of arranged marriage, and to show a high degree of authoritarianism in the Korean society (Peterson et al 2011: 623). Korea has ancient traditions on marriage, which means the parents would arrange marriage for their sons and daughters.  When they choose a potential candidate, they will look at the person’s economic, educational, family and regional background to match with their children suitably (Ibid.). Thus, the parents’ expectations represent the quality of their children’s marriage in this arranged marriage custom. Then the tradition may also help to “identify the relative standing of both families within a social class hierarchy” (Ibid., 628). In the arranged marriage, social class is a very significant element to evaluate people’s marriage in Korea. People who come from different social classes are not expected to get married by their parents so class can be seen as the standard of marriage in Korea. In today’s Korean society, this type of expectations continually exists in people’s mind as well especially for Korean parents. They wish their children to find spouses based on the similar family background. For the Korean youths particularly who are in the working class, if they want to change their status of class, they would tend to find higher class’s spouses who can bring potential material benefits to them, so class is also important in their rule of having marriage. Hence, social class has a great impact in the marriage market in Korea.

In the drama Fight for My Way, class difference also creates troubles in the Ae-ra’s loving relationship and the relationship between the couple of Kim Joo-man and Baek Seol-hee. For example, in the episode 7’s clip between 47 and 50 minutes, Ae-ra breaks up her dating relationship with Moo-bin because Moo-bin lies to her about his Japanese fiancée. Ae-ra comes to see Moo-bin at his workplace, which is a hospital, but she unexpected sees he stays with his Japanese fiancée in front of the hospital. Moo-bin explains he will get married soon with this girl who is his director’s daughter. He tells he still loves Ae-ra and he can provide money to her for keeping their relationship in future. He says to Ae-ra, “You’re more humorous, courageous and having a beautiful face like a goddess. You are my 100% ideal person”. Moo-bin likes Ae-ra because of her beauty and cheerful disposition, but his love is selfish and does not exceed his desire on the future job’s standing. He wants to use a utilized marriage to help him reach a better position of job so he does not enjoy in this relationship with his fiancée. He knows Ae-ra’s social class cannot exchange benefits to him except for the happiness. Thus, the conflict results Ae-ra is hurt in this loving relationship, and it explains the class’s influence in the Korean marriage market.

Then also, in the loving relationship between Kim Joo-man and Baek Seol-hee, the two people have experienced some conflicts with their parents because of the class difference. In the episode 6, when Joo-man firstly brings Seol-hee to his home, his mother and sister dislike Seol-hee because they look down on her background. His mother uses the mother-in-law’s authority to manipulate Seol-hee to do the housework in the relative’s party. While Seol-hee’s mother sees her daughter’s struggle, she really pisses her off. Thus, when Joo-man comes to visit Seol-hee’s family later, the parents want him to take seriously with their daughter, and tell Seol-hee not to depreciate herself just because of the income differences. From the conflict between the parents and their children, it reflects the influence of class difference on the marriage’s expectations, especially for the elder Korean generations. They value more on the equality of social class in their children’s marriages.

Generally from the examples in the Korean drama, people can know the importance of social class in the Koreans’ marriage relationship. Viewing television can correlate with the ability of knowing the social reality (Jin and Jeong 2010: 21). Hence, within the highly competitive working environment, utilized marriage may become another social norm in the Korean society through reflecting from the recent Korean dramas. People begin to accept to use marriage to seek benefits and use wealth to set their standard that can benefit to their future development. Then the reason behinds this phenomenon is that the social benefits heavily rely on the social classes to obtain in the Korean society. For working class people, they are the disadvantaged group in the marriage market because they lack good resources such as wealth to highlight themselves. If in a worse situation, they will fall into a single-person household. There is a rapid growth on single-person households in Korea, and it becomes the main reason to cause these people’s depression and suicide because of the loneliness and old-age poverty (Lee 2013: 12). Thus, the social class may result a life suffering for the lower class Koreans if they do not receive good quality’s marriages. Then also the class disadvantage is easily to cause issues for couples to meet their parents’ expectations before getting married. Particularly, the traditional dominance of husband’s side in the household provides authority to the mother-in-law so it would more often to cause problems to deal with the relationship with their lower-class’s daughter-in-law in families, like the Joo-man and Seol-hee’s relationship with their parents in the drama. Elder generations think highly on the equality of social classes for bringing benefits in their children’s marriages, and this is also a continued traditional value in Korea. Thus, it causes the troubles in the cross-class Korean people’s marriage. In the sociologist scholar Kim Seungkwon’s research, the finding shows that “among dual-earner families, the proportion of cross-class families is higher in Korea than in the United States, Sweden, Britain and Australia” (1997: 130). Cross-class families become more usually to appear in the Korean society so it could mean the conflicts between elder and younger generations that are easier to occur in the cross-class marriages due to their different expectations. Therefore, working class people receive disadvantages not only when they choose partners in the marriage market, but also when they choose to marry with cross-class spouses.

