Jang Na-ra and Hwang Jung-eum failed at “non-marriage theme”… Will it be different for Park Min-young?
Actor Park Min-young will knock on the small screen with a rom-com about “non-marriage”.
The perception that marriage is not considered essential is spreading and establishing itself as a social trend, but non-marriage is a subject that has been struggling in terms of dramas. Jang Na-ra and Hwang Jung-eum suffered humiliating ratings for non-marriage-related dramas, so attention is focused on the triangular romance to be presented by “rom-com goddess” Park Min-young.
tvN’s Wednesday-Thursday drama “Love in Contract“, which will premiere on Sep 21st (today), is about the unusual job of a “single life helper” who becomes the spouse of single people needing partner to attend events such as couples’ gatherings and reunions.
Park Min-young’s role in the drama is Choi Sang-eun, a single life helper with thirteen years of career who has the perfect looks, abilities and charm.
Go Kyung-pyo (as Jung Ji-ho), a mysterious man who has a long-term exclusive contract with Sang-eun for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Kim Jae-young (as Kang Hae-jin), a chaebol family’s youngest son and a hallyu star who has a new contract with Sang-eun for Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, will shake her life.
Above all, the public’s anticipation for this work is growing as to what kind of appearance “rom-com goddess” Park Min-young will show. At the press conference, Park Min-young expressed her affection for the work, “The material was very fresh. This is my third rom-com, and I want to do better. I got greedy.” She predicted a new charm, “There are more things to look forward to, and I’m also challenging various slapsticks.”
However, the reality is that dramas about non-marriage did not do well. tvN’s “Oh My Baby” featured actress Jang Na-ra as Jang Ha-ri, who is in a race against time to have a child even if it means skipping marriage, but failed to gain sympathy. This is because the main characters end up living together rather than getting married although they realize true love. Some expressed discomfort, calling it a “childbirth-encouraging drama” and “disparagement of non-maritalism” in that it portrayed an unmarried woman in her 30s as a woman who gets hung up on childbirth. The ratings did not exceed the 1~2% range until the last episode.
KBS2’s “Men Are Men” also failed to deliver freshness due to the development that started from non-marriage then flowed into a typical rom-com. Hwang Jung-eum (as Seo Hyun-ju), who confidently declared that she would stay single while wearing a wedding dress in episode 1, was shaken helplessly by Seo Ji-hoon (as Park Do-gyeom) and Yoon Hyun-min (as Hwang Ji-woo). Here, non-marriage was used only as a device for romance.
“Love in Contract” is no different. Although non-marriage is advocated, it seems that it only acts as a device for contract marriage and more weight is placed on the triangular romance rather than carefully dealing with non-marriage. Amid sluggish ratings of Wed-Thu dramas “If You Wish Upon Me” and “Good Job”, attention is focused on whether Park Min-young will be able to create another successful rom-com without following non-marriage-related dramas’ failure and gain sympathy from viewers.
Source: Naver
