how south korea changed me: k-dramas

Chances are, if you ask me what show I'm currently binging, it will most likely be a k-drama. I'd never even heard of them before going to Korea, so I'm just as surprised as anyone to be so into them.  It's hard to convince other people (like my sisters heh) why they're worth watching, but I'll attempt to explain why I got into them and why I still enjoy them.

A trick-eye mural in Gangnam of actor Ji Chang-Wook who stars in "Suspicious Partner"

(although I didn't know who it was at the time, haha)

Watching them became a part of my "culture research," or so I liked to call it. The first one I ever watched was called "Fated to Love You" and it took a few episodes before it hooked me, but once it did, I loved it. I don't know if I'd recommend this one as a first k-drama experience, but the ones I talk about below I do. Sometimes it takes a few episodes to get interested in any kind of show. It's not surprising. K-dramas were a big adjustment in my expectations for a show though!

I watched how the k-drama characters interacted, listened to their intonation, observed the gestures and habits. As I watched them and learned about Korean culture elsewhere, it actually helped me in real life! It helped my ears adjust to sound of the language since going out and speaking to people was crazy intimidating. Humans don't come with built-in subtitles, unfortunately! I was excited when I could tell that someone was being extra polite or intentionally rude by the formal or casual language used, which is something we don't really have in English. I was thrilled when I could differentiate the words and match what was spoken with the subtitles, and understand some of the simpler sentences without them. It was a measurement for observing my own language growth.

A mural of Lee Min Ho in Ihwa Mural Village. (memorable dramas: Heirs, Boys Over Flowers, Personal Taste) 

Of course, keep in mind that watching Korean shows and taking them as a true depiction of their society is about as correct as saying a typical American drama is accurate of ours. I think most of us can say our lives aren't much like what we see on TV.

There's a large variety of American shows and the same goes for Korea. I admit, the romantic in me prefers the rom-coms, and those were all I knew about at first. They can have their cheesy moments but who doesn't love a bit of cheese.

You'll notice there are some things commonly found within them all, which I find different from American shows; like random product placements while other brands are blurred. There might be long, drawn out moments as characters learn something especially life-altering, or witness many a flash back to previous conversations. Some have pretty far-fetched, ill-fated plot twists, or could simply be about underdogs fighting to come out on top. One thing's for sure is that I can easily say they are more emotionally driven.

Characters can be over the top in expressing their love or disdain; families or co-workers get into savage disagreements; men even weep gut wrenching tears, which I find surprisingly refreshing! Others can have a very "She's All That" plot and admittedly I'm a total sucker for it. Thankfully there are plenty of others with strong female leads (literally so with the drama "Strong Girl Bong-Soon") and I enjoy those even more.

One episode alone can make me laugh one minute and cry the next. Ultimately you never know how it will play out. Since they are dramas, things are bound to be dramatic.

 A pretty place in the Ihwa Mural Village that I saw later saw featured in "Doctors" with sweet Park Shin Hye.

What I appreciate about k-dramas is that because Korean TV is very censored I don't have to take in as much extra "junk." Children could be watching, so I assume that's partly why.

These scripts and scenes generally depict relationships as much more innocent and precious, which isn't necessarily the reality any more than how American TV generally makes us all seem overly promiscuous. This is something to be aware of in how it affects your expectations in interacting with local people, or even them interacting with you. However I like that I don't have to be so concerned with the story relying heavily on rated R moments to move the plot along and "keep" my interest, as often as you might over here. I'm not saying its completely ruled out and I've seen some where the plot involves the characters awkwardly running into each other after their implied ONS in episode one (ahem, Fated to Love You), but its all far less graphic. In many cases you might be halfway through the series before they hold hands!

So it's almost like the opposite is true; k-dramas with TV censorship often keep their viewers watching by postponing the romance and limiting 'skinship' as they call it.

Also on that censorship note, whenever I would watch a more "violent" movie scene on TV, I noticed that the wounds and weapons are often blurred out. It seemed strange to me at first, but I realized I'm the one that's been desensitized by constantly viewing those things. Would Game of Thrones or Outlander be as popular if any of these elements were absent? It was eye-opening to compare the difference in what is allowed on TV there verses here. There's also a lot more I could say to the opposite effect on exposure and availability, but that's not something I want to discuss here.

The downside to watching these is that they require your full attention, its near impossible to multi-task. If you miss a line of subtitles you could lose the meaning of a whole scene and a plot-twist could happen at any moment. (This isn't limited to k-dramas though, since Robyn told me this was how it was for her watching "The Crown.") I still wouldn't want them to be dubbed though. Now, I'm certainly no expert and my comprehension is still not great, but when I hear the spoken Korean and read the English subtitles I can tell at times that something is lost. I like knowing that difference. I attempted to watch some episodes of "I Am Not a Robot" as it was released pre-subtitles and I managed to guess enough of the dialogue to get the gist, but I definitely still needed to rewatch with subtitles to fully understand it. I'm not at that level.

Another difference: K-dramas are usually just one season in length. You fall in love with the characters but it all ties together in that set amount of time and there's no such thing as say, the six glorious seasons of Downton Abbey, which were still not enough imho.
On the bright side, this is why I can watch so many of them!

K- Drama Faves/Recommendations

I've watched quite a number of k-dramas over the past couple of years however there are two major stand outs during my time in Korea. I chose them because of how inescapably present they were in my daily life walking around doing errands and while at work with my students. Everyone was talking about them. Interestingly, both were written by the same screenwriter, Kim Eun-sook, and were huge successes: "Descendants of the Sun," and "Goblin: the Lonely and Great God."

