I have been watching Protect the Boss, which I loved for the first 8 or 9 episodes. I regret to say it has become more than a little redundant and reminds me more of old American soaps than any of the other Korean Dramas so far. I am going to see it through to the end, but here's what I am thinking....There are two or three evil older women in it who are constantly meeting in secret to think up something evil to do. That's kind of depressing. And the characters in the show are less enchanting. The main young man who carried the drama for the first half was adorable and innocent and had phobia's which were very endearing, but there is too much physical abuse for my taste. The girl he likes is constantly twisting his arm or slapping or punching him for liking her. It is obvious his father hit him through out his childhood because he cringes every time his father is near him. The father's mother also hits the father and threatens to break his legs, though she is the kindly one of the whole family. All in all, it is tedious and lacks interesting characters and dialogue to carry through however many episodes it is... I am still watching it. Yes, there are times when it is funny. The father is the best actor without a doubt. The son is good too, though his character is not given enough good lines as the show progresses. It falls back on fight scenes more and more. I do like the main girl and the dumped beauty, just because they are in opposite roles. The main girl is not beautiful, though she has a beautiful figure, and she slouches and her aggressive behavior is weird. I like the unusualness of that set up, but I am sorry she is so unkind to the main son while helping him. The other main young man could have been much much more interesting but they give him so little to work with. He has to do all his acting with his facial expressions because he rarely says anything of interest. The crying rich girl does her part well and is increasingly special. Unfortunately the "wrestler" girl is given a typical role to play. She has to be thuggish and mostly interested in overeating. But you get the feeling this girl could probably be a wondrous character if she was given a great role. I wish TV would have a positive big female once in a while. Not mean or tough or indifferent, but actually a wonderful human who isn't skinny. But maybe I want too much from the world.
Every single Americanized movie or show has three constants. The first is violence. Usually someone is about to get murdered, or has a gun, or is planning something dangerous. There is usually a shoot out, the bad guys shooting badly and the good guys killing left and right in order to save someone or do some good in the world. A total oxymoronic constant. The second "must be included in every movie" is a sex scene, usually five minutes after the two people meet, and it is always the same and it is always stupid and steamy and utterly unrealistic. In my opinion (and really I am NOT a prude.) I think watching a bedroom scene in a movie is SO dull and kind of repellant. Do people REALLY like to watch other people naked in bed together? I just don't see how it is so important to include the same thing in every major motion picture. I don't think it's WRONG or DIRTY or wicked, I just think it's boring. And they always make the same boring noises, and you see the same naked shoulders and hips and blah blah, get over it. In the last few years they have added a lot of sticky audio to kissing too which really turns me off. Why do people like to watch other people being intimate? It's such a cop out to character development.
The third constant is of course, the car. The car is being pursued. The car is pursuing. The car can do almost anything, even fly if you are watching anything with Nicholas Cage in it. The car spins, rolls over, falls off a cliff and bursts in to flames. The guy and girl crawl out, unscathed, and are able to shoot their pursuer just before they begin fondling each other and have sex.
There are over one and a half million people in the United States who are producers, directors, and actors. You would think, with all those people making movies, that they would come up with story lines that did not revolve around car chasing, shootouts, and sex scenes. ( ok, notwithstanding independent films about the Aboriginal tribal whatever....) In Korea, at least in Korean Drama, they have managed to do just that. There have been car scenes, but they are not heroics set up to make the main guy appealing. There have been a few guns in some of the dramas, but they are not shoot out scenes set up to turn the leading man into the hero. In Korean Drama, they let the leading man turn himself in to a hero, with his acting skill and his character, and his flaws. It is the differences, the individuality of the people that take their filmmaking to the top of my list. In the current American TV drama Person of Interest, the character "Harold" is enthralling in a similar way. His peculiarities are what make him so appealing; his limp, his inability to fist fight, his dislike of guns, etc. I remember going to a screen writing workshop in NYC some years ago and hearing how the writer should make a list for each character of things he says and does and wears and carries that make him that character. I didn't think much of it at the time because the speaker used, as an example, the movie Jerry Mcguire, explaining to the full auditorium that this was one of the best movies ever made. I could hardly wait to get out of there. I thought Jerry Mcguire was a perfect example of real garbage. I didn't think a single line in it was original or fresh or worthy and the story was unmemorable but I remember I hated it. Anyway, that speaker was spot on about developing characters. A list of what they are like. What they say. Like Hugo in LOST, said "dude", loved food, wore enormous teeshirts, listened to awesome music on his headphones, and was humorous even when he was suicidal.
