The episode starts off with Tae-Woong getting a call from columbarium where his parents’ ashes are. After getting that call he reflects back on how much time has already passed away since his parents passed away. In fact, it’s the first time since their death that he thought of himself as someone’s son. He is reminded of his brother Yoon-Jae, his only remaining family. Then, Si-won brings over a huge batch of quail eggs over and then gets herself a bowel of rice. Taewoong asks, following Si-won into the kitchen, if there is enough for Si-Won’s family to eat and she responds by saying “how much you wanna bet there’s another five of these at home?” They have a cute moment together in the kitchen and this proves too much for Yoon-Jae who leaves without finishing his food. Yoon-Jae tosses the good luck “S” charm Si-won gave him into the trashcan, but narrowly misses it
In class, the boys listen to Jo Sung-mo’s song “To Heaven” and make a bet about whether Jo Sung-Mo’s song will become a hit. Yoon-Jae and Joon-Hee think he will become a hit but Sung-Jae and Hak-Chan think that the song will never be popular. Because Jo Sung-Mo debuted as a faceless singer, the boys believe that the singer is ugly. Later in the episode, we see Jo Sung-mo is actually handsome and that his song rises to #1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDlqzV9Iu8k
Si-Won’s parents leave for a one week cruise that Tae-Woong pays for. Before leaving, they warn Si-Won to be careful because there have been several cases of men preying on young women the last few weeks. Her parents suggest that Si-Won sleep over at Yoon-Jae’s because she will be lonely by herself. She freaks out and refuses their suggestion, saying “Isn’t Yoon-Jae a guy?!”
In the next scene, Yoo-Jung meets up with her friends and waits for Hak-Chan to join them. However, Hak-Chan doesn’t show up because he is too nervous to sit down with girls but later comes into the café to pay for the bill but does not approach Yoo-Jung. After Yoo-Jung is finished eating with her friends, she goes to pay the bill and finds out Hak-Chan already paid for her which makes her really happy. She runs down the stairs and sees Hak-Chan waiting outside. She tells her friends, who were suspicious of whether Yoo-Jung really had a handsome Seoul boyfriend, that everything is going well with Hak-Chan. At that moment, Hak-Chan’s mom shows up and Hak-Chan brushes off Yoo-Jung as a girl he just knows.
After Si-Won gets off from her night alba shift, which she doesn’t tell her parents about, a creeper follows her. Yoon-Jae is chilling at home until he sees a news report of a young woman who was raped. He sits at home, worried, and finally calls Si-Won’s home but no one picks up. At the same time, Si-Won calls Yoon-Jae on the phone so they cannot reach each other. Finally, she gets a hold of him and tells Yoon-Jae that a stranger is following her. Yoon-Jae runs to Si-Won just in time before the creeper has the chance to close in on Si-Won. He puts his arm around her and takes her home safely. When they get home, Si-Won realizes Yoon-Jae’s hand is bleeding a lot. She takes his hand but he pulls it away from her. Si-Won narrates, saying “there are levels to relationships. To me, Yoon-Jae is the easiest level. We were just childhood friends, a relationship easy to explain and keep. But today I gained a vague idea that it was possible for us to have a relationship. A relationship of highest level of difficulty: that between man and a woman.”
Discussion questions:
-Hak-Chan pays the bill for Yoo-jung and her friend. In Korea nowadays, is splitting the bill more commonly accepted or is it still expected of men to pay for the bill?
– We see Il-Hwa always making large batches of food. Is this something characteristic of the gyeonsang-do province households? This is out of pure curiosity because when I go to my grandparents in Seoul, they always make small batches of food several times a week. However, when I go to my grandparents in Busan, they always make a huge batch of food at once like Si-Won’s family.
-Given that Korea is a society that values appearance to a high degree, do you think that faceless singers still have the potential to make a hit in Korea now? Are there any singers in Korea who debuted faceless and made a huge success (post 2010)?