The Obstructions to Receive Cross-class Friendships:

Additionally, friendship would be impossible for Koreans who want to cross their social class status. People would feel more comfortable when they have social contacts with the people who have similar social background. Sociologist scholars Stephen J. Frenkel and Lee Byoung-hoon argue that “contract workers’ relations with regular workers are characterized by moral exclusion, implying discrimination and domination” (2004: 509). In the working companies, this special relationship can link with the work-place politics. The difference between the contract workers and the regular workers is social class difference. Hence, due to this example, we can reflect there is a moral exclusion and discrimination exists in the different classes so leads people cannot receive cross-class friendships.

In the drama Fight for My Way, the moral exclusion can be seen from the Ae-ra’s and Dong-man’s social relationships with their classmates. In the episode 2, Ae-ra is invited to attend her friend’s wedding ceremony but there is an embarrassing moment when she hears the talking among her previous classmates. The marriage ceremony arouses many Ae-ra’s classmates’ admiration because the bride marries to a doctor and receives happiness from the good marriage. While when they turn to talk about Ae-ra, the hard living situation makes them feel pitiful to her so injures the Ae-ra’s self-respect. In this scene, viewers can see Korean people’s different attitudes to the different social classes’ people, so reflects on the moral exclusion in the Korean society. Ae-ra lives as a working class Korean but her classmates would classify her as a life’s loser. Her classmates think she achieves nothing, while the bride can marry with a successful man to receive a better life so becomes her own success in the marriage. Class and wealth are the standards for people to determine one’s success. Hence, higher class people tend to ostracize the relationships with lower class people in order to show their dominant positions and their status’s difference. Then the lower class people would feel their self-respect is lost during they contact with the higher class people so they also avoid this situation happens. Therefore, the class difference can cause a moral exclusion among people, and the fewer contracts reduce the possibilities in the cross-class friendships as well.

Also from the unfriendly relationship between Dong-man and Moo-bin, the social class’s discrimination is reflected in the drama. Moo-bin starts to dislike Dong-man when they are the classmates at the high school. Then the despised relationship continues exist when they meet again in fewer years later. Moo-bin becomes a doctor so he has a higher social class than Dong-man. In the episode 2, Moo-bin is not willing to recognize Dong-man when they have an unexpected meet in outside. While his strange behavior is explained when he talks with Ae-ra in the episode 7. Moo-bin tells Ae-ra he is annoyed Dong-man can always feel happy even though he has nothing. Hence, Moo-bin has discrimination on Dong-man because they are in different social classes. The discrimination would transfer to a jealousy when he finds Dong-man lives happier than him. In his mind, only higher-class people can receive happiness because they are dominant over the working class people in society. He looks down on Dong-man so the discrimination makes him wants to keep a distance from Dong-man. Hence, even if they are high school classmates, the social class’s discrimination makes there is no friendship between them.

From the above two examples in the drama, they present the cross-class friendships are difficult to have in the Korean society. Working class people usually receive moral exclusion and discrimination from higher social class people. In the society, higher class Koreans tend to use a despised attitude to deal with the relationships with lower class people because they want to make clear distinctions with them. During the contact, these unfriendly speaking and behaviors can injure the lower class people’s self-respect. In the social events, lower class people’s identities can be separated from others through people’s talking so they also try to avoid hurt from the less cross-class connections. This is an unhealthy circle for working class people. The moral exclusion and discrimination can bring a worse situation for them to live in society such as the issue of mental health. The living pressure plus the unfriendly social relationship environment can easily cause mental health problems for the working class people. Therefore, the social class plays an important role in the contemporary Koreans’ social relationships, and results a cross-class friendship’s trouble for the working class people in Korea.

