Found family 대안 가족 (Daean gajok)
Found family (대안 가족, Daean gajok) - A non-blood-relative group that builds itself into a family unit through proximity, shared circumstance, or chosen commitment. Korean drama uses found family across genres - workplace, criminal, post-apocalyptic - and pairs it with one of the culture's strongest narrative undercurrents: the obligation, sometimes burdensome, of family ties.
Found family - daean gajok (대안 가족), literally "alternative family" - is a frequent narrative spine in Korean drama. Where Western found-family stories often emphasize liberation from a difficult biological family, Korean drama tends to play the trope more ambivalently: the chosen family does not replace the biological one, it expands what family means alongside it.
How the trope shows up:
- Workplace dramas treat the team as a found family, with a paternal or maternal lead character; Hospital Playlist is the canonical modern example.
- Survival and apocalypse dramas use found family as the primary moral spine; All of Us Are Dead is a recent example.
- Coming-of-age dramas use found family as a counterweight to single-parent or absent-parent home environments.
Where to see Found family on DubSori
| Title | Year | Type | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| All of Us Are Dead | 2022 | series | |
| Family by Choice | 2024 | series | |
| Hospital Playlist | 2020 | series |
Related tropes
- Han - 한
Sources and verification
Last verified · confidence 0.85.