Congrats for getting published again @ally-le! I think most extended families have some drama, some to makjang levels (mine is the stuff of weekend drama...)
Your nuclear family is what matters the most, and from your OT posts it sounds like you are doing well with your husband and kids. :)
I mostly stay away from the gossip and the drama in my extended family. It’s interesting (and sometimes fun) to observe them put on a show at public functions or the occasional family gathering. It’s great writing material too!

I enjoyed reading your write-up! Gave me a chuckle, we all seem to have varying degrees of k drama characters in our families. Just gotta love em.

Hi ally, another fantastic essay! Girl, you are such a good writer!
My family drives me crazy but are nowhere near qualifying as drama characters. Does that mean ... it's just me?

Haha, my mom would have been that way, but now she's just desperate for us to marry ANYONE. Beggars can't be choosers. She's pretty nice to my brother's wife, though, and often mentions she doesn't want to be a mother-in-law like in the dramas.

I have an aunt who's Last Empress-level makjang. If there's nothing dramatic going on in her life, she manufactures something. Luckily, my cousins didn't inherit this trait and are relatively normal.

Congrats ally! I remember reading bits on discord but this is way amazing! You're such a good writer. Being in a big family equals lots of drama (usually). And lol at the last part! Yay to no killings, and I sure hope it always stays that way. Hehe

This is poetic~~~ Sometimes we can’t see the rings that a drop of water makes on a pond because we’re in the water. But when we pull ourselves out and watch it from the shore we see how each ring is an extension of the other. 

I really didn’t think this one would make the cut. I didn’t even talk about “Life is Beautiful,” which I have good intentions of watching, but haven’t got to yet! But what a nice family photo they make! And that’s the kicker. In family photos, we all look so well adjusted and normal and (dare I say) photogenic as well. It’s what you see when you’re close to us that are the stuff of nightmares! Thanks again! This really never gets old! 😘🥰

great write-up, @ally-le !
this really should have been called "An Ode to the Misunderstood Over-bearing Mum of KDramaland: we don't get it, but we love you any way."
ha ha ha
and trust me: we all have some degree of dysfunction in our respective families. Don't let anyone's picture-perfect family fool you.
*wink*

let´s see.
alpha mom and beta dad, yes.
possibility of being switched and granny not acknowledging me, yes.
scheming + overbearing mom yes.
Dad doing a second grade job.
I also have relatives who look down on my parents because I am an artist and I am not famous.
Mom sticking her nose into everyones´ business.
violence, aggression, hitting, lots of hitting.
schizo aunt
family house with all the generations (was, but not where we permanently live)

basically it is a typical loser family and love interest is no dream guy for anyone

the found family and circle of friends + work family is the best though. I never expected to form close bonds with people, being sociophobic, but really I have met some great people (and I have decided to not let it bother me that we never go out or they move on and I am easy to leave behind, maybe that´s a good thing... my dear oppas are always there for me). .... Now, a real brother or sister, that is something I will never have :-( and I won´t get to be an aunt. But I have the kids of my friends, I am auntie to them and they like me. wacky aunts and uncles really make life more interesting. Kids trust them more than parents sometimes...great to be in that role.

Great article as always @ally-le. Families can be great. I wouldn't trade my immediate family for anything, but extended family........well, they are an interesting bunch.

For example, I recently learned that the aunt who was always snooty and judgmental towards anyone who got pregnant outside of marriage was and is on very shaky moral ground herself: 1) She was knocked up when she got married; 2) 95% sure she covered up an assault on one of her children so it wouldn't impact her husband's political career (also explains somewhat, why their kids fled their city as soon as they graduated high school; and 3) Her husband passed away last year, and she has since started seeing her high school sweetheart who happens to still be married to his terminally ill wife.

I'm pretty sure this could be a weekend drama.

I feel for your brother in-law who cried. I'm sure your mother means best. Sometimes, dramas don't illustrate the complexity of the issue of why a mother behaves the way she does (might i cite as an example: the last empress? LOL). But-- and I by no means mean your mother WHATSOEVER-- I HAVE seen such cruel, irresponsible overbearing mothers that are even worse than what dramas illustrate. So when I do see such over the top but REAL characters onscreen, I can't bare to sit through it. When it's too real, it's too hard to stomach.

