Lost in thoughts

Mixing fun & work!

Thursday, September 20, 2012 making-sweetness

It's the start of the new school year! Thankfully, my intercal lessons haven't been too bad...then again, it's only been 3 days into this course, so it might be too early to say whether I'll survive this year. xD Interestingly enough, we had to give a 3min presentation on ANY topic we wanted...so no prizes for guessing what I talked about. When else would I get the chance to talk about my crazy hobby as part of schoolwork? Of course I grabbed that opportunity when I could!

The problem came when I got a little little bit carried away and ended up writing more than 1000words. Naturally, that exceeded my 3min limit so I cut my whole essay down dramatically. *sigh* Since I don't want to waste my effort in writing it, I'll reproduce my essay/presentation here in full! Think of it as...."the director's cut'. Enjoy! =D

What’s with the hype about South Korean TV shows?

Good afternoon everyone! My name is Jane and I’m one of the students intercalating this year. While this is the way I would introduce myself to strangers, friends who have known me for a long time would refer to me as “the girl obsessed with South Korean culture” or “that k-drama addict” (where k-drama refers to Korean dramas). Many of you here might wonder why my friends would call me that since 1. I’m not from South Korea, 2. I can’t speak the language (except the occasional words picked up along the way),and 3. I’ve never been to South Korea before.

Well, I think I know why. It’s probably because I watch waaaay too many Korean television programmes online and listen to Korean pop songs all the time. There are 3 main reasons why I prefer watching Korean shows despite the language barrier and I hope that by the end of this talk, I would be able to convince at least one of you to give Korean TV shows a try and watch them too!

Firstly, Korean TV shows are like the gateway to South Korea’s interesting culture and rich history. With around 2000 years of history to draw on, scriptwriters are spoilt for choice when choosing a time period to set their dramas in, while viewers are given a free ‘history lesson’ while watching the shows.

For those interested in wars and power struggles in palaces, there are many historical dramas (or ‘saeguks’) which talk about events and people in the various eras of ancient Korea. They are quite similar to shows like Merlin and The Tudors, except we’re talking about Korean royalty and traditional costumes here!

Another interesting but dark period in Korean history would be its invasion by Japan in 1910 till the end of WWII in 1945. History books would tell you that it was a time marked by suffering as the Japanese soldiers punished those who rebelled against their oppressive rule and even forced many girls to become prostitutes for the Japanese soldiers. Most would shy away from dwelling on this painful past, yet, a recently completed drama called “Bridal Mask” (or Gaksital) chose to use this as a backdrop for their story about an unlikely hero who fights against the Japanese occupation. It’s not for the squeamish though as the production team does not try to whitewash anything, including gruesome torture scenes.

How about shows set in modern times? These provide a peek into the Korean culture which can be sometimes conservative, sometimes a bit too open and often, very bizarre to those not familiar with it. Let’s take their drinking culture for example. Their choice of beverage is soju (which apparently tastes vodka). It’s usually drunk in shots and if you just drink it straight up in front of people of greater seniority (like this), it is considered rude. The proper way to drink it is to hold it with 2 hands and turn to the side to drink it. And yes, I learnt all that from watching drinking scenes in Korean dramas.

In fact, the diversity of the Korean culture can be reflected by the large variety of shows Korean TV channels have to offer, which leads me to my 2^nd point: That Korean TV shows cater to a myriad of TV-watching tastes.

For those who enjoy travel and food programmes, there is the variety show “1 Night and 2 Days”. It follows a group of 7 artistes as they take 2 day 1 night trips to various places in Korea, introducing the attractions and local food while performing missions and competing against each other or the production team to earn their rights to eat and sleep indoors.

Those who like watching competitive reality shows might enjoy watching another variety show “ Running Man” where the main cast and their guest stars try to eliminate each other by chasing the others down and tearing off the nametags on their backs.

Romantic comedies, spy thrillers, medical dramas, fantasy dramas, stories about time travellers…the list is endless. Of course, since these dramas are produced to meet the tastes of the local population, some might find the violence and sex in the dramas a little too tame for their liking. Then again, this is what makes it different from many of the shows here and why I feel that others should give it a shot if they are getting bored with what they see on their TV screens here.

The LAST reason why I prefer watching Korean TV shows is quite a practical one: because it does not take very long to finish a drama and I can watch it for free online! Since coming to the UK to study, I have not been fortunate enough to own a TV set, neither do I want to pay for the TV license when I can watch things for free online. Thus, I started to watch a lot more Korean TV shows on websites run by fellow Korean drama addicts who also insert English subtitles to the shows. Considering that the more popular ‘trendy dramas’ that I watch are usually made up of about 16 to 20 hour-long episodes, I can see the entire storyline through to its conclusion within 1 or 2 days. This is unlike American and British dramas that take several seasons to finish, which means that I would have spent years watching them before finding out how it ends. Realistically speaking, watching Korean TV shows would fit my busy schedule better.

I’ve been watching Korean TV shows for almost 5years now because I’m attracted to the fascinating Korean history and culture portrayed, the variety of shows available online for free and because it takes a much shorter time to finish watching them. Maybe you all could try watching it too! Just be warned, they can be very addictive, and in no time, you’ll turn into a Korean TV show addict like me.

Thank you for listening to me!

POSTED BY mysticmalady AT 7:05 AM |

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