What I like about K-drama Episode 3: The Tropes

Written by Kidge.

So this could be a book. As an English teacher, I feel myself noticing certain patterns and character archetypes which turn up in many of the dramas that I have watched. Admittedly, this pertains perhaps most to rom-coms as it is the genre I watch most commonly. Here are a few examples that I love/love to laugh at because they are so overused they have become clichés.

Number 1: the Candy. I don’t know who came up with this name, but it describes the girl who is from a poor background, who is plucky, works fifteen jobs and likes to tell the hero where to get off. This is because the Candy, in my experience, is almost exclusively loved by handsome boys with an excess of wealth and a dearth of politeness/common human decency. But through her plucky downtrodden ways and willingness to tell said hero that he is in fact a selfish human being, she manages to capture his heart, overcome an evil mother/a world that says they shouldn’t be together, and basically live happily ever after. If you think this sounds like a better version of Cinderella, you would be right. It doesn’t matter how many times I see this character, I still end up wanting her to triumph over the odds, and hope that one day, my life might be the same.

Number 2: the Chaebol/AKA the wealthy jerkface. This is really not a harsh descriptor. Chaebol’s are sons of extremely wealthy businessmen who own corporations which they will one day inherit. These boys are almost universally tall, handsome and completely self-obsessed. Their money has brought them a world of privilege, so when they encounter a poor Candy, they are simultaneously horrified and bizarrely attracted to an individual who actually has to work for their salary. The arc of the Chaebol is completely predictable. They begin as awful human beings who only care about those who are in a similar social class to themselves. They then proceed to fall in love with a Candy, stalk said Candy until they give in to the pestering infant, and then magically change into a nicer, more well-rounded individual who might benefit the world he lives in. Harsh? Maybe. Do I end up loving them anyway? You betcha baby. Long live the Chaebol.

Number 3: the Evil Parents. This one is a little vaguer, in that there is more variation. However, the following points are exceptionally common. For one reason or another, there is only one parent around, which has left said parent slightly bitter and twisted, or exceptionally protective of their child. This results in the parent feeling like the love interest in the story is not good enough for their child. Sigh. How deluded. Evil Parents are often also linked to Chaebol families. The parents of Chaebol children cannot stand Candy’s because they are of such a dissimilar social circumstance, and therefore will not assist in building a respectful family tree. Come to think of it, Evil Parents are normally a result of wealth and an over inflated need to control the lives of their children. I’m sure some of you can relate.

Number 4: the Second Lead Male/AKA the guy who should get the girl, but somehow doesn’t. This poor individual has a special place in my heart. He is almost always an intelligent, emotionally available, attractive male, who somehow gets sidelined into the friend zone within the first couple of episodes of a drama. To add to the list of traits that scream DATE ME, the SLM is also invariably self-sacrificing, humble and generally a great friend to the love interest and his best buddy who ends up getting the girl. Talk about raw end of the stick. Girls, be nice to the SLM, they will be around when the hero packs his bags and bails for Macau.