Korean Dramas...

[shadowkat]

I was in the mood for a fun romantic comedy -- and stumbled onto Boys Over Flowers -- a highly popular Korean television series that aired in 2009 in Korea, and went on to international acclaim in Asia. It's based on the popular Japaneses shogu magna of the same name. "shogu" is romantic magna, magna is a Japanese comic book. [This is after skim-watching the atrocious "A Cinderella Christmas" and attempting to watch "JJ Sneed" on Heartstrings. Both of which make the Korean drama look really frigging accomplished in comparison. I've read that Korean Dramas are bad, but seriously -- have these people tried watching the movies on Hallmark and Lifetime and Heartstrings? I thought Korean one was actually really good -- and it gives the women agency. The US is horrid at romantic dramas. I've been finding the US contemporary romantic dramas unwatchable hence the reason I've been watching the Korean ones.]

It's basically a contemporary teen high school Korean take on Pride and Prejudice. (My favorite romantic tropes are Pride & Prejudice, Beauty & the Beast, and the Snow Queen (not the Disney version), also Mulan. My least favorite are Cinderella (I hate Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty.)

My niece and I have bonded over our shared love of Korean dramas. She rec'd Accidentally in Love and Abyss -- also on Netflix.

Made it through nine episodes or nine hours worth of the drama. There are 25 episodes in all. No way, I'll make it through all of them before I leave on Friday. However, my parents do have Netflix, so I might be able to watch down there -- not clear yet. [I've forced myself to stop at 9 episodes -- which ended with a kiss between the romantic leads.]

It's in Korean with subtitles, but after a while I don't notice. The social commentary is interesting, and familiar. Korea isn't all that different than the US culturally, except there's not as much racial diversity, and it's mostly divided along class lines. Or so it appears.

One of the reasons I adore my niece is she gets me and I get or understand her. One of the few people who does. It's a very rare thing to find people who "get" me or "understand" me on a deep level. One of the reasons I'm still single is I've yet to find a guy who gets me, who understands how I think and perceive the world, without me having to try and explain it to him. My brother, father, male friends, male co-workers don't get me at all. There was one guy in college who sort of did -- but he died of leukemia just after we graduated from college. I still think about him sometimes. He got me. We were friends, not lovers. One of the few guys I've met and dated who didn't want to change me, and didn't feel the need to tell me how to think or what to like. He wasn't critical at all. I think my niece and possibly my mother are the only members of my family who truly get me. It's also why I'm still friends with Wales, she gets me. I'm kind of hard to get or understand. It is what it is.

Comments

[dar_vidder]

OMG I was a HUGE fan of the 2005 Japanese TV show Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers). I tried the Korean version years later, but kept comparing it to the earlier version and therefore couldn't fully get into it. But maybe I should give it another go.

In the version I watched there was just something so potent about the characters and main romance that made it super compelling to me. It's the closest I've come to seeing something on TV that made me feel the way my favorite fanfiction does when I read it. It was like it was tapping directly into my id. Most other series I've enjoyed over the years have elements that I'm drawn to, but they still show more...restraint, I guess, so they're not as melodramatic, but at the same they feel more watered down and don't pack the same punch imo.

[shadowkat]

I didn't know there was a Japanese television version? Is it live action or anime? I just stumbled upon it...because it kind of reminded me of another Japanese anime film I'd seen, and I was wondering if it was the live action take on it (it wasn't thankfully.)

In the version I watched there was just something so potent about the characters and main romance that made it super compelling to me. It's the closest I've come to seeing something on TV that made me feel the way my favorite fanfiction does when I read it. It was like it was tapping directly into my id. Most other series I've enjoyed over the years have elements that I'm drawn to, but they still show more...restraint, I guess, so they're not as melodramatic, but at the same they feel more watered down and don't pack the same punch imo.

Nods. Yes, felt the same. Also they do show restraint on the sex/kissing bit. And work slowly up on it. Where they don't is on the fun melodrama bits.

[dar_vidder]

It was the Japanese live action one I saw.

I'll have to check out the Korean version again. Maybe this time I'll be able to stop comparing it and just enjoy it as its own thing.

[shadowkat]

I can see the problem. I don't think I could watch the Japanese version without comparing...I saw a blip, and the casting didn't quite work for me. Not an issue, since it's impossible for me to see the Japanese version. The only one available on streaming is the Korean. The Taiwanese was "Metro Garden" and apparently Amazon considered doing an American version (which I don't think will work as well, part of the appeal is the Korean cultural bits).

[shadowkat]

Okay, I googled it and apparently there's been multiple versions -- including one that Amazon was planning. The Japanese versions were first, both anime and live, and the live action one in Japan had 2005, 2007, plus movies. But it's only available on DVD unfortunately -- and I don't have a DVD player that works with my television at the moment. So, sticking with the Korean, which is really good. The best apparently are the Japanese and Korean adaptations, although Taiwan and China have also done it. There's another one, my niece rec'd entitled Accidentally in Love.

[wpadmirer]

Cool.