The waning of romantic love and the rise of love as community : because this is my first life and Melo is my nature

Abstract

In recent Korean television dramas, romantic relationships that could have been described by words such as ‘intimate’, ‘pure’ and ‘unconditional’ love are disappearing. Contemporary discourses expose the sense of crisis felt by the young generation as evidenced in such symbolic propositions as ‘passion pay’(a pejorative on unpaid labour experienced by young people), ‘sujeo(spoon) class theory’(class division between those born with a silver spoon and those who are not), ‘Sampo Generation’(a generation bereft of love, marriage and children), and ‘Npo Generation’(a generation without dream or desire), terms arising from the advent of the neo-liberal economy. Reflecting on these changes, television dramas present generational portraits in which love itself is regarded as a form of emotional labour and therefore does not constitute a prerequisite for rites of passage in life any more. This article addresses the waning of romantic love and the rise of love as community represented in television dramas. <Because This Is My First Life> (tvN) and <Melo Is My Nature> (JTBC) merit particular attention. As romance dramas of young people’s lives prioritising individualism and economic stability over romantic relationship, they present a set of valid texts that reveal how love pulls towards a sense of community given the current generation's disillusion with the ever rejected or impossible ideal of romantic love. The two dramas represent love in a meaningful way that sees coupledom as a unit of community maintaining communication and solidarity between two other people. In addition, love and romance is embraced and incorporated into the concept of a wider community that transcends individual intimacy. If we attempt to read the medium of drama at once as a product of the times resonating with the public’s inclination and anxieties and as a cultural device instigating their desires and pursuits, these two dramas consequently posit love in terms of a community unit and in so doing explores whether it is possible to seek love and romance within the context of wider community.