Conclusion 

Through discussing the characters’ cases in the drama Fight for My Way (2017), the working class Korean people’s lives can be presented. The drama leads more people understand the class issues in the contemporary Korean society. The main characters come from the working class’s status so they have to face many troubles that relate with their career, marriage and social relationships. From their examples, the general recent social issues on class in Korea can be reflected. Therefore, I firstly argue classes can obstruct the working class people in their career development and cause problems on their working unfair treatments, and finding a balance between the dream job and income securities. Secondly, I think classes influence people’s value on the marriage expectations. It makes working class people receive disadvantages in the marriage market and when they have the cross-class marriages. Marriage also can become a tool to help people receive benefits from their higher class’s spouses due to the strong relationship between the social benefits and social classes in the Korean society. Finally, I argue that it is impossible for Koreans who want to cross their social class status to receive friendships because of the moral exclusion and discrimination, so working class people’s self-respect is hurt during the contacts with higher-class people.

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An Ineffective Spread of Hope to Combat “Hell Joseon” – Fight for My Way

A. Background

This paper takes its outset in “Hell Joseon”, a term that means South Korea nowadays is a hell to live in. This paper explores how “Hell Joseon” comes to light in real life and the drama Fight for My Way 쌈,마이웨이 (KBS2, Lee Na Jeong, 2017). It agrees that people in South Korean society need hope to combat “Hell Joseon”, and media influence is a common means to spread hope. The drama Fight for My Way is a typical neoliberal fantasy to spread hope among society. However, its ridiculous plot and wrong information provided made it ineffective to achieve the goal.

B. “Hell Joseon” in Real Life

To begin with, “Hell Joseon” is often used by the youth in South Korea on the internet starting from 2010. Joseon is the name of the dynasty in South Korea from 1392 to 1910, the year when the Japanese colonization started. The idea of colonial legacy and neoliberalism coexist, and are compressed to form this modern society of South Korea (Schoonhoven 2017). “Hell Joseon” addresses every position within South Korean society. It implies the discrepancies between the rich and the poor, men and women, and people of different social class and their social mobility, and more (Schoonhoven 2017). We will discuss the negative influences that “Hell Joseon” brings to South Korean society in social, economic and environmental aspects.

Socially speaking, the problem of social disparity in South Korea is aggravating. Education is one of the greatest reasons, that one’s education level correlates a lot with his or her family financial condition. Nowadays, a successful student must be more than a “hard working social conformist” (Abelmann, Jin and Hee 2016). The student can receive better education from well-known educational institutions, such as SKY[1] or overseas universities, if his or her family is willing to pay for a high tuition fee. To a large extent, better education guarantees the rich student a better occupation in the future. Since the large multinational corporations (MNCs) in South Korea tend to recruit SKY and overseas graduates for their fluency of English or other languages. As a result, the rich students have more job opportunities, whereas the less well-off have a low social mobility. It intensifies the problem of generational poverty, and leads to more social discontent and lower working incentive (Joon 2001).

Economically speaking, the South Korean economy is mostly monopolized by huge conglomerates[2] (Jaebeol), such as Samsung C&T Corporation, Hyundai and LG. Although the government has established the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in recent years, the government policies still inevitably lean to the Jaebeol through investing into their businesses (Lim Won Hyuk 2012). Small businesses have low incentive to grow. As a result, the South Korean economy is very concentrated. The job market is dominated by huge corporations, who seem to provide a steady career path and stable salaries, creating an imbalance in the job market (Cho 2003). The youth get pressurized when they fail to get or secure a job from these corporations. In recent years, students rather defer graduation and seek for low-pay internships for more job experiences, than graduating on time and look for a full-time (Joon 2001). All these lead to confusion of students to their future path and an overall gloomy atmosphere.

Environmentally speaking, the young are struggling to find a shelter due to the surging property prices. The property around Gangnam (south of the Han River in Seoul) has soared 100,000-fold in the recent thirty years (Lowe-Lee 2007). While the original land owners become very wealthy, it becomes extremely difficult for the young generation to purchase their home. Most of them can only afford to rent a small apartment around the city border, or a room in a shared unit. Lacking a shelter, which is a basic living element, to live in makes the young generation insecure about their future and meanwhile postponing their plan in forming a family, which is the keystone of society.

