‘Angry Mom’: When a mother tackles bullying in high school
What would be your reaction if your mother starts attending school with you, to protect you from the bully you have to face there?
‘Angry Mom’ is a 2015 South Korean drama about a sweet mother-daughter relationship. It tells a story of an ordinary mother, Jo Kang Ja (Kim Hee Sun), who discovers the bullying her daughter, Oh Ah Ran (Kim Yoo Jung), is going through. And with a determination of a parent wanting to protect her child at all cost, she decides to take things into her own hands because no one and nothing can be trusted to protect her daughter otherwise.
She starts going back to being a high school student with the aid of her best friend, Han Gong Juu, to solve the mystery behind the bullying of her daughter, Ah Ran. Kang Ja pretends to be Jo Bang Wool, a 19-ish student who causes a lot of trouble on her first day back at school. ‘Angry Mom’ delivers a heart-wrenching, bittersweet story, coupled with phenomenal character development and writing. It leaves us in a pensive reflection about the world we live in.
Before the drama aired, many people predicted that it was going to be a huge flop as they wondered how it could even be borderline believable, that a 30-something mom would be able to pass off as her daughter’s classmate? But as it turns out, no one had anything to worry about. Not only does Kim Hee Sun pull off a high school uniform with ease, she looks pretty fantastic too. Plus, she doesn’t look awkward in it and just looks like a real problematic high school student with anger issues and a nosiness that only aims for righteousness among the students and school.
For sure the drama sounds too ambitious to position a mom as the heroine and put her in a mission to save the school and its students from corruption. That’s just like telling a mom to carry the world in her shoulders and save the day like superman. Though it’s quite impossible for a mother to get back to school without being caught faking her records just by looking at her, she does this fearlessly and crosses troubled waters prepared. This drama also faces some hard topics with unflinching, gritty determination, and is far from being romance-centric. Which kind of makes this show as cool as its angry mom, because they’ve both got bigger and more important things to focus on. That’s why this drama doesn’t feel like a typical K-drama as it’s got a unique flavor all its own.
From the first day at school, the angry and desperate Kang Ja decides to attack those who have strong suspicions of that has something to do with the beating and psychological trauma Ah Ran received. Even their new homeroom teacher, Park No Ah (Ji Hyung Woo) gets knocked down by punch. She goes back to the person she was during her teens. A gangster girl who fights for justice. The school gets turned upside down and suddenly every secret kept starts to come to light once Kang Ja starts her own investigation. However, as Kang Ja, digs deeper into the center of the main issue, she discovers something even darker going on in the place that should be nurturing and protecting her child, in the school.
And thanks to maternal instincts we don’t just discover the bullying happening in Ah Ran’s school but also uncovers the continuous corruption, unfair treatment to the students, bribery, power struggle, deception, cover-ups, the apathetic attitude of those in power towards the weaker people and many other issues or controversies that others are afraid to talk about so openly.
Bullying is a distinctive pattern of repeatedly and deliberately harming and humiliating others, specifically those who are smaller, weaker, and younger, or in any way more vulnerable than the bully. A lot of children and teenagers become a victim of bullying in daily life. Bullying affects people beyond their imagination. While some children face the situation bravely and fight back; others just crush down into solitary and introverted individuals. Often, the victims of bullying are compelled to take dangerous steps. These kids suffer from issues while they grow up. The impact of bullying remains with them throughout life.
Bullying at school is a worldwide problem. Also, it is quite profound in high school k-dramas, but it has never been discussed as bravely and as serious as Angry Mom did. We talk about it but that is only superficial compared to what is really happening in real life. Through this drama, we are able to see the struggles of the bullied, the victim’s parents, and the bullies. They are all so deeply scarred by their past and present that there is a perpetrator and a victim. However, compared to that, it is more even problematic how teachers could use their authority over students unjustifiably, negatively affecting the morale of teachers in general. How people of power could use the money to buy their positions, their grades, or other people. How ordinary people always lose against the rich because they don’t have the means or the connection to win over such an opponent. How the welfare of others is overlooked because the person of authority prioritizes personal gains over the greater good. These issues are so prominent in this drama that it gives some reality to it and not just pure fiction and acting.
Not many are brave to tackle the taboos of society, especially of their own country. It is truly a risk to talk about those ugly things, because it may either give a negative or positive effect depending how it was positioned by the media. However, on a positive note, it educates us what is truly happening around us and helps us understand why and how they are happening, what we can do to counter them, which is what this drama did. Sometimes the drama is truly hard to watch because of how heavy the emotions are, but a drop of victory at every episode keeps it worthwhile. The emotions are so raw, built from true life possibilities that will make you think ‘what if it was me in her shoes?’ and make you cry your eyes out real hard. No matter how scary the world is, bad people always receive punishment. That’s why, if you are scared and hide, the problem only becomes bigger. Hard things, difficult things, if there is any problem that you cannot solve yourself, you have to tell someone.
This drama teaches us that no matter how old you are, how strong you are, how much money you have, there is a relationship in which you unconditionally lose. The one that loves more is always the weaker one. A mother daughter relationship is just like that. More than the food as they eat, they are fuller when their kid eats. A strange and a mysterious being they are mothers. No matter how much their children don’t listen to them, they are always on their children’s side.
Many thought that this drama would be silly and cheesy. But they were absolutely wrong. ‘Angry Mom’ gave us a thoughtful, emotional drama, complete with an amazing cast and great writing. All of the characters were well rounded and had their time to shine so that we can really get to know them. ‘Angry Mom’ truly showcases how writing should be done: straightforwardly and naturally. The drama went above and beyond our expectations and deserves any and all acclaims it received. This drama has it all. It can make you laugh, cry, rage and feel hope.
*Rumaiysa M Rahman is a 10th grader at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Dhaka