-The drama reveals that with the IMF crisis, there has been an increase in crimes. Is there an association of economic conditions and crime rates? If so, what are some possible explanations to this association?
Thanks for the post Ashley! 🙂
To answer your question on singers in Korea, I feel like nowadays there must be some way of exposure before a singer can become popular to the masses. An example off the top of my head would be DEAN who initially debuted in America before transitioning his influence over to Korea. It was because of the fact that he had the right setup that he was successful in bringing his music over to the Korean scene which eventually led up to his spike in popularity in the past year. At the same time, it could also be seen that his style of music is arguably more appreciated by the Korean crowd as it highlights as a different genre in music compared to what the youth normally listen to on the radio.
Korea in the past decade or so have noticed this, and catalyzed by the Korean wave, music shows for rookie performers have become a huge hit; even for the international masses. Shows such as ‘Show Me the Money’ , ‘SBS: Kpop Star’, and ‘Unpretty Rapstar’ have provided the necessary platforms for rookie artists to perform and be potentially recruited into bigger labels if they make the cut. Moreover, we also have to be mindful about the thought process taken before big labels such as JYP, SM and YG decide to invest in artists as they have to weigh out the cost-benefit outcomes of new artists. An example that comes to mind is Akdong Musician that started off from humble beginnings which eventually led to their position now due to their talent. While they may not fit in perfectly with Korea’s beauty standards, YG Entertainment has given them enough of a platform for their talent to flourish and they are currently international hits that appeal to both the youth and adulthood.
While having a strong visual appeal is highly talked of in the music industry, I feel like Korea is slowly transitioning towards a more talent-centric industry as it matures and it is interesting to see where it will end up when the Korean wave eventually ends.
The success of reality survival programs (that are not based on the idol industry, therefore excluding Produce 101, Mix Nine, etc.) reveals that “faceless” singers have the potential to succeed in the Korean music industry. Bands like Busker Busker who have famously competed in Superstar K remain to be incredibly famous, with their song “Cherry Blossom Ending” topping the music charts every spring since its release in 2012 (1). Meanwhile, other indie bands like Hyukoh are garnering much international attention as well. These bands definitely have their own aesthetic and style, but they do not stress an equal amount of attention for appearance when compared to the idol industry. The Korean idol industry focuses significantly on appearances/looks and aesthetics consistent with their “squeaky clean” image and “perfect” facade. Appearance and aesthetic become increasingly important as the idol industry becomes more saturated and globalized. With so much talent in a single business, artists must find other ways to appeal to others, and that includes their looks. The over-saturation and popularity of K-pop has affected regular citizens as well, anxious about their own looks. The rising expectation of South Korean men having to live up to popularized representations as seen in Korean dramas, movies, music videos propagated a growing demand in plastic surgery (2).
(1) Yckim124. “Busker Busker tops MelOn with ‘Cherry Blossom Ending’ for the 5th consecutive spring!” Allkpop. February 27, 2017. https://www.allkpop.com/article/2017/02/busker-busker-tops-melon-with-cherry-blossom-ending-for-the-5th-consecutive-spring.
(2) Tai, Crystal. “The cutting edge of beauty: male plastic surgery in South Korea.” South China Morning Post. July 25, 2017. http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-luxury/article/2103854/cutting-edge-beauty-male-plastic-surgery-south-korea.
In my opinion about splitting the bill I think it depends on the situation. I believe that in the past the males would normally pay the bill for the female when they go on a date but the dating culture in Korea is shifting to a more equal pay. However, if you were meeting someone older than you, the older person would likely pay the bill. Also, when a team within a company go out to eat which happens a lot more frequently than Canada or the United States, the person with the most senior position normally pays even when it is not supported by the company.
As for your last question, yes there is a correlation between economic conditions and crime rates. Financial crisis like the IMF results in negative economic growth for some time which results in major unemployment within a country. The loss of income may motivate people to perform crimes to make a living for their family. However, the crimes that increase when there is a financial crisis are financial crimes like theft, scam and etc. However, the crime in the case of Reply1997 is related to sexual harassment which increased over the years. However, this could be due to increase in women rights in South Korea and more surveillance than the past.
