K-Drama

Lawyer Lee Jong-seok from “Big Mouse” appears, why are there so many lawyer dramas these days?

Another strange lawyer appeared following Woo Young-woo. “Big Mouse” is attracting viewers with a completely different storyline from Woo Young-woo.

Big Mouth” begins when Park Chang-ho, a third-rate lawyer with a winning rate of only 10%, enters the prison after being falsely accused of being “Big Mouth” a genius conman. The drama depicts the process of Park Chang-ho becoming the real “Big Mouth” in a world marred by conspiracies.

“Big Mouth” is gaining popularity as it surpassed 6.1% nationwide as of the 2nd episode. Along with ENA’s “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” which is currently airing, some say that it may mark another milestone in the law drama genre.

Here comes the question. Why are there so many lawyer dramas these days? The recently aired dramas such as “Beautiful Now,” “The Secret House,” “Why Her?” “Doctor Lawyer,” “Law Cafe” and “The 1,000-won Lawyer,” all featured lawyers.

Lawyer dramas aren’t only popular these days. The first lawyer drama is known to be MBC’s ‘Hong Lawyer’ in 1980. In 2013, the movie “The Attorney” surpassed 10 million viewers, after which court materials featuring righteous lawyers began to pour in in earnest. 

Why are lawyer dramas rebounding back to become popular? The reason may be that it depicts the legal field that is not easily accessible to ordinary viewers, and the exhilaration felt in the process of implementing justice through pleading and advocating in court.

Another reason lies in the nature of the profession called lawyer. Lawyers can be jobs that defend those who are falsely accused, but on the contrary, they are in a gray zone of good and evil as they may defend criminals who are naturally guilty. That’s why when a lawyer is the main character, they are an image of fighting for justice, but when a prosecutor is the main character, the lawyer pretends not to know any justice.

Each country’s image of lawyers also varies depending on that country’s history. In the case of the United States, the image of a lawyer is so poor that there is a joke that goes, “There is no lawyer in heaven, who will defend you when we will all go to hell?”

First of all, the U.S. not only has so many court battles that it is called the country of litigation, but the Watergate scandal, the largest political scandal in the U.S. from 1972 to 1974, is still fresh in many people’s memories. In this case, the lawyer was on the side of the vested interest and was embedded with the image of covering for wrongdoing, fostering public distrust. At that time, legal self-development books that help people solve problems without a lawyer were popular in the United States. This is why in American dramas, lawyers often appear as great villains.

On the other hand, what about South Korea? Unlike the United States, in Korean modern history, lawyers often defended the weak when dictatorship and public power were very strong, which is why their image is still a very positive one.

Instead, the prosecutor on the other side is often portrayed as an evil figure with absolute power in movies and dramas. In recent years, prosecutors, lawyers, and works that break the traditional structure of good and evil have emerged through different characters with various stories. This is similar to Japan, which has a similar justice system to Korea. In Japan, lawyer dramas containing lessons on justice such as “Legal High” and “Hero” have been very popular.

Source: wikitree

Back to top button