No Suits But K-Heroes Stand Out

Calls for urgent calls for help can be heard on the radio. Several police cars run with loud sirens, but the report is far away. A masked hero appears just in time, cutting through the sky. With superhuman ability, he knocks out the bad guy in a heartbeat.

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It's a cliché seen in many heroes. Heroes wear cool suits that stick to their lean bodies, and humans do things they can't do. The hero agonizes about his existence and position but eventually moves for the cause.

Korean heroes are a little different. Gil Joong-gan, a grandmother in her 60s who was a big hand in the meat industry in Majang-dong, Jang Joo-won, a chicken restaurant owner who sighs because she doesn't have money to buy her daughter's school uniform, and Choo Mae-ok, a chef with a gray-haired noodle restaurant owner, are all 'ordinary neighbors'.

Friendly and 'human-smelling' K-heroes are appearing one after another.

JTBC's new drama "Strong Girl Nam-soon" which began its first broadcast on the 7th, features three generations of mother and daughter heroes who are born with enormous powers.

Gil Joong-gan (Kim Hae-sook), who is the captain of three generations of mother and daughter, is called the 'heavenly butcher woman' who took over Majang-dong with a cow on her left shoulder and a pig on her right shoulder. Now that she has earned enough, she has retired and drives a Lamborghini open car, but she is a strangely affectionate character.

She speaks in the flow of consciousness, has a unique sense of humor, and even flirts. She is strong and has a lot of money, but she doesn't feel distant.

Kim Hae-sook said at the production presentation, "Heroes have been mainly stories of other countries and young men, but in our work, an old woman in her 60s is a hero".

On the surface, "Strong Girl Nam-soon" depicts the process of three generations of mothers and daughters digging into the reality of new drug crimes centered on Gangnam, but in fact, "Strong Girl Nam-soon" is a work focused on family love.

Director Kim Jung-sik-I, who is in charge of directing, said, "Unlike "Strong Woman Do Bong-soon", all ages unite to overcome the crisis this time", adding, "It contains affectionate family love to find the lost daughter Gang Nam-soon again in Mongolia, and also contains love stories of the 20s, the middle and old-aged".

 

The main characters of Disney+'s "Moving", which advocates a Korean-style superhero movie, are also ordinary citizens.

Parents who work as chicken restaurant owners, bus drivers, and local supermarket owners, hide their superpowers and become heroes to protect their children, and their children wake up their potential abilities to protect their parents.

The heroes in the work fight for their precious families rather than for the cause of saving the world. It shows through various characters that not all heroes are wonderful, nor do they always have it easy in life.

"Moving", which contains our reality and emotions, was well received overseas as a fresh charm.

Rolling Stone, an American entertainment magazine, praised ""Moving" is currently the best superhero series on TV", saying, "It's better than any other story made by American superheroes in the last few years".

Rolling Stone said the advantage of "Moving" is in its storytelling, adding, "This work is completely composed of Korean stories of sacrifice and hero narratives".

Forbes also praised, "It has stories with appealing emotional narratives and neat actions continue to stimulate interest".

 

tvN's "The Uncanny Counter Season 2: Counter Punch" which ended last month, is also a work featuring 'life-friendly heroes'.

"Counters" with different superpowers, such as So-moon (Cho Byeong-kyu), 'clumsy' detective Ga Mo-tak (Yu Jun-sang), poor emotional expression Do Ha-na (Kim Sejeong), and Choo Mae-ok (Yeom Hye-ran), who heal their colleagues with a warm charm, wear red training suits instead of cool suits to defeat evil spirits.

The appearance of 'Korean-style heroes' was not that long ago. The limit of production cost was clear to show surreal action like Hollywood heroes. However, with the recent evolution of production technology, heroes who were active in webtoons and web novels are also moving to dramas.

Kim Kyo-sik, a pop culture critic, said, "The development of focusing more on daily life and family than on a huge cause and discovering and protecting the precious things around us is a genre formula of Korean-style heroes", adding, "It shows a different charm from Marvel heroes who realize justice and protect Earth or space".