The episode opens with the ending scene of episode 15 where Shi-won’s parents are waiting outside the maternity ward as the doctor asks for Shi-won’s husband and both Tae-woong and Yoon-jae arrive. The episode flashes back to 2005 where Yoon-jae goes out for dinner and drinks with his coworkers and mentions that he likes it when a woman can drink. The scene cuts to Shi-won drinking beer with her coworkers and says that Yoon-jae doesn’t know about her excessive drinking while he was there right behind her. He says that he hates her drinking habit the most and mutters at Shi-won that if she drinks and sleeps at the station, she’s dead meat. When they reach her apartment, Yoon-jae tries to follow Shi-won to her apartment for coffee and gets denied. He then argues that they lived together their whole lives and Shi-win says its different now. He eventually unlocks her door and drinks coffee at her apartment. Shi-won tries to rush him out, but he desperately searches for ways to stall.
The episode takes the audience back to the hospital where Yoon-jae reveals that he is Shi-won’s husband! Inside the delivery room, things went exactly as Shi-won’s mom predicted. Shi-won spends most of energy yanking out Yoon-jae’s hair and screaming that its all his fault. Back to the reunion in 2012, Yoon-jae is a judge in Daejeon, and he meets up with Shi-won on the weekends which their friends tease them about when how did they find the time to make another baby. Their friends also wonder what they were like when they were dating, and Shi-won says that they were like any other couple where Yoon-jae has a contradicting memory. Back to 2005, Shi-won visits Yoon-jae’s apartment where Yoon-jae indirectly proposes her. After the dinner date by Tae-woong, Joon-hee marvels at Tae-woong being honest about his feelings for Shi-won and Yoon-jae admits that he knows Hung better than him. Before leaving the apartment, Joon-hee and Yoon-jae have a bittersweet moment where Yoon-jae backhugs Joon-hee. Later in the episode, Tae-woong drives a group of his students a concert. His students hand him a pair of tickets and ask him to be the contact of a fanclub member which turns out to be the doctor (later his wife).
Back in the reunion Yoon-jae complains that Shi-won lost her wedding band almost a month after the marriage. Their daughter comes to the reunion with Shi-won’s parents. Shi-won tells her parents that its past her bedtime, but her mom says that her daughter is glued to the TV, watching her favourite idol and she’ll marry him. Dong-il tells Shi-won that this is payment for the hell she put him through. Shi-won’s mom still wishes him to be her son-in-law. Dong-il smiles at the news of Hak-chan and Yoo-jung’s marriage and asks if they are getting married after accidental pregnancy like Shi-won and Yoon-jae (who took over Tae-woong’s wedding plans because of the pregnancy). Dong-il remembers his time with Tae-woong’s dad and tells them to make good memories.
The reunion ends, and everyone head out of the restaurant into the rain. Hak-chan and Yoo-jung talk about their honeymoon plans and Yoon-jung invites Sung-jae along on their honeymoon. Yoo-jung says that Hak-chan wasn’t her first love and Hak-chan pulls one of her tricks of breaking up. She glosses over it and says it doesn’t matter and they walk off arm in arm. Shi-won offers Joon-hee to drop him off on their way. He says someone’s coming to pick him up. The auidence don’t see who picks him up, but Joon-hee smiles as he gets in the car. While Shi-won is driving, Tae-woong reveals that his wife is attending a DBSK concert and, she is the fanclub’s president and Shi-won says that their family finally has someone important. As Shi-won and Yoon-jae quarrel in the car we see the license plate on the car that says Live forever 1997.
The final flashback to 1997 shows the group has gathered for a photo in the park. Hak-chan sets up the camera, and Shi-won blames Yoon-jae for ruining her signed t-shirt from Tony. Just before the shutter goes, Shi-won opens her hand and Yoon-jae jumps back and gets terrified of the frog sitting in her palm. He says that he broke his arm and that’s how he was admitted to the hospital in the earlier episodes.
응답하라 1997 gives the audience insight into the first K-pop wave, fan culture, family and regional identity, teenage love and friendship in Korea, etc. This is a well written drama where the cast were both convincing and engaging and attention to the details of the Korean culture made it relatable and educational. What was the overall impact of this drama?
