ammmz

one of my fav feel-good dramas (along with ex-gf club which got canceled in the middle-ish of its run but it's tvn 2014 - 2015 silent classics for me lol. and heart to heart.) it's absolutely absurd and the premise literally anywhere else i would never accept these terms (age gap. ever. no no no.) and it totally made me fall in love with SIG. this show definitely shows why these writers and directors have made things so many people have warm feelings for. and the found family aspect? wow TEARS

i didn't, but the two leads are so compatible lol

i think i agree with you. i mean im not sure bc some of my interpretations i think are suspended in this idea but. he's just there to me. i mean i enjoyed the actor a lot. my big issue is the tragi-comic feel. and him being this skinny dude to me is actually fine it's the whole idea that a parent, a father, and a man can do that. i lived a life so similar to that family so it meant a lot to me but when i hear people like him or view him favorably--i think the show made a mistake there.

i do know this actually (your reply is very valued but i do want to respond.) we have colorism that aids in global anti-blackness but also heavily affects the black community so that is my personal connection to it and i am very aware that it is something that plagues communities. what we are shown in movies or dramas, what is depicted as what these countries are, as what south korea is ideally is not true and it not the breadth of the people and experience. funnily enough, when i first saw someone almost as dark as me (i am a lightskin black woman), or dark people in let's say past paintings...it was eye opening ( a friend of mine is from there and we were discussing this very thing and she showed me amazing old art that featured people who look so different than the "norm" or the nominal group.) this is a whole other discussion however.

i was oversimplifying simply because it is undeniably less of a stressor. all of these things are interconnected, but it is easier to exist when your people are the dominant inhibitors and run the systems. if i were to go there, my race would be a stressor. it is scientifically proven that kids who go to HBCUs have less pressure because everyone (mostly) looks like them. by stating this, i am simply saying that things will naturally manifest differently. the basis of oppression wouldn't be identical to any country's model but the uk and the us have similar structures (sorta lol) but between the west [us/uk] and east asia that is a distinct difference which i think would be interesting to explore.

hmmm yea i can see that lmao. i wasnt thinking of it that way but helllllllllllllllllll absolutely like you have money and resources and you were in jail while other people dont have families, nor money, nor resources, and are in jail wrongfully and they can't get a lawyer so like yea bud it sure is overrated with a choice. hahaha

i do agree with you onthis. i was actually pissed because why on EARTH would you not finish high school. esp if you were in jail ? but i guess that kind of trauma would mess you up and if you have the ability via money to take a gap year (which is what i think he finally decided) u would . but he better get his degree. idt anyone could even come close to arguing not graduating high school is a detriment. even when idols barely get schooling people are like this is ridiculous. high school is the minimum (and i dnt believe everyone should go in higher ed, but my god)

i agree lmao. i tried to think but?? i guess it was the way the anxiety of hands was completely different than the act they put on but with such tremendous acting of course we could tell. the closeups of their faces and even the back shots (which i looove) were more indicative lol. honestly it was annoying cos it's like ur supposed to pay attn to this thing and im like STOP WHAT DOES THIS MEAAAAN

i get you! i mean this could be a whole media conversation tbh and what their intentions were. i started a conversation with a friend of mine but it was hard for her continue because the drama brings up a lot of pain for her; she interprets it as using that for entertainment instead of intentionally exhibiting these acts to show / underline a problem..

i didn't know that about juvenalian satire! thank you so much. absurdist humor is different but it's the closest i could think of.

im still trying to figure out how i feel about how they constructed prof cha but i guess things like that or just incredibly pedantic statements would be the comedy...that turns into...worse? as opposed to the overarching theme of juvenalian satire.

people can read it however they want lol i dont want to sound like a pedant as well tbh or pompous i just think it was so compelling to me because this is how i interpreted the show's goal

your points which i will answer then i probably will not come back:

i think she'll be fine. it's a club. also, it's a fictional show. and her life? not our business. her record is expunged and truly if they're gen z/millenials like se ri is (who is starting the club WITH her friends!) they will accept her. literally why does it matter?

