Under the hot comments on Douban of the drama "Long Time No Sex" (LTNS), the audience sighed that the plot in the play directly points to the pain points of contemporary life in East Asia:"No money, no job, no sex life", and even having an extramarital affair has to be done quickly while eating while pinching the watch during the lunch break. This made the female protagonist sigh when she heard that the male protagonist could only end the battle in seven minutes on average, "Just for this short seven minutes, do you have to go to such a great length?" ”
Stills from "Long Time Haven't Done" This Korean drama, which is labeled as a "** comedy", always catches the eye with the iconic kiss scene and bed scene at the beginning of each episode, and the level of provocation almost makes people doubt whether it is suitable for TV broadcasting. The actor Samuel, played by "Jeongbong Oba" Ahn Jae-hong, his "sexual contraction" also makes people think about the necessity of love scenes. However, the audience soon realizes that those hot emotions quickly become bland in married life. As you can see from the trailer, the show shows the daily life of a wife who still craves to have sex with her husband who rejects her, as well as a straightforward dialogue that breaks with the subtle East Asian tradition:"Is it because of love? "In the process, love that does not exist will also be generated." In the play, Samuel and Yuzhen (played by Li Xu) are a seemingly ordinary couple. Samuel is a gentle-looking, neatly combed husband who always takes care of everything in the house. He has a degree from Seoul National University, but in the economic downturn, he can only drive a taxi for a living. And Yuzhen, who works at the front desk of the hotel, has a seemingly tough personality, is outspoken, and has a hobby - jotting down the list of customers in a notebook that she dislikes. Although their personalities show a different side from traditional gender roles, their lives are like ordinary couples who can meet in **. However, seven years passedThey have gone from being in love to being a "sexless" couple who even the most basic touch seems to be an obligation. The name of this drama "LTNS" is taken from their current situation, "long time without sex". 
And no wonder they do. Their lives are tightly bound by reality, and the news broadcast on television makes people unable to arouse the slightest desire: South Korea's economy is once again in trouble, housing prices continue to fall, loan interest rates are rising, and people's lives are becoming more and more difficult, and they have to repay more than 5,000 yuan a month with interest alone. Although the two bought a small house, the price of the house started to start soon after**. Under the pressure of reality, Yuzhen chooses to live with kimchi and rice, while Samuel will be scolded even if he buys a cup of coffee even if he works the night shift. The young couple who were once in love are now so poor that even ** has been dragged down by the economy. If you want to ** how "impotence is a blessing" has become the current buzzword, then spiritual impotence may be the biggest deprivation of sexual life. However, the real narrative momentum of "LTNS" comes from the suspense brought about by genre films. By chance, they reveal the secret of a pair of friends' cheating, and realize that tracking cheats is actually a lucrative business. So, they began to spy on all kinds of couples, whether they were in a professional relationship, an older couple, or a same-sex couple, to gather evidence of their secret meeting. Using forged documents, covert stalking, and even blackmail, Yuzhen and Samuel have earned a lot of illegal income, and at the same time, their already cracked marriage has been rethought and partially repaired. 
The audience's concern for them stems from the resonance of their sense of deprivation. Although they are tightening their belts to live, they cannot change their embarrassing situation. At the same time, their friends, although also suffering career setbacks, are able to make a comeback thanks to their wealthy partners, while Samuel and Yuzhen can only find a way out of their limited options. They tried to get compensation through blackmail, only to find that this did not really solve the dilemma they faced, and it was difficult to easily achieve the goals of class rise and relationship restoration. And, when Woo-jin begins to suspect Samuel of cheating and stalking her husband, the couple's relationship descends into deeper chaos. 
