Romantic?
I think that was kind of odd. Japanese TV, showing us a part of a Korean show about romantic proposals, with a voiceover in Japanese. But the proposals... for example, one young man took his girlfriend to an animal show. Monkeys, parrots, a dog... and suddenly, the people running the show invited the girl onto the stage. He followed, and proposed to her on bended knee in front of everyone. They interviewed a girl in the audience who gushed about how romantic it all was, and that any girl would want a proposal like this.
For another one, we first watched the man "make" the ring, under the guidance of a jeweler. He did hold the solder, he filed the edges, and he set the diamond into the hole. Oh, and he picked out the phrase which was laser etched into the ring. Then, with his handmade ring in hand -- or at least in a jewelry box -- he and his girlfriend were off to a play. At some point in the play, they stopped and the players announced a special event. Whereupon they called the couple up on stage, and he proposed. The girl professed herself amazed that he had made the ring himself.
Apparently, this kind of theatrical proposal is the mode in Korea these days.
I asked Mitsuko if these seemed romantic to her. She sniffed and said there's nothing romantic about it. And they're spending a lot of money that they should save for their wedded life.
So if that's not romantic, what is? I have to admit, these seemed pretty staged to me. I mean, you pay the jeweler to help you make a ring, you pay the performers to interrupt their regularly scheduled show so that you can embarrass your girlfriend in front of everyone... I wonder if any of the girls ever say no?
They didn't indicate how much these proposals cost. And I refuse to think about the implications or metaphor of love, romance, and all that as stage plays, or even worse, animal shows. Nope, don't think about it :-)
For another one, we first watched the man "make" the ring, under the guidance of a jeweler. He did hold the solder, he filed the edges, and he set the diamond into the hole. Oh, and he picked out the phrase which was laser etched into the ring. Then, with his handmade ring in hand -- or at least in a jewelry box -- he and his girlfriend were off to a play. At some point in the play, they stopped and the players announced a special event. Whereupon they called the couple up on stage, and he proposed. The girl professed herself amazed that he had made the ring himself.
Apparently, this kind of theatrical proposal is the mode in Korea these days.
I asked Mitsuko if these seemed romantic to her. She sniffed and said there's nothing romantic about it. And they're spending a lot of money that they should save for their wedded life.
So if that's not romantic, what is? I have to admit, these seemed pretty staged to me. I mean, you pay the jeweler to help you make a ring, you pay the performers to interrupt their regularly scheduled show so that you can embarrass your girlfriend in front of everyone... I wonder if any of the girls ever say no?
They didn't indicate how much these proposals cost. And I refuse to think about the implications or metaphor of love, romance, and all that as stage plays, or even worse, animal shows. Nope, don't think about it :-)