The Korean drama Business Proposal started as a popular webtoon that gained significant online traction. Netflix picked up the story and turned it into a live-action series regarded as one of the best K-dramas of 2022. Many people might have wondered what made Business Proposal popular compared to other K-dramas. The answer might lie in the show's self-awareness about commonly used tropes.

In romance, tropes are often the bread and butter of good content. People want to read or watch something romantic for comfort, and searching for specific tropes helps them find what they need. Although it's essential to utilize romance tropes, it can also be entertaining to poke fun at these repeated situations as they sometimes create ridiculous scenarios that make viewers laugh. Business Proposal used this idea and created a romantic comedy series that called itself out in an entertaining way.

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Business Proposal Called Attention to the Billionaire Trope

photo of the main characters from business proposal. shin ha-ri is walking away as kang tae-mu grabs her shoulder and makes her look back.

A consistent joke in Business Proposal is that there is a series within the show that mirrors the relationship between the lead characters Kang Tae-moo and Shin Ha-ri, titled Be Strong, Geum Hui. Tae-moo's billionaire status is the central trope of the series as he's the CEO of his family's company, and Ha-ri works in one of the departments. He takes advantage of the power dynamic between them and doesn't realize he's being cruel until he sees similar scenes in Be Strong. This causes him to feel guilty and adjust his behavior.

Ha-ri jokes about Be Strong, calling out Tae-moo's privileged upbringing. There's a scene in Business Proposal where they stop to eat some tteokbokki, and Ha-ri comments that he's probably never had the food before. They acknowledge how cheesy and typical it is for billionaire characters to be so far removed from society that they'd never had common street foods. Tae-moo proves her wrong by claiming he's had it many times, and it's one of his favorite foods.

Tae-moo's grandfather Kang Da-goo also plays into the rich stereotypes. He watches Be Strong and comments on how the characters behave, including that they portray rich people as whiny and loud. This made for another moment of self-awareness because Da-goo was incredibly whiny and took extravagant measures like renting an entire suite at the hospital to get his grandson's attention. Compared to other Korean series where economic strife is a serious issue, Da-goo's frivolous decisions with money were comical. They played into the stereotypes he wanted to protest.

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Business Proposal Mocked the Accidental Kissing Trope

a scene from business proposal where shin ha-ri fell into kang tae-mu's arms and their lips touched.

A common trope in romance is when a character will dramatically trip, and the other character will catch them before they fall. This happens multiple times in Business Proposal, but the most entertaining scene was in Episode 2 when Ha-ri accidentally shoved Tae-moo, and they both fell in the garden. She fell directly on top of him, and their lips touched. It might have been a sweet moment, but it was also highly unrealistic. Since the series had already drawn attention to the cheesy moments leading up to their fall, it created a genuinely amusing moment.

This situation was made funnier when Tae-moo later caught a scene from Be Strong, Geum Hui, where the same situation happened to the show's main characters. Tae-moo was so overwhelmed with emotion that he yelled at the television, claiming two people couldn't fall in love over something as trivial as that. Da-goo responded by telling him to be quiet while he enjoyed his show, not realizing his grandson was having a dramatic moment brought on by his experiences.

Business Proposal did an excellent job of calling out the familiar and often cheesy tropes used in romance in a way that made it refreshing and entertaining. Plenty of moments wouldn't have been as funny if the show had taken itself too seriously and not openly called attention to its silly scenes. The intentional decisions made the series a fun, lighthearted watch for romance lovers that provided plenty of room to find joy.

Business Proposal is available for streaming on Netflix.