"Itaewon" breaks South Korean taboos and resonates! Park Seojun’s prototype is the cartoonist himself

reporter Wu Mengting / Comprehensive report

Korean drama "Itaewon Class" is about to enter its finale this week. Not only has it set off the trend of Park Seojun's "chestnut head", related characters in the drama have also been heatedly discussed, but there are also many opinions that the plot is good. , Don't know where is the good-looking point? In fact, the male protagonist is a microcosm of the painter himself, and even the heroine's name is taken from his daughter, and "Itaewon" is even more resonant with young people because of breaking the South Korean values!

"Itaewon Class" will end this week. (Photo/Retrieved from JTBC)

"Itaewon" Park Shilu was dropped out on the first day she was transferred to Wu Soo-a in high school. The Gwangjin High School in the manga is actually the name of a manga artist. The artist "Guangjin" whose real name is "Zhao Guangjin" began to serialize the web comic "Itaewon Class" in 2017. He revealed many behind-the-scenes stories in an interview with the media after the comic series in 2018.

Gwangjin said that reading the Japanese manga "Slam Dunk" in middle school inspired his dream of a manga artist, and made him want to pass on the passion of the work to readers. "Itaewon" is his second work. At that time, I chose the theme of "Tavern" because I had worked in a pub to earn tuition during my college years. Even when my wife went to a nightclub for the first time, the woman took the initiative to come to his table to meet him. At that time, the other party had short hair. He wanted to paint but found that there were not too many works with similar backgrounds, thinking it was a new blue ocean.

Park Seojun’s life beliefs are related to the painter’s mother. (Photo/Retrieved from JTBC)

and the protagonist Park Shilu is more like his incarnation. Not only does his own self-portrait appear in the shape of a chestnut head, "to live with faith" is the family motto passed down to him by his mother, " When I was young, my mother was hurt many times because she lived according to her own beliefs. Even if she was handsome, it was very hard work.” He clarified that his personality is not like a male protagonist, but because he can't do this, he hopes to draw his ideal self through the character.

In addition, at the time of the interview, it was known that the comics would be made into a TV series. Gwangjin’s ideal actor candidates include Yoo A-in and Woo Zhuo-hwan. He also said that Park Se-ro actually referred to the famous Korean food entrepreneur "Bai Chun-won" in his youth. Park Shilu’s name is 3 characters in Chinese, but 4 characters in Korean (박새로이). It comes from the manager of his pub.

Guangjin’s self-portrait has always been a chestnut head. (Photo/Retrieved from Instagram)

As for the heroine Zhao Yirui, his daughter’s name is also his favorite character. "The stale part of my comics is that she breaks away from the old framework." The setting as an anti-social personality is also to induce subsequent development events. And these famous scenes have become the biggest resonance of today's 20th and 30th generation young people.

Kim Domi’s name is actually taken from the cartoonist’s daughter. (Photo/Retrieved from JTBC)

He drew against differences in power, class, race or gender, sensitively touched on topics taboo in South Korea, and wrote classic lines: "My value does not need you to help me decide, my life Starting now, I will achieve the life I want!", "The growth of people with accurate goals is terrifying", "You don't need to convince others who you are", and the last verse of "The Stone", It's all the reason why people are excited.

The finale of the remaining two episodes has also attracted attention. It is understood that Guangjin also serves as a TV drama screenwriter because he wants to show the sensibility of the characters that cannot be expressed in the comics, and it may be more detailed in the TV drama. It implies that the ending of comics and TV series will be different.