tvN’s drama “The Midnight Romance in Hagwon”, which aired the first episode on May 11th, faced negative reactions from the start. In particular, the scene where start instructor Seo Hye-jin (Jung Ryeo-won) personally visited a high school and requested a retest in episode 1 was controversial. In this scene, Seo Hye-jin points out, “I know the reason the questions are like this. They’re old. These questions are no longer asked in the CSAT”, and the school decides to make the student retake the test.
In response, a union of secondary school teachers came forward and expressed regrets. They stated, “The content undermines the morale of teachers who are tasked with teaching and guiding the new generations to grow in public education and can create a distorted view of the Korean public educational system among not only Korean people who watch the dramas but also global viewers”.
They also criticized the provocative titles for promotional videos of the drama online. The union said, “The drama has lowered the morale of people working for public education just before Teachers’ Day”, adding “The depiction of the conflict between the female lead, who is a teacher, and the male character, which involved physical forces, can provide a dichotomous perspective to viewers.”
In response to the secondary school teachers’ union, the production company of “The Midnight Romance in Hagwon” said, “As a drama production company, we are responsible for the criticism pointing out that the content of the drama could lower the morale of people working in the public education field and convey distorted perceptions of Korean public education to viewers. In addition, we have looked through the content and meaning of this drama”.
They continued, “We already deleted promotional content on SNS with inappropriate titles and we promise to be more careful not to cause any concerns to teachers in the future”, adding “The production team will remember the criticism and feedback from the teachers and try to enhance our production”.
After receiving the response from the drama’s production company, the union of secondary school teachers said, “It is true that this incident hurt many teachers who are trying to protect the essence of public education”, adding “We hope that the production team will reflect their promise of ‘taking this as an opportunity to be more responsible’ in your future dramas”.
This controversy ended, but another issue arose after “The Midnight Romance in Hagwon” aired episode 4 on May 19th. On this broadcast, Seo Hye-jin was seen drinking with Nam Chung-mi (So Joo-yeon) and driving after finishing the lecture practice with Lee Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon). The fact that the character drinks and drives by herself resulted in another backlash.
In this regard, “The Midnight Romance in Hagwon” team said on the 21st, “We immediately recognized the problem after the broadcast and will delete the scene in the VOD and rerun version”, adding “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by our inconsideration and we will pay more attention to the quality of the content”.
As “The Midnight Romance in Hagwon” faces negative issues one after another within the first two weeks of broadcast, it is doubtful whether the drama can overcome such a crisis and reverse the situation later on.
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