A new Chinese drama has been drowned in criticism for trying to copy the hit K-drama “Reply 1988”.
“Reply 1988” is considered a legendary series to K-drama fans, with extremely meaningful stories and heartfelt messages about friendship, familial love, youth and romance. Recently, a Chinese drama attempted to recreate this masterpiece, only to receive full ire from audiences.
In particular, “Our Days”, a recently aired Chinese drama, was accused of being a “blatant copy” of “Reply 1988”. Various similarities between the two series are pointed out by netizens, who call “Our Days” a plagiarized work.
Similar to “Reply 1988”, “Our Days” is set in the 1980s, and tells the stories of several families who rise in a neighborhood. The kids of each family are also close friends, making audiences can’t help but think about “Reply 1988” as well as the famous Chinese drama “A Lifelong Journey”.
After various plagiarism accusations, the screenwriter of “Our Days” admitted to being inspired by “Reply 1988”. In fact, the writer even revealed that “Our Days” was born from his ambitions of doing a Chinese version for “Reply 1988”. Whatever his intentions, the reaction towards “Our Days” and “Reply 1988” can’t be anymore different, with the former receiving a low ranking of 6.7 out of 10 on Douban, whilst the latter is considered a masterpiece.
Reviews of audiences regarding “Our Days” were also scathing, with many people complaining about the female lead, played by Li Xiaoran. Many netizens claimed that the actress looked too much like a young lady of a wealthy family, and so failed to convey her character, who was born to a normal, if not struggling household.
In addition, many scenes from “Our Days” fall flat, even making viewers question the characters. For example, despite its centric theme being familial love, “Our Days” condones various misbehaviors, from a husband swearing and shouting at his pregnant wife, a wife acting unreasonable right before giving birth, to other characters stealing, gossiping, and getting violence. Some audiences even expressed that they feel so frustrated watching the show, they dropped the drama before the main characters even grew up.
Source: Sohu
