Rich people: why that shitty attitude?

Here’s a new category full of…observations! High five to me to have come with a stupid introduction like this one. But I’m a bit tired so that’s my mind could have found.

You can’t call yourself a dramas’ fan without having general comments or observations. I mean, surely there must some things that make you react (in a good or bad way). I refuse to believe that you’re emotionless. Wait! Damn dramas are full of people like that so maybe, somehow you could also be emotionless and…noooo. No way!

I will write about some of my own observations here. Feel free to share yours of course.

 First observation that comes more like a question: Are all the rich people in South Korea profound assholes, treating others like deep shit and joyful walking on them just for the fun? Is that the reality of the country or it’s an not, so subtitle extrapolation? One would tell me that if the bad guys in a drama are not despicable bastards, you don’t really enjoy hating them. You have one point. But I try to find an answer to my own thorny question.

I truly believe (I happen to have strong beliefs sometimes) that once your scenario is good, the premise strong and attractive enough and you know where you're taking your drama there’s no need to overemphasize the rich people’s bad traits. Is that the only way to have sympathy for the hero? If the latter’s fighting for his rights, for justice, to get revenge, the universe doesn’t necessarily have to play all kind of dirty tricks on him. A hero who has to pass countless walls to reach his goal can, of course, help to cheer for him but c’mon in most cases, all you feel is the screenwriter(s) trying to force you to have empathy. And once that sympathy’s forced, it leads to the opposite reaction. Take The Chaser for an example.

 

The hero Baek Hong Suk (Son Hyun Joo) lost his 15-year-old daughter in a hit and run accident and his wife died from shock shortly afterwards. He then starts to search for the truth only to found that that Kang Dong Yoon (Kim Sang Joong), a presidential candidate for the upcoming elections could be involved not only in the death of his daughter but as well in a large corruption case. The scenario was clearly the ultimate force of the drama. Well written (and well played), detailed, solid, meticulous in many aspects with a lot of references, I was honestly hang onto character’s every word all the time. The only thing is that I was hanging onto the officially designed bad guy, Kang Dong Yoon (even if to be sincere that thin line between the good and the bad wasn’t clearly defined). It wasn’t really hard to fond for Kim Sang Joong. That ahjussi has a crazy charisma that can make Antarctic melt!

Anyway, as said, the scenario was a real piece of art, but then all the craps in the world kept coming the hero’s way. He had to battle against a potential future president who was devilishly genius, a family as powerful as an independent country with at his head a deceitful and Machiavellian grandpa (Park Geun Hyung) who wasn’t ready to just be a nice grandpa. That’s already a lot. The hero’s battle wasn’t only noble but clearly justified so why drama brings other complications (betrayals and crazy difficulties) along the way? That seriously weighted the whole thing and instead of pitting the hero I was a bit (alright a lot) pissed by all that. I ended up being less concerned by the hero’s fate than the verbal ping-pong matches between Kim Sang Joong and his father-in-law (pure moments of pleasure for those who like sharp scenarios). But well I guess when you have a heavy premise like this one you’re somehow forced to come with all the misery in the world for the hero to validate that.  

Ok back to the rich people and their shitty attitude. That extrapolation (because I think that’s what it is in the end) really hits me like a slap in the face in the drama I recently completed, You’re All Surrounded (a review of the drama is on its way). The grandpa (another one who wasn’t ready to just be a nice and sweet grandpa), Yoo Moon Baek, played by Jeong Dong-Hwan and his daughter Yoo Ae-Yeon portraited by Moon Hee Kyung, were so ridiculously evil that I’m pretty sure the screenwriter was probably smiling writing her lines. I really liked the drama don’t get me wrong but please someone throw me a glass of cold water and while I’m still shaking explain me clearly how can somebody be so stupidly bad and haughty. I need at least that kind of state of mind to be able to assimilate the logic behind these manners otherwise it’s impossible for me. 

You make someone sign an agreement to be able to hit him/her freely? (You’re All Surrounded). You must be either nutter or annihilated from any human feelings. (I root for the latter in this case). Somehow it all hangs together since that ‘thug-daughter’, Yoo Ae-Yeon in the drama, was emotionless regarding everything and everyone. But she’s not entirely to blame. At some point I think she used to know the sense of the word emotions. But then that super-hyper spoiled daughter was ‘betrayed’ (big big quotes here) by the husband she imposed to her parents and who never sincerely loved her. I guess the shock was way too much for her to endure. The problem with Yoo Ae-Yeon is that she’s been so spoiled since her childhood that she absolutely can’t endure anything. Even the smallest thing. It’s done her way or just go to hell! 

So after that betrayal, some serious connections in her head burnt completely and she blew a fuse (that happened to her at least every episode). She’s only a betrayed woman and God knows how dangerous they can be. She took what that betrayal took away from her: dignity. Alright I have to precise that I absolutely don’t believe in my own theory! Yoo Ae-Yeon was just a bitch in this drama! An absolute freaking rich, spoiled character with the worst shitty attitude in the world. That’s it. You just wanted to slap her to bring some human sense into her. I mean it’s easy to be human when you try. Start by smiling more often Yoo Ae-Yeon. Not the kind of smile you had in You’re All Surrounded. You know when someone was down low or at your feet. 

Throughout the drama we can see that she’s indeed, spoiled, hateful, violent and never feels any sense of culpability, but it’s also true that the betrayal of her husband marked her. Still I can’t really say that she had true motives for being mean. She was mean. Ok, great. But for which reason? Only because she was just rich? Easy. She’s always seen her father having her back no matter the circumstances.Therefore she lost the meaning of everything and merrily cross the fragile line between the good and the bad. Her background could be start of an explanation: she’s been mean and vile from the get go. At least it’s something because what I really hate is those villains who don’t really have concrete motives. Tell me you want to conquer the world, you want to be president of the nation, you’re born poor and want to be a chaebol without any sweat or you just want easy money, tell me you want to take revenge, some buddy stole your girl. Tell me something I can manage to understand or at least that will make me nod my head even if I still have doubts. Just don’t come with the stupidest excuse in the world (E.g 49 Days : I’m still not able to understand the real motives behind Shin In-Jung (Seo Ji Hye).

Honeslty. I tried to understand, I nodded my head but the doubts won on me. If someone feels like explain it to me, I wouldn’t mind at all.) When you’re mean without coherent (as much as being mean can be coherent in this world) you’re already in the domain of desperation and you’re taking the watchers, with you. So stop it and come with something that makes sense.

 

All that brings me to one conclusion: rich characters are just, well how can I say that, a good opportunity for the screenwriters. That's it! They make them do crazy things (the craziest I you ask me), the most despicable ones and it’s credible because they’re rich and it’s well known rich people don’t have limits. At least no one impose them limits. Again that reminds me of the bag scene in You’re All Surrounded. Where are your limits ajumma? You can’t hit people like that. But well you’re rich so I think it’s ok for you to do that. What makes us hate the bad guys is always welcome right? There’s no real answer to my tricky question. That how it is. You’re rich and hateful that’s the perfect combination, a winning one. Plus rich people have the funds, the connections, the power to be meaner and therefore even more hated. You can’t ask for me. That’s how you kill two birds with one stone.