KJCKorea
Journal Central

Amongst all television genres, melodramas are the most formulaic. Dramas dealing with extramarital affairs have followed the traditional genre codes, and followed the conventions and codes supporting the patriarchal social system. However, this year’s <Secret Love Affair> by JTBC challenged conventional customs with a bold subject matter - love and deep connection between a married 40 year old career woman and a 20 year old musical genius. This code breaking approach in the drama has been a success, both in popularity and in literary value. Traditionally, melodramas have the female as an object of men’s desire, but this drama focuses on the female as the subject of desire, and as the narrator. The heroine’s desires for true love through an innocent young teen is projected into desire for her past and forgotten dreams, and her journey to fulfill her dreams becomes the basis of the narrative. This drama also breaks from the tradition of representing extramarital affairs in the context of society’s absolute values, ‘family’ and ‘motherhood’. Specifically, the conclusion departs from the traditional ending based on the patriarchal ideology where the family is restored and female hopes are chastised, instead, the heroine finally fulfills her true love, and through that love, she finds her previously lost self and value of life. This type of code-breaking is only possible when the producers have a firm conviction that such new attempts will be socially and culturally acceptable. Therefore the study of traditionally convention following dramas is significant in not only that it provides the opportunity to further academic discussions regarding changes in genre conventions of melodramas, but also in that it is possible to track and study the changes in the Korean social and cultural environment where such attempts are now possible.

code-breaking, convention, extramarital affair, melodrama, representation