Hello Dracula 안녕 드라큘라, 2020

✫ 9/10

Favorite Character: An-Na

“I’ll sum up my life’s tragedies in just two lines. So go ahead and guess how many tragedies are hidden in them.”

Growing up. When we were a child we wished we’d become an adult faster. But once we become an adult, we hope that after a long sleep, we’ll go back to being a child again. Life doesn’t follow rules – no one can tell us what we want or what to do. It all comes down to ourselves.

Hello Dracula 안녕 드라큘라 tells the story of three people’s lives, respectively – An-na (Seohyun), Seo-yeon (Lee Joo-bin), and Yu-ra (Go Na-hee). The two-episode drama displays the struggles of three generations, exploring the topics of friendship, social class, dream chasing, and identity. Young Yu-ra is going through puppy love and struggling to fit in with her classmates because of her family background, Seo-yeon wanting to chase her dreams of pursuing a career in music well into her 30s, and An-na’s broken relationship with her mother in part due to her sexual identity.

Such a beautifully written and not to mention, important drama. Every character within Hello Dracula 안녕 드라큘라 encapsulates the thoughts and feelings of so many people.

Personally speaking, An-na and Seo-yeon’s storylines spoke to me the most. Whether it was because of the actors' ability to show such raw emotions, or because of the content itself. 

Seo-yeon works as a music teacher but her true career was being a musician. She has struggled with making her dream a reality for so long – the most important person in her life not supporting her but instead breaking up with her and criticizing her life choices. Although we continue on in the path not wanting to stop until giving it everything we have, a part of us slowly starts dying inside, and we start second-guessing our every move – daydreaming eventually turns to doubt and self-deprecation. 

An-na grew up with her mother, the symbol of obedience – always doing what she thought was right, what her mother wanted her to do. When it came to her sexual identity, even then, she hid her feelings to herself because her mother said she would “eventually grow out of it.” As an adult, An-na develops a constant feeling of insecurity and a sense of failure. 

“I think An-na and I are alike in that we hold back our emotions and try to endure everything. It really clicked with me how An-na tries to press down her secrets because she knows her mother would be hurt by them,” – Seohyun

An-na and her girlfriend of 8 years, Soo-Jung (Lee Chung-ah), break up because the latter couldn’t bear the thought of losing her parents if they knew about her sexual identity. She would rather suppress her feelings and identity, and go on blind dates with men. There are so many levels of difficulty in terms of portraying such feelings on to the screen, both Seohyun and Lee Chung-Ah do an amazing job at the subtle nuances that come with their characters.

As an Asian myself, growing up in a household that (to me) carried so much weight in what society thought of us, and the thoughts of every person around us, it was nerve-wracking because one wrong move and you’d become the black sheep of the family. Seeing both characters, An-na and Soo-jung, I was able to understand their internal struggles. Naturally, I related with them and understood the reasons behind their actions — especially Soo-jung’s decision to break up with An-Na because she couldn’t handle the consequences of coming out to her family. 

Hello Dracula 안녕 드라큘라 tells intimate stories that explore the fear that people face in their lives.    

At the end of the day, we are all imperfectly perfect.