One of the real issues that were portrayed in the drama included regional identity. There is the idea that all academically scholar people and the best go to Seoul (Yoon-jae and Joon-hee study there, Shi-won blames the city she was born in since she couldn’t become a fanclub president, etc.). Most of Shi-won’s friends adopt respected Seoul accent. In what way does this matter and the tension in identity display an aspect of contemporary Korean culture?
The drama depicts some of the K-pop fan culture aspects. Shi-won becomes a member of H.O.T fanclub by writing a letter with her blood. Why are fans desperate to become a member and what are some of the privileges that fanclub members receive? Shi-won is honoured and proud when Tae-woong’s wife becomes the fanclub president. How significant is this? Is there any politics involved?
The drama touches on the topic of pre-marital sex (Shi-won getting pregnant before marriage). We can see Dong-il bringing up the issue when he hears about Yoo-jung’s marriage announcement and tells her to not be like his daughter. What is the extent of acceptance of pre-marital sex in South Korea? Is it still frowned upon in modern days?
Navneet Aulakh
Hi Navneet, thanks for the post. As for your first question the drama provided us a holistic view of what Korea was during the 1990s. I think it provided us with accurate depictions as well as analysis. This could be the reason why the drama did so well in South Korea. For adults, the drama reminded them of the past and for children it showed them the livelihoods of their parents.
For your second question, it is true that normally most academically driven people will pursue post secondary education in Seoul. However, this is due to the fact that majority of the high ranking universities are in Seoul. I would say that if those universities were located elsewhere, students will pursue education in that city. For example, many top STEM students who are accepted to top universities in Seoul decide to pursue their education in KAIST or POSTECH which are located in Daejun and Pohang respectively. Furthermore, for the working generation, Seoul is portrayed to be better for job potential, raising a family and etc. Hence, I think the reason people’s desire to go to Seoul is not because it is Seoul but because of the benefits and the education the city has. Also as for the Seoul accent, I do not think the drama portrayed it in a way of respect but just a desire to have the accent.
To address your last question, premarital sex is not as frowned upon in South Korea compared to the past. However, this does not mean they openly talk about it like they do in Western media. On the other hand, pregnancy before marriage is different. Pregnancy before marriage is generally frowned upon and not really desired. However, even this is not as frowned upon compared to the past. The video below is a clip from SBS Healing Camp where Go So-young talks about her pregnancy before marriage. Unfortunately, I could only find the clip in Korean. But in summary, the video shows the hosts’ attempts to portray her pregnancy before marriage in a good lens while Go So-young provides reasons on why she decided to do this.
Hi Navneet, thanks for your post. To address your last question about Korean perceptions on pre-marital sex, I think that there is a relaxation of how people perceive of this. People do not look down on it as much they used to in the past. I remember (and please correct me if I’m wrong) that the professor had mentioned in class that more young women choose to have sexual relations than in the past within Korea and as a result, the number of people participating in the sex industry is diminishing.
I think one of the ways that we can see this is through the starring of Yura (of Girl’s day) in a birth control commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXDToR23q6g. The advertisement has the phrase “whoever I meet, whatever kind of love I have with them, I choose”. Despite the various reasons behind this (perhaps a desire by the profit-oriented company to earn some money by catching people’s attention?), I think to a certain extent it’s a testament and is reflective of Korean society.
However, as Edward mentions, there is a difference between pre-marital sex and pre-martial pregnancy. Lee Si-young’s wedding is a more recent example of a public figure who gets pregnant despite not being married. Rather than shame, the language that is used in her Instagram post to announce her wedding is filled with expectancy and fate. She is honest in explaining that her wedding was hurried because of her pregnancy but emphasizes that she is marrying someone who she loves and is grateful for the visit of a new life (her child): https://www.instagram.com/p/BWeZRZ2AK7_/. I think there is going to be more acceptance in the future, especially because of the aging population, fewer children that couples are having and because of how late people are getting married.
Lastly, I couldn’t really find an answer about this and I’m wondering if someone could help answer this: which would have more disapproval in Korea: a couple having an illegitimate child and continues to live together despite not being married or a single mother in Korea?
Thanks for your post Navneet! Ending our weekly posts with a BANG!
