응답하라 1988 ❤
I've been watching the third installment in the Reply 1988
series and I simply love and adore it so much. I will leave it to drama
recapper, girlfriday from Dramabeans, to sum up why the drama is receiving
copious amounts of love and support from a significant portion of its domestic
audience and myself:
"1988 is truly an ensemble piece that focuses on family
first. The episodes are primarily about the love between parent and child,
siblings, or neighbors... 1988, in contrast, is about the warmth of a community
that shares its burdens and its joys with one another, and how they come to
form one large family. (And of course 1994 is a mix of both, by bringing a
group of outsiders together under one roof as they transition into adulthood.)
1988 is less about growing up in the eighties and more about growing up on one
street, though the nostalgia is in the fact that communities like that just
don’t exist anymore. At the center of that is the truly enviable friendship
between three ajummas, who trust each other with their hardships and share what
little they have. And in a dramaland where it’s becoming increasingly difficult
to meet anyone in the middle class, it’s always refreshing to get a slice of
the normal pie. I love how true to life and homey the depiction of everyday
life is on this street: The moms share food as an extension of their love, and
their warmth quite literally gets passed down to the next generation. Proximity
is all it takes, but that’s often all it really takes for lifelong friendships
to form in real life."
The Kim Family
There is so much to be learnt (from the drama) about family,
friendship, love (in all forms and types), community and really, about people
in general. I was especially heartened to see that the writers devoted an
episode each to the mothers and fathers of the show.. and gave these
oft-neglected characters their own stories and character development, going
beyond the typical portrayal of them as someone's parent and nothing more. When
we're growing up and preoccupied (for some, self-indulgent even) with self-discovery
and finding our way in life, it is sometimes too easy to forget that apart from
their roles as parents, parents too are someone's precious son or daughter,
someone's beloved grandchild, someone's sibling (and the list goes on) and if
we cast even all that aside, they are individuals - just like you and me - with
similar dreams, aspirations and ambitions. They are as human as we are, as
vulnerable as the people they seek to protect (strong as they may seem) and as
fallible and flawed as everyone else. No one is born to be a parent and the sad
truth (that many of us may struggle to accept) is that some people will simply
never truly step up to the challenge and learn how to be a good, responsible
parent to their children. It is a depressing reality, more so for their
children, but that's just how it is. We may not find the strength to accept
such a reality but the very least we could do (as children) is to step into
their shoes and try seeing the world from their perspectives. In this sense,
Reply 1988 is a timely and poignant reminder for children/youths, in their
transition to adults, to grow out of the burdensome and sometimes irksome sense
of entitlement they feel they have and understand what it really means to love
and respect their parents. Oh, and did I mention that the casting for the
parents were perfect? They shone so warmly and brightly, I think they're going
to stay in the hearts of many for a long while to come.
"Dads don’t automatically become dads the moment you’re
born because it was my first time being a dad" - Sung Dong Il
"When true love manifests, it doesn’t allow one to be
concerned over one’s pride and causes one to cast it aside. That is why mothers
are strong." - Sung Bo Ra
It helps that I enjoy shows set in the 80s and 90s very,
very much - boy, I'm totally diggin the 80s fashion - because of the nostalgia
and longing for certain things long past our time and generation..
A time without cellphones and computers but an age filled
with friendship and love.
I've been recommending the drama left, right and centre but
sadly, it appears that no one's interested in joining me on the Reply train :(
which is a huge bummer.. and real disappointing to be honest (sigh). I'm only
recommending it because it's so ridiculously goooood and well, good things have
to be shared (hahah someone should have seen me when I was recommending
"Our Times" to my junior college friends - I was so excited and all).
I've been receiving such warm and positive feelings from the drama and I really
believe that it's something worth sharing with the people who matter to me
because everyone should get a slice of this pie of happiness! ^^ Watching it
would also help draw us closer because the drama suddenly transforms into a
collective experience where we reflect on ourselves, our passing youths and our
lives together. Alas, no one has taken me up on the offer.
Part of the reason why I think I was so happy in Seoul is because I was surrounded by people who understood, appreciated and loved the Korean culture, be it the language, food, music, country etc. It is so, so important to have people who enjoy the same things as oneself, to engage in those activities together, to share the same feelings because this is when one truly feels alive. Back here, it's been a solo adventure thus far and a pretty lonely one at that. What good is it to have all the fantastic dramas, songs, movies etc in the world when one has no one to share it with? Imagine being a football fan in a family which knows zilch about ball sports, or an aspiring hiphop rapper in a family which looks down on that genre of music - it's not going to be of much fun.
Would anyone like to hop on the Reply train?
Dongryung, Jungpal, Deoksun, Sunwoo, Taekki
"I could not return to my youth or that street
either. Time always flows. Everything passes by and ages. That might be why
youth is beautiful. Because it shines, blindingly bright at a brilliant short
moment. But you can never go back (to it). A time when many tears was shed –
like my youth." - Deok Sun
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