‘Three Meals a Day’ and ‘Take Care of My Dad’

These days in Korea, the hottest male celebrity among mid-aged women is Cha Seung-won. Kakao Talk, a representative messenger app in Korea, and Facebook are flooded with comments posted by women envious of Cha’s wife, half-jokingly saying, “Cha’s wife must have saved many nations in her previous life to have such a wonderful husband this life.” The model-turned-actor’s recent surge of popularity among women can be attributed to his cooking skills that he boasted on a TV reality show titled "Three Meals a Day," which were on a par with those of a professional cook. From fish cake made of chopped fish fillet to a loaf of bread (even baked without a proper oven!), Cha has made various dishes and now enjoys praises such as "A cooking man is hot."

Along with "Three Meals a Day," another TV reality show drew great popularity during the Lunar New Year’s holidays. It was "Take Care of My Dad" on SBS, which followed 24 hours of four male celebrities with their daughters at home and shed a new light on a father-daughter relationship. In the show, actor Cho Jae-hyun’s daughter made a shocking comment, saying, “Probably my dad cannot remember my birthday.” As such, the program depicted various types of dads of these days. The novel "Please Look after Mom" written by author Shin Kyeong-sook in 2008 describes a life of a mother whose independent being has been neglected as she always takes care of others first. The TV show "Take Care of My Dad" brings dads, who have been on back burners compared to mothers in family relationships, to a highlight.

The movie "Ode to My Father," which drew 13.81 million moviegoers, depicts a life of a father who has protected his family from hardships in the modern history of Korea after the Korean War. The main character of the movie is a patriarchal father who sacrificed everything for his family but was not good at communication with family members. On the contrary, a father image expected from men of this age is a friendly father who puts priority on good relationship with family. Such trend is reflected by skyrocketing popularity of triplets’ father and actor Song Il-gook, cooking actor Cha Seung-won, and the reality show "Take Care of My Dad."

A few years ago, when asked what he was going to do during weekends, one of my young subordinate answered without hesitation, “I will take care of my baby.” That came as a fresh shock to me. Because at that time, I didn’t talk much about my children or family issues not to give an impression that I was not fully focusing on my job. Changes of an age always take place faster than expected. Many view that the government’s recent measures to address falling birth rates would be ineffective. I wonder what would happen if the government makes it mandatory for men to use half of the maternity leave and encourages people to play the role of a modern father.