New love: Goong
I haven't updated in ages. I have been a) busy with school and work, and b) annoyed with the incredible stupidity of Strikethrough 2007.
Anyway, I'll be staying with Live Journal for the foreseeable future. You don't have to go to Greatest Journal, Insane Journal, Myspace or my house to read my posts.
The reason I'm posting now is my latest love: Korean drama Goong. Someone uploaded it to a community I belong to with this picture:
And my brain went: ooh! How insanely cute!
Then I started researching and discovered it was about an arranged marriage between a common-born girl, Chae-Kyeong, and the crown prince of Korea, Shin (in an AU world where South Korea has a monarchy). Chae-Kyeong agrees to it to save her family from bankruptcy and Shin agrees after his proposal to his girlfriend, ballerina Hyo-Rin, is rejected. Though Chae-Kyeong attempts to connect with Shin, Shin is still in love with Hyo-Rin and is quite the jerk to Chae-Kyeong. Conflict also arises when the former crown prince, Yool, returns to Korea after 14 years of living in exile with his scheming mother, and falls for Chae-Kyeong.
I hadn't watched any Asian television dramas prior to this so my expectations were all over the place but I really enjoyed it. It's very melodramatic, with equal parts romance, comedy and angst, and won't appeal to everyone, but if you don't mind subtitles and you do like contained stories where plot points don't drag on forever, this could be for you.
This acting isn't always fantastic but it really improves over the season. The set design and costumes are stunning (sometimes the the costumes are stunningly good, stunningly bad and in the case of the guys, stunningly gay). One thing that did grate was the soundtrack - the score was quite good but of the featured songs, it was the same damn one every time, every episode without fail.
The story starts to lag a bit in the last six episodes or so when the miscommunication between Shin and Chae-Kyeong becomes really frustrating - it's clear to everyone but them that they are in love. Similarly, Yool's love for Chae-Kyeong becomes irritating, when it was once sweet, as he tries to get Chae-Kyeong to divorce Shin. One thing I really hate on TV shows is when guys (because they usually are guys) pretend they aren't jerks and accuse other guys of doing really jerky things to make themselves look good and that's what happens with Yool. By talking to Chae-Kyeong about how much Shin has hurt her, Yool doesn't realise that he is also hurting Chae-Kyeong. And plotting to become king and move South Korea away from being a constitutional monarchy is not cool. However, I can't hate Yool (indeed I don't completely hate any of the characters, even Yool's mum who is awful) because the character does redeem himself in the end and the actor does a pretty good job of making him sympathetic.
The love that develops between Shin and Chae-Kyeong is handled really well. It isn't an easy relationship and the moments where they are happy together are few and far between, but it is believable. Also, considering the characters are only 19, it was refreshing to see them actually mature into adults together rather than continue with stupid teenage crap (*cough*toomanyshowstomention*cough*).
Now, my previous experience with Korea is basically M*A*S*H, Lane Kim from Gilmore Girls and a couple of Tom Clancy novels I read when I was 13, but I found the cultural aspects of the show really interesting. Of course, South Korea doesn't have a monarchy in real life - I mean the every day lives of Chae-Kyeong, her family and friends. The language also interested me. The word for "Your highness" sounded a lot like "mama" which was interesting in a 'monarchs are the parents of the nation' kind of way (a total coincidence of course).
(Fellow Arrested Development fans, "Annyong" was only said once but I nearly fell on the floor I was laughing so hard.)
Anyway, I loved this, am looking forward to reading the manhwa it was based on and hope they do create a second season. In any case, I have a delightful new source of excellent TV.
Anyway, I'll be staying with Live Journal for the foreseeable future. You don't have to go to Greatest Journal, Insane Journal, Myspace or my house to read my posts.
The reason I'm posting now is my latest love: Korean drama Goong. Someone uploaded it to a community I belong to with this picture:
And my brain went: ooh! How insanely cute!
Then I started researching and discovered it was about an arranged marriage between a common-born girl, Chae-Kyeong, and the crown prince of Korea, Shin (in an AU world where South Korea has a monarchy). Chae-Kyeong agrees to it to save her family from bankruptcy and Shin agrees after his proposal to his girlfriend, ballerina Hyo-Rin, is rejected. Though Chae-Kyeong attempts to connect with Shin, Shin is still in love with Hyo-Rin and is quite the jerk to Chae-Kyeong. Conflict also arises when the former crown prince, Yool, returns to Korea after 14 years of living in exile with his scheming mother, and falls for Chae-Kyeong.
I hadn't watched any Asian television dramas prior to this so my expectations were all over the place but I really enjoyed it. It's very melodramatic, with equal parts romance, comedy and angst, and won't appeal to everyone, but if you don't mind subtitles and you do like contained stories where plot points don't drag on forever, this could be for you.
This acting isn't always fantastic but it really improves over the season. The set design and costumes are stunning (sometimes the the costumes are stunningly good, stunningly bad and in the case of the guys, stunningly gay). One thing that did grate was the soundtrack - the score was quite good but of the featured songs, it was the same damn one every time, every episode without fail.
The story starts to lag a bit in the last six episodes or so when the miscommunication between Shin and Chae-Kyeong becomes really frustrating - it's clear to everyone but them that they are in love. Similarly, Yool's love for Chae-Kyeong becomes irritating, when it was once sweet, as he tries to get Chae-Kyeong to divorce Shin. One thing I really hate on TV shows is when guys (because they usually are guys) pretend they aren't jerks and accuse other guys of doing really jerky things to make themselves look good and that's what happens with Yool. By talking to Chae-Kyeong about how much Shin has hurt her, Yool doesn't realise that he is also hurting Chae-Kyeong. And plotting to become king and move South Korea away from being a constitutional monarchy is not cool. However, I can't hate Yool (indeed I don't completely hate any of the characters, even Yool's mum who is awful) because the character does redeem himself in the end and the actor does a pretty good job of making him sympathetic.
The love that develops between Shin and Chae-Kyeong is handled really well. It isn't an easy relationship and the moments where they are happy together are few and far between, but it is believable. Also, considering the characters are only 19, it was refreshing to see them actually mature into adults together rather than continue with stupid teenage crap (*cough*toomanyshowstomention*cough*).
Now, my previous experience with Korea is basically M*A*S*H, Lane Kim from Gilmore Girls and a couple of Tom Clancy novels I read when I was 13, but I found the cultural aspects of the show really interesting. Of course, South Korea doesn't have a monarchy in real life - I mean the every day lives of Chae-Kyeong, her family and friends. The language also interested me. The word for "Your highness" sounded a lot like "mama" which was interesting in a 'monarchs are the parents of the nation' kind of way (a total coincidence of course).
(Fellow Arrested Development fans, "Annyong" was only said once but I nearly fell on the floor I was laughing so hard.)
Anyway, I loved this, am looking forward to reading the manhwa it was based on and hope they do create a second season. In any case, I have a delightful new source of excellent TV.