The White Lotus, Succession, The Menu, Knives Out: dramedies that satirise the enviable lifestyles and dubious morality of the ultra-rich are having a moment. But it isn’t only western audiences indulging in a little “eat-the-rich” catharsis to take the edge off ever-widening wealth inequality.
Reborn Rich (재벌집 막내아들) – a South Korean saga that became the country’s most watched K-drama last year – centres on the super-rich Kim clan and their family firm, the Soonyang Group: a big, complicated conglomerate encompassing everything from tech to department stores. But the Kims’ real talent is for corporate malfeasance and carrying enough intergenerational baggage to fill several private jets. Both their present-day wealth and dysfunction can be traced back to the company’s late founder and patriarch, Jin Yang-chul (Lee Sung-min), who looms over them even in death.
