Smiles, frowns, ups, downs
KDRAMA I LOVE YOU!!!!! Lots of thoughts on this to follow, but first, I wrote something! Yay!
Title: A Few Minutes More
Pairings: Rodney/John
Warnings: None
Words: 269
Summary: It was quiet, finally, when John found Rodney sitting out on the pier.
...
And I have soooooooo many thoughts about so many things. I probably shouldn't try to squeeze them all into one post, but they are all connected, so maybe I can be clear and concise rather than rambling and long-winded? We'll see.
1) Falling in love...with a show.
There are many ways to look at this, but what I've been pondering lately is that heady feeling you get when you start to really fall for a show. Maybe it's the characters (maybe it's the actors), maybe it's how it's filmed or how it portrays women or maybe it's what fandom makes of it, but you guys know what I mean. Someone once suspected a friend of mine of having a crush on someone when she was in the middle of watching Doctor Who for the first time. And I love that analogy, because in some ways it rings so true for me.
Recently (see the opening to this post), I've been falling in love with Kdrama. Having actually only watched a total of two Korean dramas (though note: in the past 2/3 weeks), that's a bit of an exaggeration. But I've been staying up late, watching or reading or thinking about kdrama, and much of my time walking to/from work has been occupied when wondering why it attracts me so, even though it's kinda dumb and occasionally misogynistic and just isn't going to be there for me in the long term. Le sigh!
But then of course, especially with TV, this sense of falling in love becomes a little obsessive! I only want to watch X and read about X etc etc. And that experience translates to fandom as well.
Which brings me to...fandoms I have loved.
I struggle with my relationship with SGA. Somedays, I can remember what it felt like to be in love with the show and the fandom, but I don't really feel it. Other days, I'll read a lovely story or two and feel my heart go all a-flutter.
I wanted to define this as "I love you, but I'm not in love with you" but I'm not entirely sure that's true.
Thoughts? Advice?
2) Kdrama, I love you like a summer day
Here's a pie chart that depicts my current understanding of why these shows are so fun. (Yes yes, nerd, etc.)
You'll notice that my current theory relies heavily on the fact that these shows tell stories that are primarily about relationships. (Het romantic relationships, so far, so it's a limited field, I grant you.) But I find something very very intriguing about that. Does the US have anything similar? All of our TV (I think!) is more plot driven. Obviously, I love a good detective story, but I think there's something very compelling about having the relationship be the focus of the story and not a side story that's brought to the forefront when higher ratings are needed/whatever.
But that also brings me to point 2b, which is: these stories all END. Like a really really long BBC miniseries. That's the only comparison I can come up with, because for the most part, it's only really movies that have a defined beginning and end, and while it's much more difficult for a movie to satisfyingly flesh out and build on character relationships like I really want to see (and thanks for that Mr. Whedon), because television doesn't end until higher ups cancel it or the lead actor wants out, etc, you can't have a plot line about relationships being the driving force. (Or, you can, and you can become entirely wearisome and ridiculous. *glares pointedly*)
3) And for anyone who's made it this far, let me HIGHLY reccomend Dramabeans as your source for awesome recaps and commentary on many many many kdramas (including ratings!) and netflix and Dramafever for sources to WATCH kdrama. Dramafever has ads, but is otherwise free (for now??), so if you're interested head on over. I can say that while NOT the best television I've seen (or even close), I found Boys without Flowers somewhat hilarious (both purposefully and not) and strangely addictive (Dramabeans called it a magical narcotic cocktail, or something similar, which seemed right to me) and Personal Taste which had some problems but was less absurd and had some astoundingly sweet and wonderful moments. I will also admit that both of these feature the actor Lee Min-Ho, who is kind of a great actor as well as being very pretty.
Crossposted on Dreamwidth
Title: A Few Minutes More
Pairings: Rodney/John
Warnings: None
Words: 269
Summary: It was quiet, finally, when John found Rodney sitting out on the pier.
...
And I have soooooooo many thoughts about so many things. I probably shouldn't try to squeeze them all into one post, but they are all connected, so maybe I can be clear and concise rather than rambling and long-winded? We'll see.
1) Falling in love...with a show.
There are many ways to look at this, but what I've been pondering lately is that heady feeling you get when you start to really fall for a show. Maybe it's the characters (maybe it's the actors), maybe it's how it's filmed or how it portrays women or maybe it's what fandom makes of it, but you guys know what I mean. Someone once suspected a friend of mine of having a crush on someone when she was in the middle of watching Doctor Who for the first time. And I love that analogy, because in some ways it rings so true for me.
Recently (see the opening to this post), I've been falling in love with Kdrama. Having actually only watched a total of two Korean dramas (though note: in the past 2/3 weeks), that's a bit of an exaggeration. But I've been staying up late, watching or reading or thinking about kdrama, and much of my time walking to/from work has been occupied when wondering why it attracts me so, even though it's kinda dumb and occasionally misogynistic and just isn't going to be there for me in the long term. Le sigh!
But then of course, especially with TV, this sense of falling in love becomes a little obsessive! I only want to watch X and read about X etc etc. And that experience translates to fandom as well.
Which brings me to...fandoms I have loved.
I struggle with my relationship with SGA. Somedays, I can remember what it felt like to be in love with the show and the fandom, but I don't really feel it. Other days, I'll read a lovely story or two and feel my heart go all a-flutter.
I wanted to define this as "I love you, but I'm not in love with you" but I'm not entirely sure that's true.
Thoughts? Advice?
2) Kdrama, I love you like a summer day
Here's a pie chart that depicts my current understanding of why these shows are so fun. (Yes yes, nerd, etc.)
You'll notice that my current theory relies heavily on the fact that these shows tell stories that are primarily about relationships. (Het romantic relationships, so far, so it's a limited field, I grant you.) But I find something very very intriguing about that. Does the US have anything similar? All of our TV (I think!) is more plot driven. Obviously, I love a good detective story, but I think there's something very compelling about having the relationship be the focus of the story and not a side story that's brought to the forefront when higher ratings are needed/whatever.
But that also brings me to point 2b, which is: these stories all END. Like a really really long BBC miniseries. That's the only comparison I can come up with, because for the most part, it's only really movies that have a defined beginning and end, and while it's much more difficult for a movie to satisfyingly flesh out and build on character relationships like I really want to see (and thanks for that Mr. Whedon), because television doesn't end until higher ups cancel it or the lead actor wants out, etc, you can't have a plot line about relationships being the driving force. (Or, you can, and you can become entirely wearisome and ridiculous. *glares pointedly*)
3) And for anyone who's made it this far, let me HIGHLY reccomend Dramabeans as your source for awesome recaps and commentary on many many many kdramas (including ratings!) and netflix and Dramafever for sources to WATCH kdrama. Dramafever has ads, but is otherwise free (for now??), so if you're interested head on over. I can say that while NOT the best television I've seen (or even close), I found Boys without Flowers somewhat hilarious (both purposefully and not) and strangely addictive (Dramabeans called it a magical narcotic cocktail, or something similar, which seemed right to me) and Personal Taste which had some problems but was less absurd and had some astoundingly sweet and wonderful moments. I will also admit that both of these feature the actor Lee Min-Ho, who is kind of a great actor as well as being very pretty.
Crossposted on Dreamwidth