The suicide rate in South Korea is the highest among OECD countries[3]. According to the Korea National Statistics Office (NSO), suicide is the second greatest leading cause of death among youth aged 10–19 in 2008 (Lee Seung Yeon 2010). In fact, it is not normal for being this costly to live in a society, where the teenagers feel the urge to sacrifice their life to make them feel comfortable. Society must alter this gloomy atmosphere to avoid teenagers from continuously paying a huge cost to survive.

In recent years, the Korean entertainment industry has been prosperous. K-TV shows and dramas become a great means to spread hope to fight against the depression in society. Now, we will take a look at how the drama Fight for My Way portrays and attempts to fight against “Hell Joseon”.

[1] The three most prestigious universities in South Korea, i.e. Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University

[2] A corporate group that engages in two or more entirely different businesses. For example, Samsung C&T Corporation engages in trading, clothing and technology industry

[3] OECD, “Korea’s increase in suicides and psychiatric bed numbers is worrying, says OECD” Date Accessed Nov 25, 2017 https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/MMHC-Country-Press-Note-Korea.pdf

C. “Hell Joseon” in Fight for My Way

In FFMW, “Hell Joseon” is mainly revealed in three aspects, social, living and working environment.

In terms of social, the difficulty for a university graduate to land a job nowadays is revealed in the drama. Ae-ra, who is the only university graduate among the protagonists, cannot even land a decent job. During university years, she was well-known for her eloquence. Every friend of her expected her to become a famous anchor. However, after graduating, she works as a department store employee who greets customers at the information desk. Her supervisor, who does not treat her well, asks her to kneel to apologize to a VIP customer even she did not do something wrong. We know Ae-ra does not come from a middle-to-high-income class. Even after graduating from a university, she still stays in the lower-income class with low social mobility.

In terms of living environment, the protagonists (Dong-man, Ae-ra, Joo-man and Seol-hee) all live in a moon village (달동네). The term “moon village” implies its elevation and proximity to the moon. A moon village is often a small and uphill community around the city border, making its rent cheap (Lowe-Lee 2007). Ae-ra and Seol-hee rent a shared apartment. Whereas Dong-man and Joo-man both live in a studio apartment; a room that serves as dining, living and bedroom, attached with a separated bathroom. To a large extent, the situation reflects the reality; where a lot of university students or young adults who grew up in other places in South Korea will leave their hometowns and go to major cities for work or study purpose (Schoonhoven 2017). They usually rent a small apartment and live by themselves, or share a unit with a roommate. With the rocketing property prices, it is almost impossible for these young people to purchase their own flat. For the less well-off young generation, renting a small space is their only way out.

In terms of working environment, most protagonists suffer from poor treatment by their bosses and customers. Dong-man, who works as a pest exterminator at the beginning of the drama, is treated poorly by his supervisor. He often gets yelled and hit on the street, which makes him ashamed and embarrassed. Dong-man’s supervisor, who does not get along with him, often asks him to resign himself. Ae-ra, who works as a department store employee, often suffers from unreasonable customers and seniors. Seol-hee, who works as a customer representative in a home shopping channel company, is an insignificant employee. No one pays attention to her; her manager always calls her “Seon-hee”. No matter how hard they work, they are always too far from their dreams.

As the plot develops, FFMW portrays positive and successful results after the protagonists work hard to achieve their dreams, as a means to spread hope. However, why is “hope” necessary? Why does it try to spread hope even it is false and fantasied? We will explore the reason why spreading hope is important in “Hell Joseon”.

D. The Role of Hope in “Hell Joseon”

Hope is a fundamental element that the young generation needs. It is the young generation’s last line of defense to survive. It is also the last element that the Chil-po generation[4] gives up. In other words, if the young generation lose hope, suicide will become their last way out to accuse society’s unfairness (Lee Seung Yeon 2010).

In Korean society, the idea of neoliberalism is rooted, which demands that individuals to become self-managers who possess the necessary skills and qualities to succeed (Walkerdine 2003). People should be responsible for their own self and work problems out on their own.

FFMW is a typical neoliberalism fantasy, which tries to distribute hope in a time when people must rely on factors apart from diligence to succeed, such as social ties, socio-economic status and education background. FFMW spreads hope by portraying the four protagonists’ self-endeavor that make them successful. It tries to give encouragement to the audience to alter the negative and gloomy atmosphere in society.

