Review: Answer Me 1997

In America, the 90s marked a decade of massive technological, economical, and social change. It was the era of teenage pop groups, the first mobile phones, portable CD players, Tamagotchi pets, Furbies, StarCraft, and the all-time high-grossing film Titanic, just to name a few. I myself am a 90s kid, and I can’t help but feel nostalgic when I think about how different life was back then. I was young, innocent, and optimistic, and the world was a completely different place than it is now.  So much happened in the 90s that it would be difficult to cover it all, but the 2012 Korean drama Answer Me 1997 does just that.

It may seem odd, even impossible, that a TV show focused on Korea's 90s could elicit such a distinct feeling of nostalgia in a full-blooded American citizen, but that’s part of what makes the show so good. Even though it is based in a foreign country, many of the emotions and cultural changes are the same.

Just to give you an idea of how smitten I was with this show, I managed to watch all 16 episodes in less than a week despite schoolwork and other commitments. I was, in a word, obsessed, and after you’re done reading this post, you’re going to be obsessed too.

Answer Me 1997 has a really unique format that grabs your attention as soon as it starts. In the first episode, we’re at a 2012 high school reunion, and we’re introduced to a group of six friends.  We’re told that two of those friends are announcing their engagement that evening, and then we’re transported 15 years into the past, to the year 1997, to see how it all happened and to find out who is getting engaged. The rest of the series flips back and forth between the late 90s, when the group is in high school, and 2012, as they all remember things from their teenage years. The drama keeps you in suspense until the last few episodes as to who all the couples are, and along the way you get to see how each member of the group grows and matures. 

The high school reunion

If you thought that South Korea was a conservative, culturally backwards country, then you have been very, very misguided. South Korea's culture is actually very similar to that of the United States, even back in the 90s. As proof, here are some of the show's major themes:

Pop groups

The girls in the drama are obsessed with boy bands, and interestingly enough, the 90s boy bands of South Korea were very similar to those of America. The drama features boy bands H.O.T. and Sechs Skies, whose American counterparts would be something like the Backstreet Boys and N*SYNC. They even have rivalries between the fans of different groups. We’re also briefly introduced to the girl group Baby V.O.X., which vaguely resembles the Spice Girls.

Fan rivalries: on the left we see Sechs Kies fans and on the right we have H.O.T. fans

H.O.T.

Baby V.O.X

First love and first heartbreak

The happy couples we see at the 2012 high school reunion weren’t always that way. Answer Me 1997 shows us the ups and downs in their relationships as well as how they finally ended up together.

Technology

We also see the first mobile phones, StarCraft (which was evidently extremely popular in South Korea), portable CD players, Tamagotchi pets, and the infamous dial-up internet connection.

Tamagotchi!

StarCraft

Family Dynamics

Family plays a central role in this drama. We get to relive experiences like sending kids away to college for the first time as well as coping with things like family tragedy. The drama also shows how family members in Korea interact. The story, which is primarily centered in Busan and Seoul, depicts the typical "Busan" family, including the use of the Busan dialect.

Watching the Korea soccer match against Japan

The drama even covers homosexuality:

There are also some pretty neat connections made between the past and current Korean legends, something I only discovered after looking those particular characters up. In one scene, we see a slightly overweight, young baseball player practicing. When he turns around, the subtitles translate his jersey name as "Lee Dae Ho." After looking up his name, I found that Lee Dae Ho is now a famous Korean baseball player.

In addition, one of the friends in the group is actually an ex-member of the 90s Sechs Kies boy band. In one scene he's watching himself in a music video, but in the drama he's just a normal character. Pretty cool, eh?  

Friendship

Last but not least, we get to see just how strong, and long-lasting, some friendships can be.

 As you can tell, I really, really enjoyed this drama. Even if you’re not a 90s kid, do yourself a favor and check this drama out. I’m positive you’ll find something to relate to.

Happy watching :)