Although the series focuses on sensitive themes such as sex and infidelity, directors Jeon Gaoyun and Ren Dajiong emphasized in an interview that what they want to really tell is about other stories, "Everyone has had moments of passion because of love, dreams, and career ambitions, hasn't there? We wanted to use the theme of sex and infidelity to uniquely present a portrait of the modern man who has lost it. "They think,Sex and infidelity are just the way to love and the other side of humanity. In addition to exposing the real social and environmental problems, this drama also points out many common problems in East Asian society according to the relationship between different characters. In the play, Yuzhen once said: "In South Korea, there is no unpitiful woman." This sentence reflects the female tragedies that can be seen everywhere in the play: the betrayed wife, the lover who is toyed with, the neglected mother, and the woman who is bound by social morality. This kind of neglect and exploitation of women's rights and interests is not limited to South Korea. What's even more ironic is that the money they obtained through extortion was not used for personal enjoyment, but for Samuel's father's birthday celebration and to support Yuzhen's niece in pursuing her dreams. The pain of East Asia is precisely a reflection of its deep-rooted sense of responsibility to others. 
But the directors hope to make the audience reflect on and accept these serious topics in a relaxed way through black humor, so the show as a whole maintains a pleasant tone of comedy"There are a lot of stereotypes in society, and we want to alleviate that. ”While the characters and situations in the play are derived from reality, the criminal acts and emotional conflicts depicted in it transcend the boundaries of reality. The director explained that people in this era may experience similar uneasiness, but will not actually commit criminal acts, "There seems to be a thrill to see such an anti-hero figure take action." "Many viewers feel that this drama is not suitable for husband and wife together**, because it puts all the unbearable and problems in marriage on the bright side. In fact, the directors did think so, they felt that this was a TV series that was more suitable for one person to watch while drinking. The frequent kiss scenes in the play did not bring people a sense of pleasureThis is a deliberate move by the directors so that those who are not willing to continue can choose to leave after watching the first episode. When Yuzhen and Samuel find out that they have cheated on each other, their marriage seems irretrievable, yet the two embrace each other again after the divorce. Through their stories, the directors raise questions about the institution of marriage, arguing that marriage is like a burden and a shackle. When these shackles are lifted,After they achieved the so-called "long-term sexless" state, the two were able to face each other openly again, and the sexual relationship was established again, according to the director, itself a kind of irony of the marriage system. 
Why does sexlessness eventually seem to be the end of marriage? Back in 2006, a Pfizer survey documented a decline in libido among young Koreans:The frequency of sexual activity among young people in their twenties and thirties is lower than that of middle-aged people in their forties and fifties. In 2016, a survey conducted by Lina Life Insurance Company and Kang Dong Woo Institute of Sexual Medicine showed that 36 out of 743 married respondents1% of people have sex less than once a month. Overall, the proportion of men and women without sex is 382% and rises with age, 43 among married people over 50Nine per cent are in a sexless marriage. The longer you have been married, the higher the proportion of sexless marriages. South Korea has an extremely high rate of sexless marriages, second only to Japan.
Living apart is often cited as a major reason for the increase in sexless marriages, but the underlying situation is much more complex. One reason is that with the rise of the feminist movement in South Korea, women are increasingly seeking independence, while men are sticking more to tradition. In the play, Yuzhen's physical derailment and Samuel's spiritual derailment subvert traditional gender role expectations. Director Ren Dajiong mentioned that it is common to simply assume that women tend to cheat mentally and men tend to cheat physically, but this is not always the case. While many dramas and movies emphasize men's physical infidelity and women's emotional infidelity, there are counterexamples.
So after the divorce, why did Yuzhen and Samuel choose to get back together and have sex? Director Jeon Go-un explained in an interviewThe definition of love can vary depending on the stage of life and experience. Initially, love may be closely linked to passion, but as the marriage progresses, it may become more inclusive. For Samuel, family becomes part of love; And Yuzhen may still be seeking passionate love, thus sparking conflict. But as time passed, their relationship reversed and they began to re-examine their feelings for each other.
Many people refer to this "LTNS" and last year's "Angry Life" as the "crazy literature" that reflects the mental state of East Asians in recent years. I don't know when people have gradually come to realize thatIn a way, economics and sexuality are actually two sides of the same coin. It's as if a friend commented,Cheating may not inspire so many entanglements in the Western context. However, in the context of long-term repression in East Asian society, frank and bold discussions on sexual topics can reveal the deep-seated contradictions and problems of society. In the form of a black comedy, this work not only satirizes and deconstructs the relationship between the sexes, but also touches on the differences between different social classes and responds to people's social emotions in a certain warm way.