How D.P. can teach you to survive this cruel world
Standing Tall and True in adversity and any circumstance
Welcome, fellow K-drama Dreamers!
To another Kdrama learning. You can learn about life from many places, I prefer to do it from K-dramas. Weird, I know. But I didn’t choose the Kdrama life, it chose me.
Today, the K-drama is D.P. DP came into our life on 27th August 2021. It was adapted from the Lehzin Webtoon D.P Dog’s Day. This drama had made a great impact in the news with its rawness and the detail it showed about the true military life of Korean men with their military draft. Our protagonist is An Jun-ho played by Jung Hae in. He is fed up with life and doesn’t know what he is doing and doesn’t know where to go with his life. But then, he gets his military draft.
There is no one there to greet because he doesn’t want his family to be involved. He just wants to leave everything behind. You can see it in his eyes . That is where we start off.
Now, in the military, he is faced with challenges yet again. He tries to keep to himself but his seniors won’t let him. There is bullying in the military, severe bullying. It’s borderline torture. These men are made to serve in the army with no desire to do so and then, they have all this pent up frustration. So, they pass down the tradition that was taught to them by their seniors. Harass the ones below you for fun. That’s what An Jun ho and his comrade and our otaku artist Jo Suk Bong does. His dream is to be a manga artist. A respectable dream but of no use here. With a calm and serene nature, he is bullied badly.
But Jun ho finds an escape by joining a special unit named D.P. Full form is Deserter Pursuit.
Standing Tall and True
The issues tackled in this drama, I could only imagine about them. I have never experienced anything like the situations in the drama. But I tried to empathize as much as I could all the way through. The muddy and grimy corruption, the teeth-grinding and heart-wrenching guilt on the face of Ahn Joon-ho. I was in the rabbit hole and I loved every second of it.
But that was not enough. It didn’t just stop at making me feel good and let me enjoy this show while nail-biting. It left me with something as I went through each episode. The character progression and development is quite simple. It is focused on An Jun ho but his actions do affect others and they change as well. But An Jun ho, no matter how hard a decision was. He stood true to himself in every situation. He did just take the beating and the bullying at times but when he thought necessary, he stood up straight and held his head up high. He stood true to his beliefs and at times anger did take him and he lost himself when he was filled with guilt and regret for letting go of his first case and not being fast enough to save the deserter as he killed himself with smoke inhalation.
He just took out his anger on his senior at the time who just used this D.P. as a way to go outside and have fun. He punched him again and again until he was stopped. His eyes saw red and he couldn’t do anything else.
This entire show is a rollercoaster ride with its own ups and downs and there is not a wasted moment throughout. But after it was all said and done. Even after season 2, I was listless for a hour and so for what I had just watched. It was crazy. But there was one thing that I could see.
An Jun Ho matured along with us through this series. He kept going as any one of us would. I would try to motivate him through the screen and at times think if I could have taken the same decisions he had. An Jun Ho was someone that we can see ourselves in, with the crisis he faces. It changes everything in him. We think he has changed or he has become lost but he hasn’t. That core self of his, that selfless nature and having empathy for his fellow comrades. He keeps going for others more than for himself. An Jun Ho is someone that I would like to be like.
Standing tall and standing true to myself with my decisions. To take the brunt and the consequences that come with these decisions. I try to do so everyday but anxiety fills me up and it paralyzes me at times but I will keep going, of course. Just as he had even after the Jo Suk Bong incident. He had to keep going no matter what. But in the end, he was alone. But he stood tall and not curled up in these times of pressure.
In the End
I wanted it to linger and it did. It made me more aware of what was going on. Yeah….the drama itself is fucking amazing. I would talk about the dialogue, the writing or even the directing. But I want to talk about what I learned.
I learned that no matter the situation around you and the circumstances around. Staying true and standing with my head held high. I will survive this cruel world
So, that’s all I got. If you have something more to say, comment below. If you liked it, like it.
See you soon when my inspiration boils over the rim of my boiling heart! Thanks!