As Sean and Edward already mentioned, there’s a fine line between premarital sex and premarital pregnancy. For the most part, premarital sex is more accepted by the Korean masses, however premarital pregnancy continues to be shamed and stigmatized. Among Korean celebrities, “shotgun weddings” are common to mask the unanticipated or unintended pregnancies of celebrity couples. These weddings are held are generally not held because the couples are ready for marriage, but to avoid shame and embarrassment, especially for the woman. Celebrities who had shotgun weddings include: Mun Hee-jun (H.O.T), Lee Si-young, Gary (Leessang), and Kwon Sang-u. Shotgun weddings are a popular option in the wake of unwanted pregnancies, considering abortion is illegal in South Korea. Cohabitation in South Korea is uncommon as well, and adding children into the mix would be incredibly rare. Although shotgun weddings are not ideal, in my opinion, at least there is responsibility held by the two adults about the future of the unborn child/children.
While shotgun weddings (due to pregnancy) do exist in Canada, our cultures are very different. Accessible contraceptives, sex ed, abortion, legal protection for cohabiting and common-laws couples (with or without kids), and extensive welfare (for single parents) are offered in Canada, to various degrees depending on the province/territory. Said options propagate how Canadians understand relationships and family forms — whether it is even necessary to marry, have kids, to live together, etc. In BC, common-laws of two years are considered equal to married couples under the BC Family Law Act to answer to the growing trend of common-law couples. A ccording to Statistics Canada, the rate of common-law relationships climbed 13.9% in Canada, while marriages increased by a mere 3.1% between the years 2006 and 2011 (1). Through the revisions of family laws in BC, we can see how the government has accommodated to new trends in family forms, to withhold protection and rights for these new families emerging in society, as well as counteracting the falling marriage rates in the nation.
(1) Hopper, Tristin. “How a new law in B.C. turned thousands of live-in lovers into married couples.” National Post. March 17, 2013. Accessed November 21, 2017. http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/at-midnight-on-sunday-b-c-s-common-law-couples-transform-into-married-couples.
To share a bit of personal experience, a couple of years ago I registered myself to become a member of a fan club (I won’t say for whom though). It was a novel experience and what I still recall is that the registration process was rather long and there were hierarchies within these clubs. In the registration process, it felt more like screening and they asked several odd questions about myself and about the group. Additionally, just because I had registered meant that I was part of the club, someone with a higher lever or an administrator had to add me in after reviewing my questionnaire. Once in, I found out there was a whole new realm. Like stated previously, there were hierarchies among the users. People who participated the most such as uploading pictures and videos were ‘leveled up’. For people like me who had just registered or didn’t participate much were unable to access particular posts. There I found tons of pictures and videos of live concerts, several creatively made video clips, and filming/broadcasting dates to travel dates and such.
Going back to your questions, some benefits or, so called, privileges members of fan clubs have are I guess a chance to chip in for birthday gift for idol, see super high resolute perfect pictures/videos of your idol, know their monthly schedule, have a chance to get hands of concert tickets early, and participate in fan club activities. As for becoming a president of a fan club, particularly of one that has a large fan base, I’m sure it’s highly competitive. I have read online that fan club presidents themselves feel pressured to behave as a role model themselves too. Although I am unsure whether these facts are true, many online posts claim that they are able to talk with the company to arrange fan events and have a better chance to meet their idols in person.
Here are some additional links that further explain fan clubs in detail.
Youngnam Weekly Magazine. “[Lee Jung Hyeok’s Man’s Hobby] Fan Club.” Yeoungnam.com. http://www.yeongnam.com/weekly/newsview.do?mode=newsView&newskey=20170120.010400825340001 (accessed November 26, 2017).
Whitman, Allie. “K-pop Fans, Passionate…And a Little Crazy.” Psu.edu. https://sites.psu.edu/alliewhitmanrcl/2013/11/03/k-pop-fans-passionate-and-a-little-crazy/ (accessed November 26, 2017).
Hemmeke, Katelyn. “Planting Rainforests and Donating Rice: The Fascinating World of K-pop Fandom.” Koreaexpose.com. https://koreaexpose.com/fascinating-world-k-pop-fandom-culture/ (accessed November 26, 2017).
Naver Knowledge. “What Kind of Work do Fan Club Presidents of Celebrities Do?” Kin.naver.com. http://kin.naver.com/qna/detail.nhn?d1id=3&dirId=302140101&docId=48218381&qb=7Yys7YG0IO2ajOyepQ==&enc=utf8§ion=kin&rank=1&search_sort=0&spq=0 (accessed November 26, 2017).
