"Dorami Is the Zombie That Protects Me"... Go Younjung's Portrait of Sad Self-Defense [Limelight]

Go Younjung as Cha Muhee in "Does This Love Translate?"
"As happy as I am, I am just as anxious"?Trauma manifesting as delusion
"The side I wanted to hide most is what saved Cha Muhee"
"Dorami is not a disease, but a remedy"?Turning complexes into strengths

Netflix 'Does This Love Translate?' Still Cut

Cha Muhee (played by Go Younjung) in Netflix's "Does This Love Translate?" is a Cinderella who wakes up to find herself a top star. Her social media follower count surpasses 10 million, and she is welcomed wherever she goes. However, the more the world praises her as a sensation, the more she is driven to the edge internally. Go Younjung remarked, "Happiness and anxiety coexist," and added, "The more you have, the greater the anxiety that this happiness might end."

These aspects are evident in Cha Muhee's sense of inadequacy. She believes that her current success is not due to her own abilities, but thanks to the popularity of Dorami, the zombie character in the movie. Unable to withstand the pressure, she ends up bringing the subject of that glory into reality. In fact, this becomes an unconscious refuge she chose to protect herself-a survival strategy that is also the saddest. An accident on set becomes the decisive blow. It is not just a physical collision. It serves as a catalyst that unleashes the pain and emotions from her childhood that she had struggled to suppress, and it triggers the uncontrollable amplification of the anxiety that had been deeply dormant inside her.

This strange dissociative phenomenon is explained in psychology as "identification with the aggressor." When a victim faces an overwhelming fear (the aggressor), they unconsciously imitate the aggressor in an instinctive attempt to become stronger and avoid being consumed by it. Having witnessed her mother's murder as a child, Cha Muhee did not remain a helpless victim. On the contrary, she survived at her relatives' house by pretending nothing had happened and acting as if she was unaffected. However, the fear accumulated inside her never disappeared. In a moment of crisis that threatens her survival, she unconsciously awakens the image of her mother that she had so deeply feared.

Netflix 'Does This Love Translate?' Still Cut

Go Younjung explained, "It is important that Dorami, the product of Cha Muhee's delusion, takes on the appearance of her traumatizing mother," adding, "By manifesting as the object of her fear, it paradoxically became a way for her to protect herself."

What is intriguing is that Dorami becomes the spokesperson for the desires Cha Muhee has suppressed her entire life. Cha Muhee is someone who hesitates and overthinks everything, unable to voice her true feelings. To avoid getting hurt, she always speaks in roundabout ways, constantly defending herself. In contrast, Dorami is unrestrained. She unabashedly expresses raw emotions that Cha Muhee cannot bring herself to say out loud. Go Younjung said, "Dorami protects Cha Muhee through her direct words and actions," and added, "I wanted to portray her as a spokesperson who voices the thoughts Cha Muhee could only keep to herself."

It is "translation" that mends this precarious split self. Ju Hojin (played by Kim Seonho) does not see Dorami's bizarre behavior as a pathological symptom. He understands and translates it as the language of a wounded inner self for Cha Muhee. Go Younjung said, "Ju Hojin is a bridge that connects hearts beyond language," and added, "When he read between the lines of Cha Muhee's heart-something even she could not interpret herself-she was finally able to breathe."

Netflix 'Does This Love Translate?' Still Cut

Only after having her deepest, most hidden flaws understood does Cha Muhee gain the courage to confront her past trauma. She no longer hides in the shadow of anxiety, but faces the world as her true self. In the end, Dorami was not a "disease" that made Cha Muhee sick, but a "medicine" that inevitably appeared to save her. Just as one builds immunity after a fever, it is only after passing through confusion that she learns to take off her mask and breathe freely.

This growing pain also resonates with Go Younjung's own past struggles. She said, "The low-toned voice that was never praised and my excessive caution have become unique strengths as an actress." She added with a smile, "Just as Dorami, whom Cha Muhee despised, turned out to be her lifeline, my own complexes have become weapons that help me grow further as an actress."