Welcome to the Apple Hair CANON!
Here, I’ll explore creating a fictional universe, and I’m hoping you’ll follow along with your own world. I’m by no means an expert, so let’s discuss how to create a believable, magical, and captivating world. Let’s be storycatchers together!
Want to read Apple Hair, the boy band fantasy novel, from the very beginning? You can start here! Apple Hair is a fictional, Asian American boy band from Hawaiʻi.
Welcome to the newsletter, and I’m excited to lay down the foundations of our storyworlds together, one word at a time.
Hi, storycatchers! In the last edition of the CANON, I talked about ways to support our favorite authors. This time, I want to jump back into our discussions about storyworlds and story building. Today, we’re going to do a study of one of the most iconic K-dramas of recent years, Racket Boys. Racket Boys came out in 2021 and is available to watch on Netflix. So, I have to admit that I’m a bit late to the party. But I’m so glad I gave this show a shot! It’s described as a feel-good coming-of-age story with slice-of-life elements. And of course, there’s the sports elements with badminton getting a rare mainstream feature.
The first thing that needs to be talked about is the protagonists—all their flaws and complexities. The main character here is Haekang. With a kind disposition, I was fooled at first until he started to boast about his abilities in every other scene. I grew to love how he was overly confident and achingly honest—at the same time, he’s incredibly sacrificial when it comes to those he loves. His team members, who make up the Racket Boys (otherwise 라켓소년단 ‘Raketsonyeondan’—taking inspo from BTS’s full name), are all so different. We have the young and innocent Yongtae, who proves to be quite mature in mentality. Then we have the humble Woochan, who provides a quiet yet steady spirit to the team. Yoondam is the captain, who struggles with high expectations, along with the various rivalries among teams. Hyeonjong is the high-spirited coach, also Haekang’s dad, who often feels lacking yet does the best he can for the team.
The cast is much too big to describe everyone, but just know that there are many romantic interests going on! The point is that despite the large cast, the show highlights the flaws of each person, giving them enough space for the audience to truly empathize with what they’re going through. For example, Haekang’s arrogance might seem a bit much at times, but then we’re hit with the reality of betrayal from past teammates—and his wondering about whether he found a true team to trust.
The second thing ties back to a post I wrote before, all about remembering your story question. You would think that the question is whether the Racket Boys will bring home a gold medal, but I believe it to be more than that. It’s about whether the Racket Boys will trust each other, forgive each other, and learn to be a true team—a family, even—that loves badminton. Haekang and his team members are growing up as teenagers, and they’re experiencing a lot of things for the first time. Not just first love, but first friendships and first times to experience loss of friendship. It was beautiful to see the members of the badminton team comfort each other through each one’s personal struggles.
My third and final point is that Racket Boys makes sure to stick to genre conventions and audience expectations. This one is a tricky one for me, since I don’t exactly love to follow genres to the T. At the same time, there is a huge benefit in doing so. Watchers of K-dramas who like sports comedy knew exactly what to expect. And the show makers delivered! Lots of funny moments in competition, some friendly rivalry, and some sweet romance to top it off. Racket Boys didn’t aim to surprise but to show the audience what they’re dying to see. We get some intense badminton rally scenes, and the directors truly knew that people were aching for those dramatic shots in a close match. These days, people find huge success in mashing up genres and subverting expectations. Racket Boys still surprises the audience in ways, but it sticks to its strengths—heartwarming scenes and the complexities of teenage life.
Thank you very much for joining the CANON this week. What would you like me to discuss in the next post? Comment below. Or jump into my Chat or on one of my Notes, and I’ll be happy to hear your input. Let’s find a story to immerse ourselves in this week, whether that be a K-drama, novel, anime, or movie!