#3 - Who Are You: School 2015 (후아유: 학교, 2015)
Who Are You: School 2015 (후아유: 학교 2015)
Review by Nicholas Bagnall (Monash University)
Who Are You: School 2015 poster. Image source: New on Netflix.
Who Are You: School 2015 is the sixth instalment of the adorned Korean series School. The first five seasons of this Korean drama convey the struggles of South Korea’s teenagers as they deal with emotions, relationships, romances and social changes. School 2015, is no different as far as its themes are concerned. However, it provides a fresh mystery and is able to contrast the lives of two students by giving one of them a new start. Like all the previous instalments in the “School” series, the following season, School 2017 is not a direct sequel to School 2015. The whole series does not require previous knowledge of earlier seasons and each season presents an entirely new cast and diverging location from the last.
School 2015’s plot surrounds Lee Eun-Bi (played by Kim So-Hyun), an orphan at the Love House orphanage in Tongyeong (South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea). She hides the fact that she is bullied by a group of her classmates from her teachers and matron. This initially leads to an emotional scene where Eun-Bi attempts to take her own life. However, she wakes up in a hospital bed, where she has been given a new chance to live life as someone else: a popular girl that attends the prestigious Sekang High School in Seoul. However, Eun-Bi discovers she looks exactly like this person and wonders what happened to her.
Ultimately, School 2015 is a story of resets and learning from past mistakes to be a better person. Throughout the series, South Korea’s education system and guardian expectations are questioned by exploring teen death and suicide. This is portrayed via the characters of Lee Eun-Bi, Ko Eun-Byeol (Kim So-Hyun), Kang So-Young (Cho Soo-hyang) and Park Min-Joon (David Lee). It is alluded to that parents’ expectations; the competitiveness of the education system and bullying are three main factors that contribute to South Korea having the highest teen suicide rate in the world. Despite School 2015 conveying such ideas it concludes without a “cliff-hanger” ending and displays each character in a better position emotionally than when they were first introduced in the series. This makes the series a relatively feel-good drama with some mystery, comedic and romantic elements.
The series was well received in Korea, with lead actress Kim So-Hyun (김소현) winning the 2015 KBS drama award for Best New Actress. Fellow stars, Cho Soo-hyang (조수향), Nam Joo-hyuk (남주혁) and Yook Sung-Jae (육성재) were also nominated for various awards. The drama aired originally on KBS2 from April 27th 2015 to June 16th 2015 and received positive recognition in both South Korea and overseas.
Being a relative commercial success in both South Korea and overseas, School 2015, thrived off the rising popularity of the Korean Wave or “Hallyu” (“South Korean Wave”) . It maintained an eye pleasing cast with relatable characters to many students around the world. Due to the drama’s popularity, its soundtrack featuring the series’ main theme “Reset” by Tiger JK and Jinsil (2015), also consumated some success. The song was released around June 6th, 2015, just prior to the airing of the series’ thirteenth episode. “Reset” peaked at number twenty-two on the world digital song sales on the same day. It also currently has over thirty-five million plays on Spotify (August 2022). The song is highly symbolic of the drama and portrays the many “resets'' the characters experience throughout the storyline. As stated above these “resets” highlight South Korea’s education system, guardian expectations and bullying.
In my opinion from the perspective of a Korean drama fan, I thoroughly enjoyed School 2015 and have watched it three times to date. To provide it a score out of ten, 9/10 would be my rating. This is due to the fact it covers most aspects of what I want in a drama:
- An engaging story
- Relatable and pretty characters
- Romantic, mystery and comedic elements
To continue, School 2015, is one of my top three dramas of all time, along with Dream High (2011), Iris (2009) and Mr Sunshine (2018). The performance of Kim So-hyun and her characters’ relatableness to many struggling students and victims of bullying is captivating. The series also boasts a great soundtrack that I personally love. “Reset” is one of my favourite songs. The balanced cast provides a nice even spread of both loveable and hated characters to better engage the audience. The mystery that carries on throughout the series further allows for some audience discussion between episodes. This keeps the series at the front of your mind until you watch the following episode.
Overall, School 2015: Who Are You is a teen drama that found success due to the phenomenon known as the Korean Wave. The drama did not revolutionize what Korean Dramas should be or introduce masses to Korean dramatic series for the first time. However, it contained enough identifiable qualities of Korean dramas, that those Korean drama fans could enjoy the series. This was done by exploring the popular contentious themes currently evident in South Korean society. Mixed with a notable soundtrack, now popular actors and streamable on Netflix worldwide, it is possible that the drama could attract even further acclaim in the future and be a drama that does create more Korean drama fans. Though, this seems unlikely to appeal to those that do not already partake in Korean entertainment or cannot relate to the themes of suicide, struggling education and teenage drama.
Check out the official trailer here and the series is available on Netflix.
Nicholas Bagnall/Monash University ©, please do not reproduce without prior permission.
For details, contact MUKSRH andy.jackson@monash.edu