In the drama, Dong-man, Ae-ra and Seol-hee were previously looked down and seemed their third-rate life will persist for a long period. However, they eventually succeed with continuous passion and endeavor. FFMW portrays a scene of how happy and successful one can be if one is able to do the things he or she desires. It tries to deliver the message of persistence and hope to keep the audience dreaming. As a result, they can recognize their own value and strength, knowing that no one deserves a third-rate life even he or she is already looked down by others for long.

[4] Chil means seven; po means give up. Chil-po are people who give up Chil (seven) living elements, including courtship, marriage, childbirth, employment, home ownership, interpersonal relationships and hope due to social and economic pressure. The general term is N-po generation, where n can be any number.

E. What Makes Fight for My Way Ineffective to Spread Hope?

Although being a neoliberal fantasy with encouraging plots, the drama is believed to be ineffective in terms of spreading hope. The greatest reasons are due to the ridiculous plot and some wrong information the drama has given off. We will look into this from the perspective of each protagonist.

Regarding Dong-man, his possibility of resuming taekwondo or mixed martial arts (“MMA”) after ten years of suspension is questionable. Although Dong-man might have kept working out during the past ten years, doing exercise on a daily basis is certainly different from the way of professional training of an athlete. It is extremely difficult for a half-retired athlete to maintain his body build as a full-time athlete, who has a very strict diet and training routine, not to mention the suspension period is very long.

Furthermore, the friendship between Dong-man and his coach, Jang-ho, is too ideal. Jang-ho supports him no matter what throughout these years. A few years after Dong-man quit taekwondo, Jang-ho started to run a food truck around the community where Dong-man lives in, since he could not make a living with his taekwondo school. Jang-ho indeed is a very loyal friend of Dong-man. However, doesn’t he have his own life? His entire life revolves around Dong-man. In episode 6, Jang-ho seeks help from the Karels, the three-generation family of Brazilian jujitsu fighters, to unconditionally help with Dong-man’s comeback. Is it possible for Jang-ho to make a living and sustain the taekwondo school at the same time by solely running a food truck business, just to support Dong-man? It is definitely a no in reality.

When it comes to Dong-man’s love life, he struggles between Hye-ran, his ex-girlfriend who is a well-known TV anchor, and Ae-ra, a very close friend of him. After the divorce with her wealthy husband, Hye-ran tries to get Dong-man back by moving to the unit above his. Nevertheless, such love line is ridiculous. Why would a famous and pretty lady, who dumped Dong-man before her marriage, try so hard to get him, a poor and jobless young man back? Whether all these will ever happen in reality is questionable, including the love story of Dong-man and his success. The effectiveness of the drama to spread hope is low, since the lover story of Dong-man will barely happen in the reality.

Regarding Ae-ra, her story to a certain extent gives off a wrong message to the audience. In episode 5, Ae-ra asked a VIP customer, who supposedly stole a watch from the department store, if she forgot to pay for something. The VIP customer is offended and Ae-ra is asked by her manager to kneel to apologize to her. Suddenly, Dong-man appears and pulls Ae-ra away, saying “she will quit from now on”. Of course, we know this is the romantic element of typical Korean dramas. However, the message sent to the audience is wrong. The scene is implying that it is fine for people to walk away whenever they are misunderstood or when they encounter other obstacles at work. In fact, it is absolutely not responsible to leave our job or resign whenever we want, given that employees also have to bear legal liability. Moreover, Ae-ra’s financial condition is a concern. After her resignation, Ae-ra starts to look for a job as a TV anchor to achieve her dream. During that period, she cannot even afford the rent. We are glad to see Ae-ra chasing after her dream. However, paying 100% effort towards your dream does not guarantee success. It is not justifiable if one chases his or her dream without considering their financial wellbeing and reality. The story of Ae-ra may be supplying a wrong message to the audience, especially those who are looking for ways towards their dreams.

In episode 14, Ae-ra is struggling to decide between which interview she should attend, for being a KBC TV anchor or MMA announcer, which happen at the same time. As we see throughout the drama, Ae-ra has always been preparing to become a TV anchor by practicing as a news reporter and doing proper pronunciation exercise. But she eventually chooses the interview of MMA announcer. It is unexpected and unbelievable since she does not seem to possess a deep knowledge on or interest in martial arts. During the interview, Ae-ra was only asked the reason why she wanted this position but nothing else about martial arts. Still, she gets the job eventually. It makes the ease of getting this job questionable.