Descendants of the Sun



"Descendants of the Sun," is about the chemistry and conflict between a charming Special Forces Captain and a beautiful, talented surgeon with somewhat differing views on the value of life. It's currently on Netflix. Personally, I watched it on Drama Fever and found the translated language there was not as "strong."

I love the confident female lead played by Song Hey-kyo. In the drama she is a character with integrity who takes ownership of tough situations, even leading a team of doctors overseas to a war-torn country. Song Joong-Ki's character constantly has to head off on dangerous, top-secret missions, the opening scene involving a rescue mission in North Korea. While off-duty he apprehends a young thief. The thief gets hurt in the action, so the captain brings him to the hospital where she ends up being the doctor in charge. This is where they meet for the first time. Despite some misunderstandings thanks to his code name, Big Boss, there's an immediate spark but with so many secrets and disappointments it's hard to maintain. As fate would have it, they keep bumping into each other where they'd least expect it. Beautiful locations and thrilling action scenes keep you coming back for even more. All of my students loved it, both the boys and the girls. It might be the perfect drama for a couple to watch, since it has romance and action all in one.

Couldn't resist making hearts with Song Joong-Ki in Busan

But then again, maybe not!

After watching "Descendants of the Sun," women all over Asia were seemingly obsessed with the actor Song Joong-ki and his brave, charismatic (cough*handsome*cough) character in the drama. Whether its true or not, apparently in China there were marital conflicts that arose because some women were not satisfied that their husbands weren't like SJK! Yikes! One of my co-teachers essentially boycotted the show because of this mania. I could almost argue that the obsession and controversy at the time might have been somewhat comparable to that of women over Fifty Shades, minus the R-rating. Unreal, but if you watch this mushy Baskin Robbins commercial (to the end), you might partly understand why:



Oh dear. As my sis, Catherine likes to tell me, "if you look at something long enough, you start to like it!" And in this case, she's not wrong. Not that he was a new actor or anything but through the popularity and fame of this drama, Song Joong-ki was chosen to became an ambassador and face for Korean tourism! I'm sure it drew a lot of business. It's common for famous Korean actors and kpop groups to advertise all sorts of things there but his face was literally everywhere. I saw him in advertisements for a huge variety of products like toothpaste, cell-phones, alcohol, ice cream, clothing stores and pizza all at once. From TV commercials to posters on the sides of restaurants and cardboard cut-outs on the street like above.

I sent lots of snaps to Ivonne every time I saw a new one, because I didn't wanna smh all by myself. She was my k-drama gossip buddy for this one. There was more exciting buzz when the two lead actors got married in real life a year in October 2017, dubbed the Song-Song couple!!

Some songs from the soundtrack: Every Time, Always, Once Again

Goblin

(hit the CC button for English lyrics/subs)

I loved "Goblin" starring Gong Yoo, Lee Dong Wook and Kim Go-eun. The story is incredibly tragic yet manages to do it with great humour. This one is a fantasy about a loyal general from the Goryeo Dynasty who is betrayed by his king and left to die in a field. God takes pity on him and brings him back to life as an immortal goblin who cannot pass on until he finds his bride who can pull from his chest the invisible sword which originally killed him. That's just the back story. Fast-forward 900 years to present day to where most of the plot happens and he finally encounters his bride-to-be.

The way the story unfolds, the revelations about the characters; it's just so, so good you guys.

Of course, my favourite part is the evolving bromance between the goblin and a fellow immortal, a grumpy, emotionally conflicted grim reaper who suspects something's up about this current gig. They both have magical abilities and the tricks they play on each other make it memorable. It was also insightful to see how other religions shape a story in talking about past lives, and deal with questions of life after death and immortality. There are many moving stories involving the grim reaper and the people he transports into the next life.

I can almost taste this sweet, crispy chicken. I never craved chicken wings until I tried KyoChon's honey combo.

(source: google imgs)

My housemate, Kayla and I made this show our Sunday or Monday night ritual, along with ordering takeout KyoChon honey chicken wings! (Using chopsticks is a great way to avoid messy fingers, btw.)

I also finally successfully convinced my sister, Elizabeth to (re)watch this k-drama with me! She loved this one even though it was in Korean. I even bought her her very own Buckwheat goblin stuffy for her bday this year as a tribute. The soundtrack gives us all the feels.

Fun fact: some of Goblin was filmed in Quebec, Canada!
Here is of my favourite poetic scenes from the drama (with subtitles):



Some songs from the Goblin OST: Stay with Me, Never Far Away, I Miss You

Gong Yoo also has a face and character that women love, so just to be fair, here's a commercial of him leisurely enjoying a good cup of Maxim coffee:



I'm quite relaxed after watching it, to be honest.

Anyway...

I kept up with both of these dramas as they aired and/or watched them as soon as subtitles were available just so I could understand the craze of all my students and the population in general. It was insane. But there were benefits: The dramas became easy conversation topics! My students wanted to talk about the plot, how interesting the characters were or listen to the show's soundtrack for a few minutes at the beginning or end of class.

Speaking of soundtrack, you couldn't walk into a store or along the street on the public speakers without hearing their OST's so I included a few of them here. I enjoyed knowing where the music came from and it was fun to be immersed in in the culture of it all. Music has a way of transporting you. I'm not sure if any western show has ever compared to this total experience. It was unavoidable. The media and advertising presence was so strong.

A poster of BTS endorsing spicy chicken. Very common to see actors and kpop stars featured in advertisements, etc.

The experience lives on. While it may not be as immersive as while in Korea, I still try to keep up with current k-dramas available now. It certainly helps me deal with my "second home" homesickness. I'm glad to live in such a connected world and that I can still experience bits of South Korea through these shows.