Sky Castle or SKY 캐슬 is a South Korean Drama that focuses on the politics and interpersonal relations between several families that live at a luxury neighborhood aptly named Sky Castle. Each parent wants their children to succeed at life and improve their standing and reputation at any costs. The neighborhood is one that is limited even among the higher class citizens and wealth itself is not sufficient to join their ranks. The drama explores how South Korean culture glorifies wealth and encourages cutthroat behavior among the youth in education. I currently have only watched the 1st episode but the drama grasped my attention at nearly every moment. But not every person in the show revolves their life around this wealth/politics; some of the younger kids have shown their discontent with the status quo and have considered running away to escape this overbearing lifestyle. On the contrary, some kids have been shaped by this environment so much that they really do believe in the traditional definitions of success that the parents and the community emanate. This disparity between the young opinions is a reflection of greater conflict in South Korean society. Although this is just a drama, the situations that it depicts are actually reality for many Korean students. Their lives are determined by the education that they receive and the connections they have. Perhaps because of this societal pressure, South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. In the show, parents try to get their kids into Seoul National University, the best university in the country. Although they themselves are wealthy professors and doctors, they also have expectations to raise a family that is successful through numerous generations. We see in the first episode how these unrealistic expectations go back to even before their marriages and creates a tumultuous relationship to watch. Their materialistic mindsets contrast with the people who live out more simple lives albeit less comfortable financially. The drama briefly touches on this satirical nature of the neighborhood in that one of the housewives is confused that someone outside of their community is unwilling to communicate with them despite the assumed benefits of such connections.
I am looking forward to seeing where Sky Castle goes plot wise since the first episode was left on quite the cliffhanger. Additionally my expectations for this drama are quite high because it was recommended by many other people and it is the second highest rated Korean drama in cable television history. As a result of its commercial success, Sky Castle is the recipient of many awards ranging from Best Director to Best Drama Series. Sky Castle is currently a drama that I am watching with my learning partners so that we can dissect the drama and see what parts of relevant and reflective of South Korean culture. I will try to avoid spoilers and justly will not reveal anything significant in this review but I would suggest anyone who is studying Korean or just interested to check out Sky Castle.
Comments
Sky Castle does an amazing job in representing on what the Korean students are struggling in society today. To meet the expectations of society there are a lot of pressure and burden set upon teenagers. Back in the history when Korea became independent from Japan we were suffering from poverty. I think one way we were able to become the 12th largest economy in 60 years is because we educated our people. But now that we have developed our country we need to start focusing on other parts of society but society is still obsessed with gaining high education or getting a higher position.