Youth of May: the 'Titanic' of K-drama

In the world there are uncanny similarities as well as perfect similarities that are correctly timed to fit each other. With the improvement of technology there are various ways of exhibiting stories in a pleasing manner, so that it remains embedded to the viewers soul. Dramas and Movies are some of those methods, although having similarities alongside differences some really show a red thread of connection. Being a regular person watching both Dramas and Movies, it isn’t that hard to compare as well as contrast them together…

Do you by chance remember the line; “You’re gonna die an old, old Lady warm in her bed. Not here, not this night, not like this. Do you understand me?- I am sure you can remember this heartfelt comment made by the character Jack from Titanic. Well of course many would agree that Titanic actually is one of the best romances in this century. Not only that it was widely successful but had a deep impression of itself printed in history, not lying but people of that generation still reminisce about staying in line to watch the blockbuster. However with time it has become boring to be clinging to just one story, therefore with the years preferences have been subjected to change. Nowadays many people enjoy watching Serials, Korean Dramas, Turkish Dramas etc. with the list increasing K-Dramas take in a special position. Coming in many genres like romance, thriller, horror and period, Korean dramas are popular among most of the international community. One such Drama that gained a interest of the international public is Youth of May, which kind of draw parallels with Titanic. Why the reason to compare two different things?? Well, It simply crossed my mind.

Yes, I did compare odds into evens even so there were a lot of comparison altogether. Let’s get into them one by one with a simple introduction. Released on December 1997, Titanic is a American romance - disaster film, which gained a lot of attention with it’s plot. Introducing the short timed love between Rose, the female lead from a aristocratic and Jack, a poor aspiring artist. With the conflict set with side characters like Rose’s fiance whom she doesn’t favor at all, the treasure hunter going behind a worthy necklace the movie really puts in a effort to express the message that “Love Doesn’t die”. On the other hand “Youth of May” is a Korean Drama that aired in the recent year 2021. Including a plot revolving around the historical Uprising of Gwangju that intervenes Kim Myung-Hee’s and Hwang Hee-Tae’s story. Ending by a limited amount of episodes, the drama is exceptionally light plus moving.

The first resemblance I experienced was that both of them included forbidden love. In the film, Jack and Rose’s connection undermined by Rose’s mother who dislikes Jack. Similarly, Hee-Tae’s father looks down on Myung-Hee due to her being a poor nurse. This point also brings in a other clash, Class Difference. Jack is a poor artist who by chance gets the ticket to the vessel meanwhile Myung-Hee is a nurse with difficulties that agrees to go for a date in place of her wealthy friend. Both of the characters are in juxtapose, as it happens we can see more fittings among the characters too.

As my second observation, I got to see the conflicting Love triangles. In Titanic we see the ignorant, wealthy Caledon whereas in the drama we see no other than Lee Soo Chan. Caledon’s and Soo Chan’s storyline are the symmetry, though the personalities differ contrastive. Caledon is a spoilt gentleman, he despises the way Rose treats Jack. His jealousy is very evident throughout the whole film, on one such event he frames Jack to be a thief after getting to know that Rose insulted him. Soo Chan is not at all companionable to him in persona wise. Since the beginning it is possible to picture that Soo Chan likes Myung-Hee creating a love triangle. Soo Chan gets jealous but doesn’t harm relationships as Caledon does, he keeps the confession to himself after knowing that Myung-Hee loves Hee-Tae. It also shall be emphasized that Soo Chan is a very exceptional character, knowing Myung-Hee from the friendship she has with his sister, he tries to get close to her at the wrong time. Helping her, treating her the best Soo Chan only wished to see Myung-Hee to smile. Unlike the counterpart who fancied money rather than love.

The third, as you may have figured out is that the pair centers historical events, Titanic Vessel’s sinking and Gwangju Uprising. Titanic was a one of the largest Ships of all time making it already to be in history whatsoever. Unfortunately, a legend that finalized in a tragic incident. For South Korea, Gwangju Uprising became a landmark in the country’s chronicle. Just as the sink the uprising had a huge amount of deaths. The next likely fact is that both are set in a same centuries. Youth of may set in the 1980s and the Titanic set in 1912. The arrangement of the sets have several symbolism from it’s clothes to the tiniest details. For example, Rose’s attire has parts with lace. Lace was a trend for rich during those times. To showoff the belonging to higher class she is dressed in mostly exquisite jewellery too. Parallel to the film, the drama too includes a huge vacancy for symbolism, for example apart from the costumes, we see bus tokens used to pay for the ride in buses those days and also we get to see that back in South Korea, apple was pictured for an apology.

The last analogy refreshes a tragedy to both the Titanic and Youth Of May. In both the lower class main character dies sacrificing, Jack dies while keeping Rose safe. In the same manner Myung-Hee passes after a soldier shots her. There is a contrast that seemed somewhat far off in both the situations…in the film Rose experiences Jack’s death without barriers, however Hee-Tae lives on not knowing where she disappeared thinking that Myung-Hee is still breathing. As a Pattern both the pictures turn time to the future, where the living characters are brought up again. Yet differentiating the whole, Rose recieves her necklace with Hee-Tae getting to know that Myung-Hee died back then.

Eloquently, Both Youth of May and Titanic does have pulls that tear them apart which eventually in my opinion are covered by the similitude in the pair. Despite being from two different worlds, a K-drama and a Film got unexpectedly close enough to be compared.

Nevertheless, Youth of May and Titanic deserves praise for the interesting as well as gripping plots. For the conclusion In my opinion Youth of May, can be or maybe is the Titanic of K-dramas.