no one is saying an education isn't important. just like you and others have stated, i have a masters! you know who hasn't finished his degree (bachelors)? my older brother. and it is very difficult to live in america as a black person, as a black man, which he is without one. does it suck and is it embarrassing? yes honestly it can be. but the beauty of living in NOW is realizing everyone's circumstance.

add to the fact that this is an incredibly FICTIONAL, if poignant and realistic, show. the point at the end (TO ME!) was to show what things would be like in THEIR ideal world. but also se ri, the mother, and the kids were incredibly miserable and were (once again) abused.

additionally to your point about poor people and education, if someone decides to "take this show's advice" and not push their child in to school (i guess???) lol then that's their right but it won't happen. change doesn't happen over night. what was encouraged was therapeutic and not exhausting living based on absolutely absurd and unrealistic standards rich people have access too and mess up (and poor people can't even touch it thus continuing the cycle of capital aka the sky castle.)

you also state that if you are poor you will be trampled. the show (imo) doesn't show enough of what people who are working class or poor would feel or how the rich directly benefit from the poor and the poor are directly put at a disadvantage by their actions. being poor is more than being trampled. it is a systemic structure that is stacked against people and add to that the classism and elitism and other problems in south korea. it is more than just being trampled. can people tell my mother went to princeton just by looking at her? no but what they can do is see her CV because she has had THE TOOLS to get to where she would like in her career. additionally, school? costs. money. learning. costs. money. there is a huge quality of life gap. the way you've framed it is that this will be the cure all and it most certainly will not.

it's your opinion and you are completely entitled to have it. truly, i take no offense. but these are my responses. you also use the words "you would encourage" right? nothing these parents have done has come close to encouraging.

i'm not acting like i know the show more. in fact, everyone can interpret it how they so choose. and i can say i vehemently disagree. i don't watch too many dramas because i do not, in fact, like most dramas and the way they deal with societal issues. funnily enough, i have lived an incredibly similar life (minus the riches) to the cha family and it is devastating.

too much is an understatement. but judging by your other comments you completely seem to miss the point.

this is an incredibly good point and one i had not been thinking about and wish that i had. if we are critiquing capital, elitism, and classism through satire why are we only showing this way? in a way, hye na's character could have been that but it's such an infinitesimal part of the story. there are flaws intrinsically within the drama but this is something that definitely is part of it. if we are using this method of like showing and talking/asking for cultural change how can it only be one set of people in one set of society who will ultimately be okay (which might be the point in that regard. but yea)

the line "why should i help these people continue in their sky castle" really struck me and now to the lack of perspective on the poor (and even more so poor motherhood could have been explored) it was through coach kim's lens as this representation of the evils manifesting which seemed to be the antagonist as opposed to how much class effects things, esp in an asian context where it is a [more] homogenous country (and what i mean to say with this is that black people suffer from poverty and major inequality, but it is due to several factors and that includes our skin. when you live in a society where everyone looks like you, that is a huge elimination factor within that country so now we have to explore what greed and capital and classist/elitist morals are within this specific culture/s.)

it's not really so if you view it through that lens things might get a bit lost. it's a satire that includes ridiculous absurd and satirical situations.

no lol

this is the first comment i have seen of this kind. her acting was draining and the story's pacing was off so those all coupled together...

i am genuinely curious at the rating score and how no one, at least that i have seen so far, expressed anything but love of the show. it's not a bad thing, but no one has any critiques? i have not met a single person who couldn't click with it besides me and that doesn't mean i'm wrong so i'm wondering where people are hiding...

i would also like to know, and i am ASKING so don't jump down my throat lol, what people thought of iu if they weren't particularly thrilled with the drama or adored the drama but not her acting? the failed actress (in the show, played by nara) is by far the worst and i wouldn't say iu was terrible but part of what i had a problem with is how truly complex her character was and she couldn't bring what was needed for her to the table. it was more a steady flatness when there should have been more depth and that is a huge thing for me especially when you go against someone with as much presence as her co-star.

also, and i'm not trying to be rude, but i feel like some people are missing what satire / satirical comedy (and black comedy) mean and it kind of skews how they see this show. on top of that next to nothing, outside of character interactions and motivations but not the actual happenings, is realistic in this drama and...that is the point. so the ending supports its whole theory.

