우리는 예전 드라마 어떤점을 촌스럽다고 느끼나

I definitely enjoyed these shows back in the day, but when I watch them again, they feel super awkward, dated, straight-up cringe, and just incompatible with modern sensibilities. I tried thinking about what exactly makes me so uncomfortable.

First, there are the basic hardware issues: screen ratio and picture quality. We started transitioning from the old CRT standard 4:3 ratio to 16:9 in the mid-2000s. Now, 4:3 is the most glaringly dated part. It was also the transition phase from SD to HD. Back then, they heavily relied on lighting that made things look 'glowy/soft-focus' (뽀샤시), but now, on HD TVs, the details are crushed, and the cheap fakiness of the sets is brutally exposed.

AI Translated Image

Stairway to Heaven, which was broadcast in SD and 4:3, is from 2003. Chuno (The Slave Hunters) is from 2010. Although, truthfully, few works that came after Chuno even managed that level of cinematography, which is kinda unfortunate, considering there's only a 7-year gap between the two, there was definitely a ton of development during that period.

Second, the Seoul dialect in the early 2000s had a very different intonation than today. The '90s Seoul speech (like the one Yoon Ga-yi or Kim A-young did on SNL) survived into the early 2000s. That dramatic, choppy, theatrical way of speaking is clearly different from our natural conversational style now. What was considered charismatic back then has become painfully cringe old Seoul speech. Also, due to the hardware/production aspect—a lot of post-dubbing was common—it was naturally expected that actors would enunciate clearly and separately.

Third, the fashion trends from that time—which could reasonably be called the Dark Ages of Fashion—look absolutely appalling now. Rain’s outfits in Full House were already kinda questionable back then, but if you look at them now....

Conversely, Coffee Prince (2007)—in terms of acting, speech, and fashion—Gong Yoo and Lee Sun-kyun’s performances still feel natural and not jarring even now, and the styling doesn't feel overly dated.

Fourth, the excessive use of melodrama (신pa) back then is now essentially fodder for parody. Blockbuster MVs, like Jo Sung Mo’s 'To Heaven,' were the same way. The market was flooded with overly dramatic plots: lovers dying, grieving, blaming the heavens. Amnesia, terminal illnesses, half-siblings—works based on these tropes (which are now only used ironically) were rampant, so watching them today inevitably feels extremely over-the-top.

Fifth, there’s the change in social values. In What Happened in Bali (2004), there are frequent scenes where Jo In-sung forcibly drags Ha Ji-won, shoves her against a wall, or screams at her. Watching that now, you have to ask: Is that not just date violence?

Also, in My Lovely Sam Soon (2005), it's famous that Sam Soon is considered an 'old maid' (노처녀) just because she’s 30. And many of the lines—calling her 'Ahjumma,' 'Is that even a woman?', or 'Fat'—are dialogues full of body-shaming that would get bombed now, which also feels awkward.

Conclusion: Most works before 2010 are drastically different in terms of HD quality, 16:9 ratio, realistic acting, genre diversity, and social atmosphere. As of 2025, works that are 15 years old can be accepted without much awkwardness, but anything 20 years old is genuinely uncomfortable to watch. Done.