The following is a paper by the Untied Nations on the correlation between the economy and crime rates. Although it is not for South Korea, the other countries used in the paper can provide a representation that there is correlation between the two.
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime/GIVAS_Final_Report.pdf
Lastly, I do not know whether making large quantity of food is unique to the Gyeonsang-do Province. However, I think it could be possible because they have resources that Seoul do not have, ex. closer to the water = more fish resource, more farmland = more crops to use. This could mean that their living costs are cheaper and hence, can produce more quantity of food for the same price.
Hi Ashley thank you for your post, I found your third question very interesting. The link between poverty and crime was explored by World Bank economists in 2002 and they discovered that yes, in fact, inequality does induce crime (1). I believe that one of the main reasons that this occurs is because inequality creates a sort of environment where people become desperate and see themselves as having nothing to lose. This translates into a sort of moral disintegration where laws and rules have less relevance in people’s lives.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the IMF crisis in Korea evaporated the prospect of life-long employment under one company and breadwinners could no longer provide for their families. Obviously, this would have had a severe effect on the family and on their routine. Though I’m not completely familiar with the topic, I don’t think the writers meant it to be funny when in episode six Shi-won’s parents quarrel about their spending habits since Sung-il’s monthly pay had been sliced in half. When considering this, it is sort of understandable why crime rates rose. However, I wonder if these feelings lessened after the IMF Crisis “concluded”. The second source mentions how violent crime doubled since the crisis, but arrests have gradually declined (2). I guess it has to be partly due to this effect on the economy – where that continual feeling of instability maintains a sort of anger? Yet it wasn’t just crime rates that rose as the country’s economic situation worsened, but suicide rates rise as well. The suicide rate rose from 29.5 per 10,000 people in 1997 to 48.5 the next year, a near doubling in one year. It is a sobering thought and leads me to question perhaps how differently the drama could have depicted this period.
Source:
(1)”How Income Inequality Affects Crime Rates.” Financesonline.com. https://financesonline.com/how-income-inequality-affects-crime-rates/.
(2)”Violent Crime Soared Since IMF Crisis.” Chosun Ilbo. http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/06/23/2009062300292.html.
Since this will be the last time we will be seeing Yun-je and Si-won together at school, I would like to discuss a little about their school life. First of all, have you guys noticed a change in their attitudes from before and after the suneung (College Scholastic Ability Test)? This episode begins with Tae-ung waking up Yun-je who is sleeping in. Yun-je complains of Tae-ung waking him up when he could miss out on a period since the suneung was over and because he had already been accepted to Seoul National University. We have also seen students drink alcohol as forms of entertainment despite them still being high school students. The adults don’t seem to mind at all when they do drink. For example, Yun-je and Jun-hui drink at Jun-hui’s older sister’s street cart and Si-won drinks with Tae-ung who is also her school teacher. I have also noticed that the characters engaging in their social life more than their studies. When comparing the environment of students after suneung with your last year of high school, are there any similarities or differences? Let me know your thoughts!
연실, great start with lots of good questions for the rest of the group
Raymond, nice response to the discussion. I wonder, though, why do big companies get involved in those star discovery programs? I think you cut out a lot of the guess work. At the end you have someone who is proven and already has a following. It’s all win for the agencies.
Kelly, nice job.
Edward 규훈 is spot on about the bill. However, on the sexual predation– we can think of this also as a result of the financial crisis as at that time some young men in precarious work lost their jobs, but women got picked up to do these crappy low-paying and part-time jobs– these disadvantaged men then saw this as ‘women did them wrong’ instead of seeing the women as also victims of low pay and bad working conditions. So, the sexual predator may be representing misogyny that targeted young women in bad jobs (like working in a convenience store).
예찬, good job. excellent backing up your points with some solid statistics and good expansion of Edward’s post.
Dohee, nice questions. Too bad there was no one to answer them!