Camsahamida Netflix for bringing Korean drama to the USA!

 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?

Korean Character in Dramas

You Are Beautiful... Another addicting Korean Drama. But how could she continue loving that turkey of a guy episode after episode? Ok he was very cute, but so wrapped up in himself, and with such a wicked mother. But then how could she leave him after he stood on stage talking to her and found her in the crowd of 15 thousand screaming fans? That was a great scene. That was the scene the audience waited for, waded for through 16 episodes. What an awesome scene. So erotic. But then what? After something so terrific as that, what else is there? The mundane day to day life that inevitably follows is too disappointing to think about. So in a way she has to leave, this nun turned boy turned pig-rabbit turned woman. She has to leave otherwise we are left only with an ordinary couple.
     What I want to know is why do they use so much english? And why is there so much catholicism?
    Well, the long week-end is over. You are Beautiful is over. The morning pushes on, and it's time to go back to work. Forget the glittering world of television. Let go of the lives of all those others who exist only in the dreamworld. Work. Work to forget. Work to make money. Work to pass time. Work to remember you are human, regardless of where you were born, you are human... and existence is enough of a drama, subtitles or not.
     PASTA, the Korean Drama about a girl who wants to be a chef and a Chef that hates girls in his kitchen, REAL acting suddenly appears on the screen in episode 10 and knocks you off your feet. Yoo Kyung is one of the most convincing actresses I have ever watched. Her character is awkward, childlike (almost overly so, but not quite), and somewhat plain. She is told over and over by Chef that she is not attractive. Ugly, he says. Her face is full of expression, her body movements are exactly right, and her joy is contagious. Sorry, that is a oh so corny remark but it is true! It is true, you must watch this soap. In episode 10 Hyun Wook, (real name Lee Sun-kyun, the worlds most adorable sensual powerhouse of an actor) tells Yoo Kyung (the worlds most adorable, childlike, strong female lead..her real name is Gong Hyo-Jin)  that he likes her. And in these few minutes where she sits on his cutting table and he bends over her, the emotions and facial expressions and acting is absolutely REALITY TV. It could not be more real. In fact, I keep wondering if they are really who they are portraying. These two carry the show, along with the restaurant owner who also acts well, though his role is more quiet and his love unrequited, and Yoo Kyung's father who plays a small but beautifully done part.

Can I gush anymore? Are these people famous? I know they are famous in Korea, but what about in the U.S.? 

 These shows all use odd real type people. You don't need to hear an actor repeating the same word, or wearing the same shirt to know their character. They stand out and are memorable because they are not perfect to begin with. The leading girl doesn't wear lip gloss in PASTA. The female cook who gets fired kind of has a Roseanne aura, chunky and angry. (She turns up again in Protect the Boss, another FANTASTIC drama I'm in the middle of now.) Sometimes people look disheveled, really look it. In US movies a person might say, "wow you look terrible! what's the matter?" but in truth, the other person doesn't look terrible at all... they look spiffy and perfect but maybe they're frowning. Korean Drama lets you see as well as hear. The story is not in perfection. It is not about perfection. The scenery is refreshingly dumpy at times. The cars aren't all perfect. The imperfections make it. and the fact that you can watch 20 or more hours of one drama without having to see people copulating in order to know they are in love is...well... it's just way sexier. I love how you grow to love each character because you get to see such interesting scenes that may not be directly related to the plot but they add tremendously to the story. It's like listening to a folk tale. It's rich stuff. And grown up people are important. They aren't people to avoid like in this country, they are the center of the family. The grown kids listen to them. They have this respect shown to them. Honorifics. "Yo" at the end of a sentence. Bowing. And a meaningful place in the group. A person watching this yearns for that kind of acceptance and inclusion in the familial group. A person watching these Korean Dramas may feel we have sacrificed too much in our loss of formality and tradition, trading it for independence which teeters on isolation. 

Bing-Bong, Shin, Jung, and I can't find my Shues, Darn It

             Great Korean Drama Lines, and other sound bites
"Can't you see I am blushing?? Can't you hear my heart beating wildly?" Shin Mi demands, pulling away from the arms of Suk Bong.
"No," says Bong, confused. "But I can certainly hear your shrill voice..." (Becoming a Billionaire)

Peculiar hang ups in Korean shows
#1:    Americans don't have an aversion to bathroom humor per se, sometimes it turns up in movies but not often and it is never overt. Not so in Korean TV. They not only have person-on-toilet shots, complete with rolls of toilet paper and narrow stall, but they talk about it in almost graphic detail. There is even audio. Which makes me wonder, are we watching because we ENJOY what we see or are we watching because the creator of the show enjoys filming what we have to see? Is this a supply out of demand sort of thing? Or is this how-far-can-I-take-realism sort of filmmaker thing?
#2:    Let's revisit the repulsive food shoveling shots... watching Bu Tau_ (can't remember her full name) eat whipped cream cake is not so very terrible. I sat thinking, is she really having to eat this or are they making it look like she is swallowing but she is really spitting it out off camera? And I was thinking, is it low calorie Cool Whip ? Surely she couldn't really be eating half a whipped cream cake every show or she wouldn't be able to squeeze into those darling little glittery tee shirts she wears as dresses. Anyway, her cake eating is a necessary part of the storyline. She was a fat child because her father didn't give her enough love or time. He gives her money instead of love. So when she is upset, she eats. We all know eating sweet stuff is a temporary replacement for love. BUT, when the gross man (who mysteriously knows everything about everyone) eats with his mouth hanging open in every episode, the audience might not feel it is carrying the story along. The audience might actually think it is discouraging viewers from watching. I certainly find myself turning away.
      Koreans kind of have an honesty in their shows that is lacking in the western world. I guess gross behavior is part of that, but I wish we were not subjected quite as often to it, especially since I have a 36 inch screen and a mouthful of seaweed dripping down a smeared greasy face is rather startling in HD. It could be that I would not be so offended if I took my TV's picture control off High Definition and Wide screen.

     #3: Having never heard a discussion about menstruation in any movie or show before, I don't know how to judge and maybe I ought to leave the topic for another time. Suffice to say no bodily function subject is taboo in K-Drama's except maybe sex, which is fine with me. I've already expressed how I feel about voyeurism. There's nothing less appealing to me that watching copulation or anything close to it if it is not me. If it's you and another somebody, great. Just not in front of me.  

     One GREAT thing about KD is that no "bad Guy" is ever just a bad guy. The reason they are bad comes out in the story and you begin to feel great compassion if not warmth toward the bad guys. No one is ever all good either. They have their yucky sides. They say mean things sometimes. They are rounded out full characters and the audience is not forced to like one and hate the other... you are sort of sitting in mild judgement through out 18 or 19 episodes... You can't decide if you want Bong to love the chilly heiress or the fit-throwing heiress. And as for the fathers! Which father would be least gruesome for Bing Bong to discover is his real dad? The one who steals? The one who hires thugs to wreck lives? The one who is so stingy he doesn't mind when others suffer? Or the one lying comatose in the hospital who has lost most of his brain? It's a dilemma. So you watch, and you watch, and you watch, until you begin to dream in Korean at night. And you can't understand what is being said in your dreams....until someone kindly turns on the Subtitles located just under your pillow. And your dream even has a name. "Bing-Bong, I Can't Find My Shoes Darn It" only the word SHOES is misspelled Shues. It makes no sense, but dreams are like that...