Top 5
Entertainment Industry Romances
One of K-Drama’s favourite scenarios has to be the entertainment industry. Most often set as a rom-com, dramas that take place in the entertainment industry are usually full of sharp wit and tongue-in-cheek humour. As the writers themselves are pretty deeply ingrained in the entertainment world, these dramas can be pretty rich in detail, and give us outsiders a bit of a peek into the world of glitz and glamour and scandals. Of course, they can also be completely unlike reality, but that’s almost the point- anything could be going on behind the scenes.
5: Dream High
‘Dream High’ is more like Entertainment High School rather than straight up Entertainment Industry, but it’s along a similar vein. Rather than focusing on characters that have already made it big in the entertainment world, this drama follows the lives of a bunch of young kids working to get there- much like an origins story. It depicts the cut-throat world of those trying to become stars, and just how many hoops you have to jump through until you can start choosing your own hoops. Each of the kids has a different struggle, and each story is filled with heart and laced with humour. The cast are all brilliant, most of them being successful idols themselves, and deliver endearing characters. The romance is admittedly rather light, but it's there in a sweet, high school, first-love kind of way. The love-triangle is super convincing, and it’s hard to pick which guy will win the girl’s heart. In the meantime, IU and Wooyoung have an adorable secondary love-line that will keep you satisfied until the main love-line kicks in.
There’s so much else going on in this drama that it can often be easy to overlook that one half of our killer romance is actually a super famous top actress. While creepy murderers and alien shenanigans are definitely more in-your-face than the entertainment industry, our heroine being a top actress is actually what drives much of the plot. Our heroine is an actress that has fallen out of favour due to scandals and has to claw her way back to the top- of course she also has the help of her mystical alien Do Manager. The romance is absolutely on fire, and having one of the leads as a famous actress gives the romance the usual hiccups- can’t be seen being romantic in public, hero gets to swoop in and save the day when anti-fans try and spoil everything etcetera, etcetera.
When you think ‘entertainment industry’ you usually go straight to actor and idols, but ‘Producers’ takes a nice little look in on those that work behind the scenes and the different stories they have to tell. The drama is shot in a deeply funny mocumentary style, and is enhanced with tasteful cameos of famous actors and singers portraying themselves. Again, this is one of the dramas with better crossed love-lines as it’s never clear who’s going to end up with who. Our main characters are mostly PDs, and show us what kind of work goes in behind the scenes of our favourite music and variety shows. The drama has the typical entertainment hierarchy with the entertainment companies on top, PDs and behind the scenes workers down the bottom, and the ever-changing fanbase holding a hell of a lot of power.
2: You’re Beautiful
Everything about this drama is entertainment industry. The main characters are a bunch of boys (and one cross-dressing girl) that are part of a hit boy-band. Of course, scandals are the big issue in this drama with most of the tension coming from the fear of the members being found out (both because one's cross-dressing and also because they are maybe sort of dating each other). Our hero is absolutely delightful as a completely stuck-up star, and it’s endlessly fun to see his softer side start to show once he started to actually feel things. The soundtrack is particularly good, and the whole show is totally caught up in the magic and mayhem of Korea’s entertainment world.
Of all the K-Dramas I’ve seen, ‘Greatest Love’ probably explores the entertainment industry in the most depth. It goes a step further than a drama that simply shows the hierarchy, and shows the hierarchy within the hierarchy. Not all actors are the same level, and ‘Greatest Love’ depicts this by having each half of the romance come from completely different levels. Our hero is an A-Grade actor at the peak of his career and our heroine is a has-been idol who hasn’t done anything decent in years. While work flows naturally to the hero, the heroine has to fight hard for every appearance and every shred of work. The drama focuses heavily on the opinion of the public and how it can either make or break someone’s career, regardless of what the truth behind the scandal actually is. The romance is extremely addictive, and hits most of the entertainment-industry-romance-complication bumps in a fresh, funny, and heart-tugging way.
 |
| What are your favourite Entertainment Industry romances? |
No comments:
Post a Comment