Itaewon Class: An Eye-opening K-drama Addressing Societal Issues

If you haven’t watched Itaewon Class yet, then you should! This K-drama is unexpectedly full of life lessons that everyone will surely learn from.

To be honest, I thought that I’ll only be watching this K-drama because of Park Seo Joon. But as each episode goes by, my perspective changes.

Amidst chaos in society, finding justice and equality, Itaewon Class will take you into another level of raising your standards towards drama series.

If you have noticed and observed, here are the following societal issues addressed by Itaewon Class throughout its episodes:

Gender Inequality

As we all know, this issue as it may have been lightened, the LGBTQ+ community is still experiencing discrimination in society.

In Itaewon Class, transgender Ma Hyun Yi (portrayed by Lee Joo Young) shows that to live one’s life, you must not be apologetic about who you are and what your gender is. Also, you don’t need anyone’s approval in doing what you want as long as it does not harm other people.

Class Struggle

Remember Sae Ro Yi’s line? “Just because you’re rich doesn’t mean you can be an asshole.” Well, no explanation needed because Park Sae Royi nailed it! His lines speak a lot more than what the society needed to know.

Age Stereotyping

At the age of 20, Jo Yi Seo (portrayed by Kim Da Mi) proves that age has nothing to do with competence. Excellence and success do not come with age. Yi Seo teaches us perseverance and diligence in achieving our goals be it personal or professional.

Discrimination on Ex-convicts and Slow Phase of Justice

There’s a saying that not all those who are in jail are guilty, sometimes they are just victims of societal injustice. In Park Sae Ro Yi’s case, he was the victim. And he has to carry the tag of being an ex-convict just by wanting revenge for his late father.

Mostly, innocent people with poor societal status are victims of those privileged who truly committed a crime.

Racism

Tony, a Guinean-Korean citizen, is the last character to complete the Danbam fam. Still, racists are everywhere, however, Itaewon Class showed that no matter what your nationality is and no matter how dark your skin is, you deserve to be treated right.

One of the iconic scenes is when Tony was denied entrance to the night club just because the bouncer insists that Tony is a black American, not Korean.

The day after, Park Sae Ro Yi vandalized the area saying that the night club is racist. He wanted to point out that discriminating against someone is a disgusting act.

This K-drama proves that you can enjoy watching and also learn something at the same time.

Itaewon Class also teaches us that everyone has the right to be treated equally regardless of age, gender, social status, skin color, and past experiences.

Furthermore, the casts nailed it and this is surely worth it to watch! Kudos to the team and also to the Webtoon author and scriptwriter, Jo Kwang Jin!

Itaewon Class is nothing but a WHOLESOME Kdrama. For the 2nd time, if you haven’t watched it yet, then you should stream it now on Netflix!