The remastered version of Sunflower is hitting theaters again on November 23rd. Originally released in 2006, the film didn’t get much love at first. However, it later became a cult classic, thanks to the unforgettable moment when Kim Rae Won shouts the iconic line, “Did you really have to take everything to feel satisfied?!” This powerful scene struck a chord with audiences and transformed into a meme sensation.
Sunflower isn’t the only Korean film to experience a second chance at fame—let’s dive into a few others that earned their place in meme history.
A Bittersweet Life (2005): “You’ve insulted me.”
Kim Young Cheol might just be the king of memes among actors. From his iconic “Who made that coughing sound?” in Emperor Wang Gun to the unforgettable “Four dollars” in Rustic Period, he’s delivered some of the most meme-worthy lines in K-drama history.
Of course, we can’t forget his role in A Bittersweet Life, where he warns his subordinate Kim Sun Woo (Lee Byung Hun) with the chilling line, “You insulted me.” Naturally, the internet worked its magic and spun this into playful memes like “You’ve given me a bathrobe,” since “feeling of insult” and “bathrobe” sound hilariously similar in Korean.
Tazza: The High Rollers (2006): “Double or nothing”
Tazza: The High Rollers is a movie so iconic that it’s practically a collection of memes itself. From Kim Hye Soo’s feisty delivery of the legendary line, “I went to college. I can’t go to the slammer,” to Cho Seung Woo’s narration, “It’s chilling. A dagger slices the air. It stabs at my heart,” the film is packed with unforgettable quotes that immediately bring its scenes to life.
The actor who benefited the most from the late-blooming Tazza meme craze is none other than Kim Eung Soo. At the time of the film’s 2006 release, his lines didn’t come close to being labeled iconic. However, nearly 13 years later, quotes like “The bridge collapsed?” “Hwaran, I know how to love,” and “Double or nothing” gave rise to countless memes.
Riding the wave of this newfound popularity, Kim Eung Soo even starred in a Burger King commercial, exclaiming “Double or nothing!” The surge in popularity marked a new peak in his career as it brought him numerous offers, including over 60 advertising inquiries.
Decision to Leave (2022): “At Last”
Tang Wei’s iconic delivery of “at last” and “I’m completely broken” quickly became fan favorites among the film’s poetic, literary-style dialogue. The “at last” meme not only charmed audiences but also brought back a word that many Koreans hadn’t used in ages.
The meme above humorously portrays a scene where a doctor diagnoses a patient with a “serious addiction to Decision to Leave that requires treatment,” to which the patient cleverly responds with a mix of lines from the movie: “Hmph, ridiculous. Take this silly doctor’s heart and throw it into the deep sea where no one can find it.”
Kim Kyung Soo, the author of “The Genealogy of Korean Internet Memes”, even stated, “Compared to other words like ‘finally’ or ‘all along’, ‘at last’ wasn’t exactly commonly used in Korean. But the moment Tang Wei said ‘at last,’ its usage suddenly doubled.” Who knew one simple line could spark a mini-linguistic revival?
12.12: The Day (2023): “Fail and it’s treason, succeed and it’s a revolution!”
This iconic line by Hwang Jung Min, who reinvented himself as a singer thanks to YouTube creator JFF, quickly turned into a meme. With the intensity of someone scolding hesitant military officers before a big move, Hwang Jung Min shouts, “Fail and it’s treason, succeed and it’s a revolution!”
The meme often swaps out the words “treason” and “revolution” for other playful alternatives. On a university’s online forum, it was humorously rewritten as: “Let’s use the cool term ‘open book’ instead of calling it cheating. Fail, it’s zero points; succeed, it’s an A+!” This perfectly captures the cheeky spirit of a student wanting an open-book test.
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Exhuma (2024): The Cat and the Green Onion Meme
The film Exhuma broke the stereotype that occult genres can’t succeed in the Korean film industry. The film registered 11.91 million viewers and has also sparked a wave of fun parodies and memes. One of the first fun parodies was a “Cat and Green Onion” version.
It featured a cute meme of a cat sitting next to a green onion, playing on the film’s title, which sounds like “cat” and “green onion” in Korean. It became a quirky trend that had everyone laughing and sharing.
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