I hope youre doing fine, and don't worry, Family is dysfonctionality (is that a word?). As long as you have a supportive shoulder to lean on and a bit of perseverance, you can stand anything. Fighting!

@ally-le alpha mom and beta dad describes my family as well!

@stroopwafel, this is not a "Hey, that's me" but this post made me think of all the stories in my family and I thought if there was a theme of the month "Dramas from our lives/families" I have one that would make a great makjang...

@ally-le such a great post and so recognisable!

Families are endlessly fascinating because of the ability that some people have to hurt the ones they love. All in their best interest of course...

Thanx @ally-le. I relate so much to this. Whenever my mum, my sisters and I are trying to think of ways to make money one of us always says "You know, we could sell our(extended family's) story for a truckload of money. It's so crazy it has to rake in quite a bit". I think the reason I have trouble watching daily dramas is because the characters are so crazy they remind me of the crazytown I grew up in and ultimately escaped from. While my mum is the sweetest thing ever, my aunts and uncles are on a whole 'nother level of crazy. One silver lining is that the crazy brought me,my mum and my sisters close together that you couldn't mess with us if you spent your whole life trying. So maybe the crazy was worth it.... Nah, I'm glad I left. "At least we haven't murdered each other". No truer words.

I was gonna skip commenting because I thought my mom was pretty "normal". Then I remembered she is still not talking to (slight exaggeration, she talks, but only the bare minimum) her sister who ran off with a man my mom didn't approve of. Prime makjang material there. For context, It's been 30 years....

Thank you @ally-le. I came this summer after a long year home and my uncle created a life destructive drama I've never could think of. Alcohol can make so damage in already selfish brain. It's heartbreaking because until now I pardoned all those bad things he'd done but from now on he is finished with me. He's a spoilt brat and he's very possessive even on that stuff he shouldn't lay his hands on. He's like a typical mafia Don Pedro - one minute he's laughing with you and the other one he wished to have you wiped out of his life.

When I was little I preferred my dad's family but while growing up I started to read in between the lines and I love my whole family but prefer the more simple, easygoing, non materialistic, food and art loving mum's family. You don't choose your family only your friends and acquaintances so you have to deal with it and love with all those crazy things going on but what's enough it's enough! I am very sensitive and sensible person who is always trying to sort out all the problems or who when seeing injustice opens her mouth and opens the sleeping volcano so I can't sleep properly and have nightmares and live dreams when you awake with more anger, tears or possible resolutions. It's one month I can't sleep normally having all those things named and it's sooooo exhausting so I believe the writer of Let me hear your song (I'm not watching though, no time, no taste for dramas) that the heroine is not having a sense of danger because your senses are so twisted.

Anyway when I was a teenager I was all the time thinking my parents are not as good as those of my classmates or friends and when like adults we were chatting I discovered that my parents are the best among them and I love them so much although they have their flaws but who doesn't?

I too grew around many cousins aunts uncles. You are so right a large family provides so much drama. Yet in my family we had this one Aunt whose house was a haven. No matter if you smashing each others brains out in the street once you were inside her home there was no fighting and such. She offered you food drinks some talking and some poker kids running around. She was so kind that people would leave their babies in their carriers and leave. I was visiting one day and was taking care of all the younger babies when i heard a baby cry that s1 had set in side the door still in carseat so i took this unknown baby out of its carseat and asked my aunt whose baby was it she replied no idea whoever it belongs to will come back later. Hours later the mom came back thanked my aunt ate some food and left. Yep crazy right. My aunt passed away few years ago so the haven went away sadly. She loved everyone and protected everyone who entered her home with love and home cooked food. She was always cooking something from the time she woke til she went to bed and no one was turned away rather they wanted food talk childcare a place to lay their heads to rest for a night

@ally-le I love your unplanned but forced into writing it article! Thank you for sharing these insights. I am coming in late in the day because of someone else’s late post. This site has a treasure trove of interesting reads and that’s just in the comments section.

I think your analogy of not seeing the rings because we are in the water is on point and one I will be using in my family therapy sessions from now on (don’t worry I always give credit to the many people who inspire me so will cite you!) Family dynamics are so hard to deal with when you are trapped in the familiar but unhelpful communication patterns and just can’t seem to break free.

Thanks again for reminding us that we can connect to the tropes used to carry the story in the dramas because often we see them occurring around us in our day to day lives.