in fact this drama is so insanely character driven and relies heavily on the dialogue and acting that i felt immersed and could even begin to shape my brain into understanding (mostly) everyone.

a perfect example is the book club. prof cha is a complete pedant and the interpretation being one way and his inability to not flaunt his so-called superiority would truly never be a situation as clear-cut as that in the real world no matter the culture. however, the way they feel and the expressions they have during these times bring us back to that humanity.

there's like this duality going on in the drama that toes the line of realistic but IT IS NOT to me so maybe that's why i'm so attached yet detached to it. i can tell you i would never have thought i would ever vehemently not hate characters like some of these women, or felt people like yeh suh were unbearable, but i felt them, i wanted to understand them, they did the stupidest , cruelest, most dangerous things but i was there with them. the woman seri became from what we thought she was? nothing was flat.

that is why i have either a problem with the portrayal of prof cha (due to the music and idea that he is just some funny person as opposed to an oppressive abuser which was said and depicted btw) and its reception...i wonder and i am still thinking: was it their intention to have him and his family be the least involve in physical tragedy and keep him as he was? are we supposed to know that he loves but his love is not the correct way and it hurts people and he is himself until the very end because he is that character. he is a man that would live in the rule world and do this. he isn't the absurdist part. he is real. so i don't know if it was purposeful or not and i will keep grappling with this but there was conviction at least in the way that you could never (and if so, barely) understand him as a parent and husband.

it's strong in its absurdity, its satire, but ultimately its ever changing idea of humanity.

i'm also thinking about the lack of critique about the idea of motherhood and how intensely this relied on women, older actresses, to make such poignancy. without them this show would be nothing. but the pitfalls of all the things that people suffer with in society include what a mother is supposed to do, to feel, to act and sound like. the devotion especially in asian cultures. there's tragedy in being a mother, there's a lack of time and space, there is COMPLETE devotion to your children because of societal expectations v. your own desires and there is immense pressure. the show doesn't have a clear cut answer and for that i am glad because who are we as women, as mothers, supposed to be? are you truly living? that question and thought is something that has a lot of weight to a mother who is present (in a het rship) with a family and a husband...are they living?

desperately wish he died tbh. it's kind of upsetting to see people like him or find him funny. i hope no one knows the pain, but my upbringing was similar and it was horrendous. he is an abuser to her and his children. for what it was as an ending, i liked the wrap up because it's this absurd turn around in a way so that was fine. but he is a character i think that should not be loved and that was not their intention. he was himself TO THE VERY END.

honestly if you can keep going or start stranger again i recommend it. out of that year i think it was one of the best dramas/tv shows. it's a very very tight story with a really clever way of storytelling. the acting is subtle but incredible. and like with sky castle, i've held on to it and it has effected me. it's something i rewatch plenty to pick up things that i didn't know. the show is really a shock to the system (it's not that stimulating, it's just different.)

i think it was a perfect ending to an amazing and brilliant show. it was complex and i managed to not hate a single character (but prof cha.) i'm not sure how much i would change if anything. but one thing i do know is this: that ending was spot on. the show is a satire/satirical comedy. it's also a warning. in this that means they are portraying real or exaggerated ideas of practices that humans go through. the crazy stuff that's larger than life? sure, we don't know it. but the pain and the pressure? a lot of us have gone through that. a lot of us have families just like the chas. and a lot of us resent it.

the ideas conveyed; motherhood, abuse, capital, classism, and elitism. the manipulation of kids and the way we can destroy people's psyches by pushing them to a limit. the only end to this dark fairytale would be something equally over the top for the. something unrealistic but reflecting and something still haunting that won't stop until we collectively help to change and support a society of incredibly different but worthy people no matter who they are and where they come from. the story's not over, it just continues...let's see if the past can change the future.

the show did exactly what it set out to do incredibly effectively and this is an incredibly poignant drama that will stay with me for a long, long time.

a question i pose to you: do you believe that seunghye and her children were abused by her husband? if not, that's exactly why you wrote this.