In fact, to become an MMA announcer, people usually choose a local sports broadcaster as their starting point, then they are promoted to national broadcasting companies. The association or host of the fight will pick their ideal announcer from these broadcasting companies and hire them for the fight. Again, we can see the story of Ae-ra is portraying wrong information to the audience, making her success dubious and the drama’s effectiveness of spreading hope low.

Regarding Joo-man, who is the only less fantasized character in the drama, shows the audience a more reliable reference to become success. Joo-man is a “N-po generation” (N포세대), who gives up home ownership and marriage with Seol-hee due to social and economic pressure (Schoonhoven 2017). The audience do not know Joo-man’s dream, as it is not mentioned throughout the drama. But being a purchasing manager at a home shopping channel company allows him to taste different cuisine, and Joo-man seems to enjoys his work. What Joo-man does is more approachable and accessible by typical teenagers or young adults, who are or mostly will become a white-collar. Joo-man tells the audience that being a white-collar does not necessary mean boredom, but can be as exciting if you are enjoying it. Joo-man is the type of character who gains promotion and recognition step by step by his self-endeavor, allowing the audience to put themselves into his shoes.

Nevertheless, Joo-man’s love life with Seol-hee offsets the hope by being too much of a typical and unrealistic K-drama romance. In episode 15, Joo-man wants to reconcile with Seol-hee after their breakup. He told Seol-hee to shoot at him as he was wrong because he cheated. He will unconditionally wait for her until he is fifty years old, a line that often appears in other K-dramas. It supplies a positive message for the audience who are going through a similar stage, but meanwhile being a cliché K-drama romance, making their story in FFMW ineffective to spread hope to the audience.

Regarding Seol-hee, the innocent girl among the protagonists. Her story at the beginning is relatively inconspicuous. We know she likes cooking and blogging. One time she uploads the photos of her own brewed plum juice on her blog, someone comments and asks if she is willing to sell her plum juice. That marks the start of Seol-hee’s interesting path of selling plum juice online. Later, she resigns from her job and receives numerous of order every day.

However, food safety is a serious concern of selling beverages online. It can be much more difficult to start a beverage business than it appears in the drama. According to South Korea’s “Health or Functional Foods Act”[5], plum juice is regarded as a “fermented vegetable-extract product”, which is included in the established list of 37 generic health or functional foods. In South Korea, sellers or distributors must get an official license and government’s approval to sell these foods. Seol-hee starts selling plum juice in episode 15, yet receives the license in episode 16. Moreover, it is thought to be highly difficult for Seol-hee, who brews plum juice at her home, to gain government’s approval on the note of food safety. It is hard for her to monitor the quality of her plum juice, given the great variation of humidity and temperature at her home, where the plum juice is stored and packed. Unlike the simple procedures shown in the drama, starting a beverage business in real life can be much more complex than it seems. Once again, Seol-hee’s success becomes not convincing and lowers the drama’s effectiveness of spreading hope.

In general, the successful career and love stories of the protagonists in FFMW barely make sense in reality. The feasibility of their way to become successful is low, thus leading to a low effectiveness for the drama to spread hope among society.

[5] ChemLinked, “South Korean Health/Functional Food Legislation” Date Accessed Nov 25, 2017 https://food.chemlinked.com/foodpedia/south-korean-healthfunctional-food-legislation

F. Conclusion

In conclusion, the social atmosphere within South Korea has been negative and depressing in recent years, despite its glamorous and innovative upside shown on the world stage. South Korean addressed their capital city as “Han River Miracle” in 2000s, but “Hell Joseon” in 2010s (Rhee, Chi, Kwon 2013). It shows that they need encouragement to relax and reduce their everyday pressure. With the success of entertainment industry, media influence became a major tool to broadcast message to the public, including hope. The drama Fight for My Way in 2017 has well illustrated some problems that the young generation in South Korea is facing, the struggle of protagonists and their way to success. However, the messages and information it provided are mostly inaccurate and unrealistic, making it ineffective to spread hope. Therefore, Fight for My Way is only a means to relax; as it failed to provide a real-life scenario.

After all, giving false hope does not combat “Hell Joseon”. It should depend on the government to improve the depressing situation, for example provide further support for SMEs and individual business, diversify the economy, and increase housing supply. To address people’s depression and discontent, it needs to pay attention to its fundamental social issues on its inside, which to a huge extent can determine and hinder its future development.

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