A Study of Contractual Romance in TV Dramas: Focusing on and

Romance dramas are currently the dominant subgenre of TV dramas. This is proof that despite the limitations and conventions of the genre’s narrative style, it still attracts many viewers and producers. The ratings of recent TV dramas are highly dependent on the first half of the show, and romance dramas depict the process of the male and female protagonists forming a relationship during this crucial first half. Noting that there has been no research on this topic, this study first chose “contract” as the method of relationship formation in romance dramas to date and then examined the aspects of contract romance in these works and how this reflects reality by studying and . The following conclusions were drawn as a result. First, the male and female protagonists’ antics in pretending to be a couple brought laughter to the audience through their role-playing and excitement through their pretend marriage and chance encounters. Next, their contracts were based on their own conditions and abilities and were often finalized because they were reciprocal to each other, which was a bitter realization that in real life, men and women have to fulfill many conditions or abilities to meet and get married. Lastly, the parties to the contract are forced to marry due to coercion or persuasion by family members or other adults in the household, representing the conflict between the older generation who insist on marriage and the younger generation who resist or reject it. The romance drama genre has a long history and has been studied extensively, but there is still a lot of room for exploration. This study presented one of the many approaches, and hopefully, there will be various studies in the future.