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In Netflix’s new K-drama Aema, a world-weary top actress, the misogynistic head of a film studio, an anxious first-time director, and an ambitious nightclub tapdancer come together to make the country’s first adult film.
While some of the specific characters and interpersonal scenarios in Aema may be fictional, the Korean period drama is based on real-life Korean history. The six-episode series draws direct inspiration from the creation of an actual erotic film, released in Korea in 1982: Madame Aema.
In the process of telling a fictionalized version of this production, Aema also depicts some of the distinct and brutal social conditions that came during Chun Doo-hwan’s military dictatorship, as Korea set its sights on both continuing its rapid economic ascent and “modernizing” in the leadup to the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Let’s discuss some of the real-life history that informs the comedy and drama of Aema…
What is Aema about?
As a period drama, Aema chronicles a fictionalized version of the real-life production of Madame Aema. All of the characters depicted in the film are fictional. Lee Ha-nee (also known as Honey Lee to many international fans) stars as Jeong Hee-ran, a veteran Korean actress known for nudity in her film roles.
Hee-ran is the darling of the Korean film industry, and she is sick of having to play the same flavor of empty, overly-sexualized roles. When she gets a script for Madame Aema, the final project she has to complete before she is free of her contract with the fictional Shinsung Pictures, she decides to take a stand. She announces to the press she will only be doing nudity-free roles moving forward.
Greedy studio head Ku Jung-ho (Uprising’s Jin Sun-kyu) is furious. He decides to cast an unknown in the title role, and to banish Hee-ran to supporting actress duty. Enter Shin Ju-ae (newcomer Bang Hyo-rin), an aspiring actress who is willing to bare her breasts to secure a stable…
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