Reply 1988: The Warm Embrace of Memory

We are back after a two month break! And we’re celebrating by diving deep into the beloved drama Reply 1988. As always, there are MAJOR SPOILERS in this episode so if you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it and then come back and listen.

Here’s some recommended viewing and reading if you want to learn more about the events and social changes we discuss in this episode:

• Watch Youth of May for a depiction of 80s era Korean student protests
• Read "A Concise History of Modern Korea: From the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present" to learn more about recent history: https://amzn.to/3oiEiKl 
• This article describes South Korea’s transformation from one of the poorest countries in the world to today’s economic powerhouse: https://asiasociety.org/education/population-change-and-development-korea
• This paper describes changes in the South Korean diet from the 1970s to the present: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/71/1/44/4729146?login=true
  

Show Notes:

1:36: We discuss the dramas we watched over the summer:

• The Smile Has Left Your Eyes: Vickey, Alisa and Melanie all LOVE this underrated drama
• Hometown Cha Cha Cha: Vickey and Melanie are all in on the dimples
• When the Camellia Blooms: Everyone was surprised that Alisa, the Drop Queen, loved this, but Kang Ha Neul won her over
• Arang and the Magistrate: the other Shin Min A drama! 
• Into the Ring and City Hall: Katherine has a thing for small political stories 
• DP: features two Reply 1988 actors in a very dark social critique drama
  
  

9:23: Start of Reply 1988 discussion.

10:36: Vickey and Melanie have a fangirl freakout over their new fave, Ryu Jun-yeol.

11:50: The genesis of this episode: we started out wanting to talk about food in dramas and eventually landed on the social, economic and political history of The Republic of Korea over the past 40 years (really).

14:06: Alisa gives a very brief history lesson that illustrates the scope of the absolutely massive changes that Korea has undergone in a very short period of time. And all of that change is illustrated in one way or another in Reply 1988.

16:30: Melanie discusses the massive movement of population from rural areas to cities and how the parents in Reply 1988 have recreated their rural communities in the alley neighborhood in Seoul. Everyone shares food and resources and looks out for each other’s children.

19:20: Vickey discusses the enormous appeal of the drama: it made her cry because she grew up in Ghana in a similar community where the aunties were like second moms and all the kids played and ate together. The idea of family, friendship and love lost was deeply appealing to her. Mel and Katherine share similar stories.

25:19: Mel and Katherine discuss how the Reply 1988 parents were not very literate but their children attended Seoul National University. A huge and poignant change in one generation. Melanie also talks about the writer’s style. She is not someone who is plot driven but instead focuses on the specificity of the characters and their lives and making you wish you could be part of the community.

28:43: Alisa also grew up in a similar insular community but she doesn’