Review | K-drama review: Racket Boys – Netflix family sports drama champions the country life in South Korea
- The SBS drama about a rural school badminton team taking on big-city teams offers a rosy view of life in the South Korean countryside and emphasises tradition
- All the cast deliver engaging performances but it is Lee Jae-in who wins viewers’ hearts as ace player Se-yoon. Her character could have been fleshed out more
This article contains spoilers.
3/5 stars
Born out of the ashes of the Korean war, South Korea experienced a breathless transformation in the second half of the 20th century, as the masses abandoned the countryside in favour of the cities. The country’s evolution has given rise to many stories of tradition versus modernity on screen, and as urban spaces were increasingly coveted, more negative connotations became attached to rural ones.
Horror stories like The Wailing and Bedevilled in particular have shown the countryside as a backwater filled with parochial characters and revealed the secrets of a society that did some terrible things in the name of progress.
Yet in recent years, with urban malaise on the rise, there’s been a movement to reclaim the countryside and go back to traditional values. Characters have abandoned the Seoul rat race in favour of organic and hardy living in films like Little Forest.