I have long thought and said that when people say “rom-coms” they are expecting not just a romance with a happy ending, but a romance with some funny elements. That is not generally what “rom-com” kdramas are–they are romances with a happy ending, sometimes with murders, ALWAYS with trauma or psychological distress of some type. In the last year I have seen only 4 rom-COMS–Business Proposal, Sh**ting Stars, Gaus Electronics, and the recent “Love to Hate You” which was still pretty heavy on trauma but had a great comic performance by Kim Ok-bin.
So I might slightly shift the question here–not why the murder subplot in rom-coms, but why so few straightforward rom-coms, with the emphasis on the comic? In fact, as a kdrama challenge, could anyone here list a so called rom-com that did NOT have some trauma, murder, mystery, intrigue, bullying, harrassment, etc. etc. Of the ones I list above, only Gaus Electronics was pretty harmless in that regard–even Business Proposal had the dying parents in the rain accident trauma.
The obvious reason why this is the case, is provided by @laurensophie that it is not only very hard to sustain interest in a single couple’s course of romance for 16 episodes, it is also very hard to be funny for 16 episodes or even 12. I would probably nominate Gaus Electronics as one of the funniest kdramas I’ve seen, but even that was very uneven, with one or two laughs an episode. Plus, I very much realize that my sense of humor is not generally shared, so many things I find funny are regarded with indignation by others and vice versa.
So in brief, when I go into a Kdrama “rom-com” I actually expect a murder, a trauma, or some sort of intrigue, and just hope that aspect is handled well. While I agree, for example, that Crash Course in Romance has not been able to balance the murderer, the Mean Mom’s and the romance successfully, I’m not going to condemn the show just because it included these elements. Its the nature of the kdrama romance genre.
[Drama chat] Why the murder subplot in rom-coms?
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily
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