SKY Castle#
Satire that only works because the pressure is real#
Today’s drama#
SKY Castle (스카이 캐슬) — wealthy families and the private admissions coordinators they hire to get children into Korea’s top three universities.
Exaggerated by design, but the exaggeration is a useful diagnostic.
Three questions#
- Why is education so socially important in Korea, beyond “parents want their children to do well”?
- What role does university entrance play in family life and family status?
- What does SKY Castle exaggerate for satire, and what does it capture accurately about the pressure underneath?
It only works as satire because the underlying pressure is real and widely recognised.
Take from this week#
- education as a site where family status and a child’s future are both at stake
- university admissions and the weight placed on a small number of institutions
- hagwon culture as an industry built around that weight
- inequality — who can afford the coordinators the show centres, and who can’t
Before next week#
Watch the assigned Mr. Sunshine episodes. Bring one historical fact the drama draws on — with a source other than the drama itself.