Sometimes I give Korean Drama a break and watch something else on Netflix. I watched an episode of the British TV series House of Cards, I watched a Netflix mini series called the Prisoner (with the guy from PERSON OF INTEREST in it), I watched an episode of the American version of House of Cards (yikes! Sorry Netfix!). But nothing lately holds my interest other than these strange, wonderful, hilarious, tragic, emotional Korean Dramas. It's a phenomena, right?
Every single Americanized movie or show has three constants. The first is violence. Usually someone is about to get murdered, or has a gun, or is planning something dangerous. There is usually a shoot out, the bad guys shooting badly and the good guys killing left and right in order to save someone or do some good in the world. A total oxymoronic constant. The second "must be included in every movie" is a sex scene, usually five minutes after the two people meet, and it is always the same and it is always stupid and steamy and utterly unrealistic. In my opinion (and really I am NOT a prude.) I think watching a bedroom scene in a movie is SO dull and kind of repellant. Do people REALLY like to watch other people naked in bed together? I just don't see how it is so important to include the same thing in every major motion picture. I don't think it's WRONG or DIRTY or wicked, I just think it's boring. And they always make the same boring noises, and you see the same naked shoulders and hips and blah blah, get over it. In the last few years they have added a lot of sticky audio to kissing too which really turns me off. Why do people like to watch other people being intimate? It's such a cop out to character development.
The third constant is of course, the car. The car is being pursued. The car is pursuing. The car can do almost anything, even fly if you are watching anything with Nicholas Cage in it. The car spins, rolls over, falls off a cliff and bursts in to flames. The guy and girl crawl out, unscathed, and are able to shoot their pursuer just before they begin fondling each other and have sex.
There are over one and a half million people in the United States who are producers, directors, and actors. You would think, with all those people making movies, that they would come up with story lines that did not revolve around car chasing, shootouts, and sex scenes. ( ok, notwithstanding independent films about the Aboriginal tribal whatever....) In Korea, at least in Korean Drama, they have managed to do just that. There have been car scenes, but they are not heroics set up to make the main guy appealing. There have been a few guns in some of the dramas, but they are not shoot out scenes set up to turn the leading man into the hero. In Korean Drama, they let the leading man turn himself in to a hero, with his acting skill and his character, and his flaws. It is the differences, the individuality of the people that take their filmmaking to the top of my list. In the current American TV drama Person of Interest, the character "Harold" is enthralling in a similar way. His peculiarities are what make him so appealing; his limp, his inability to fist fight, his dislike of guns, etc. I remember going to a screen writing workshop in NYC some years ago and hearing how the writer should make a list for each character of things he says and does and wears and carries that make him that character. I didn't think much of it at the time because the speaker used, as an example, the movie Jerry Mcguire, explaining to the full auditorium that this was one of the best movies ever made. I could hardly wait to get out of there. I thought Jerry Mcguire was a perfect example of real garbage. I didn't think a single line in it was original or fresh or worthy and the story was unmemorable but I remember I hated it. Anyway, that speaker was spot on about developing characters. A list of what they are like. What they say. Like Hugo in LOST, said "dude", loved food, wore enormous teeshirts, listened to awesome music on his headphones, and was humorous even when he was suicidal.
Sometimes I give Korean Drama a break and watch something else on Netflix. I watched an episode of the British TV series House of Cards, I watched a Netflix mini series called the Prisoner (with the guy from PERSON OF INTEREST in it), I watched an episode of the American version of House of Cards (yikes! Sorry Netfix!). But nothing lately holds my interest other than these strange, wonderful, hilarious, tragic, emotional Korean Dramas. It's a phenomena, right?
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