Run-On & Kdramas: The Found or Chosen Family

Tonight while finishing a kdrama, I noticed that there is a theme that I'm very much drawn to. It is better than the romance. It's better than bromance. It's better than everything else. And I think I know why.

Run-On: Watching the Last Episode

I've seen many "rich kid normalized by hanging out with regular people" kdramas, but Run-On has been a little different. With a politician father (who is a huge dick, just saying) and actress mother, it was acknowledged early on that the ML was basically just left alone all the time.

He was used to doing what his parents wanted. His mother referred to him as "mild-tempered" because he never caused a fuss no matter how demanding they were. It seemed that he had no really close friends because he wouldn't let them in.

Run-On: Not Quite a Spoiler

I love it when a drama sneaks in the "chosen family". Many people and subcultures (including LGBTQ) create their own families. Perhaps because I have no friends, I find it interesting to bond with people to this degree. I moved away from everyone I'd ever known at age 18. After that, I had many friends who I partied with, but I never considered them close friends. One day, I decided to grow up, and I cut ties with all of them.

Now, I have no friends really. I have an "infectious energy/excitement" that people are drawn to, but when it comes down to it, I push people away. I think it's mostly because my husband is super private and anxious around people, while my son is autistic and has no use for people. I just... have no one else around me, and when they try, I pull back in a major way.

But I truly love watching this in kdramas. The lonely character who finds a family through friends and acquaintances who won't let them be alone. I find it endearing as hell. And really, if I ever find myself alone, I imagine I would find something similar. There are always people who fall in love easily... and I think there are people who fall in family easily too.

At any rate, while I haven't finished the drama (30 minutes left or something), I wanted to jot down my thoughts. I have felt this way many times while watching kdramas, and I have to say that it's one of my favorite themes. Maybe I secretly feel lonely, despite having no real interest in hanging out with even the people I know and like. Regardless, I like it very much.

Korean

I went over several previous lessons today to make sure I had them down and learned some more vocab. I'm up to an official 780 words or something, so just over 1000 in total I'd guess.

파이팅!