Hi Navneet,
I think it is interesting to point out that a lot of celebrities in Korea these days are having premarital pregnancies. Some couples include…
-Jang Don-gun and Ko So-young
-Yang Hyun-Suk (CEO of YG entertainment) and Lee Eun Joo
-Tablo and Kang Hye-jung
-Shoo (former SES member) and basketball player Im Hyo-Sung
What is surprising is that the public doesn’t look at them with disdain. In fact, premarital pregnancy is increasing in Korea; the percentage of births out of wedlock in Korea in 2014 was 2.1% which is the highest it has ever been and is continuing to increase (Turnbull 2016). Furthermore, in a survey conducted by the match making firm Duo, in 2013 between June 1 and June 14, 1/3 of 374 newlyweds questioned said the bride was pregnant when they got married (Yim 2010).
However, Turnbull (2016) argues that not all pre-martial sex is the same because there is a difference between just having sex with someone and having sex with someone you intent to, or are going to, marry. In other words, “having sex on the premise of, and consummation of, commitment, is the normal, socially acceptable way to have pre-marital sex” (ibid.). This is not a recent phenomenon as even 20th century Korea saw this as a big difference. In fact a lot of Korean historical prose fiction has a lot of premarital sex but these fictions were not banned because “whenever there was pre-marital sex the parties always ended up married” (ibid.). In Reply 1997, Si-Won and Yun-je got pregnant on the premise that they were getting married. Therefore, it was likely to be more socially accepted than if it was a pregnancy borne out of casual sex.
Turnbull, James. “Korean Sociological Image #89: On Getting Knocked up in South Korea.” The Grand Narrative. February 26, 2016. Accessed November 28, 2017. https://thegrandnarrative.com/category/korean-sexuality/childbirth/.
Yim, Seung-hye. “Stars no longer shy about premarital sex.” Korea JoongAng Daily. May 20, 2010. Accessed November 28, 2017. http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2920671.
Hey Navneet! Thanks for the post
To answer your first question, I personally feel that Reply 1997 brings a lot of merit in terms of getting an insider’s view into the impact of the Korean wave. With all the show’s antics and events, it can be clearly seen that not only was Korea’s pop culture vastly changing, but it was changing at a very rapid rate. An example of this would be Shi-won’s tendency to change up her hairstyle and also her complaints about the phones in 2012. As a result, I felt that the overall impact of this drama was to have the audience get a feel of the influence of the Korean Wave and how it may eventually impact the world in an international scale.
I also found your second question intriguing in the sense that regional identity can be seen in a multitude of ways. Prior to economic standing being of of the most celebrated factors of regions within, regional differences were celebrated in terms of food, culture, dialect and way of life. In the context of Reply 1997, Seoul was a hub of many booming industries and with the advancement in education, it was not uncommon and much rather looked up on when people adapted the Seoul accent. In a sense, those who adapted said accent could have been seen as upperclassmen due to Seoul’s socio-economic standing. Nowadays, in contemporary Korea, many would say that each region of South Korea habours a unique personality. While Seoul becomes the place that all these regional cultures meet up, I feel that the tension has lessened and other regions are shining out of the overpowering shadow of the ideal city Seoul once had.
Thanks for this post Navneet and here are my thoughts on some of your questions. I do feel that in Pre-modern Korea this is an accurate image of how life would be in Korean society and highschool. The idea of Fandom and Hallyu in Korea is portrayed heavily with Shi-won’s undying love for H.O.T., and it is clear that this is still a big deal in modern day Korea. While watching this show it feels like it portrays the 1997 times in a clear light
To look at the question of pre-marital sex in Korea I think as Dr Saeji stated in class that when she was teaching in Korea she got questions about sex allot. Clearly more and more interest in pre-marital sex is happening in modern times. Some older ways of thinking about saving sex until marriage are going out the window and clearly more of the population is having sex earlier than before. In modern times it is not a big deal as the previous generation as evidenced by this blog post below.
http://askakorean.blogspot.ca/2011/01/like-viiiiiirgin.html
It seems that a majority of Koreans have changed their mindset regarding pre-marital sex or are non-judgmental about it. It would appear having an abortion would be something that is more frowned upon than having pre-marital sex. Pre-marital sex is not something that would be considered a deal breaker for most Koreans, and they do not have the same expectations their parents had while growing up. In the drama it seems as though romance is concealed in some episodes, while coming out in others with some flirting and kissing scenes for Yoon-jae and Shi-won.
Good job all! Strong until the end.