If you have watched the recent dramas in which middle-aged love are mostly surrounded by infidelity, you will sympathize with Lee Jung-jae’s remarks.
Lee Jung-jae, who appeared on tvN’s entertainment program “Yoo Quiz on the Block” on January 12th, was asked about how it seems like it’s been a long time since Lee Jung-jae last appeared in a melodrama. He answered, “It’s a sad reality. When I was young, melodrama was something very beautiful, refreshing, and heartbreaking. (On the other hand), melodrama at my age is surrounded by love affair, harming someone to cover it up and being messy,” he said. Lee Jung-jae continued his conviction, saying, “I wonder if a melodrama of this age needs to develop like that.”
The reason why Lee Jung-jae said such a thing is immediately confirmed in the recent drama market.
Most actors in their 40s-50s are such as Eom Ki-joon (playing Joo Dan-tae), Kim So-yeon (playing Chun Seo-jin) of SBS “Penthouse”, Ko Hyun-jung (playing Jung Hee-joo) of JTBC’s “Reflection of You”, Kim Kang-woo (playing Jung Joon-hyuk) of JTBC’s “The Artificial City”, and Lee Sung-jae (playing Shin Myung-seop) of Channel A “Show Window: The Queen’s House” as well as Jeon Mi-do (playing Jung Chan-young) of JTBC’s “Thirty, Nine,” as Lee Jung-jae said, are playing roles where they commit an affair in the drama and harm and mess with someone to cover it up.
Why can’t middle-aged love be compassionate? The problem is the hit drama formula. The broadcasting industry has been trapped in the formula of “An affair = a successful hit drama” established by JTBC’s “How Long I’ve Kissed” and JTBC’s “The World of the Married” in the past, and has not been able to unravel the love of middle-aged people.
Of course, if you look at the explosive reactions to “Penthouse”, “Show Window: The Queen’s House”, and “Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce)”, you can fully understand why the broadcasting industry still loves infidelity drama.
However, the world of the melodrama genre that viewers can see now is often limited to infidelity. This not only makes attractive actors like Lee Jung-jae reach out to other genre dramas that are not melodrama, but also raises the fatigue of some viewers.
There are many actors other than Lee Jung-jae who want middle-aged and even older romance. Earlier, Ra Miran, Son Hyun-joo, Kim Eung-soo, Ko Doo-shim, and Yoon Mi-ra said they are still dreaming of acting in a melodrama. If this opportunity is given, wouldn’t it be time for a slightly different melodrama of people in their 40s-50s to emerge, breaking away from the formula of “middle-aged infidelity melodrama? It is obvious that there are many actors who are ready to challenge such a genre at any time. Let’s all look forward to a more challenging melodrama genre in the future.
