Abnormal Summit is my heart's delight
I went to St. Louis for Christmas but it's back to work now! Back to real life and the daily grind, but also to the cheering powers of my new favorite k-variety show, which I will now ramble on about at length.
I mentioned last entry I was going to check out Abnormal Summit/비정상회담, which is a Korean variety show that invites 11 foreigners (fluent in Korean) on to a mock G-12 summit (the twelfth is the Korean rep/weekly guest), wherein they debate various societal issues like cohabitation before marriage, Seoul living, sex education, and other topics. Being variety, it is always hilarious. But it is my new favorite show because it is also thought-provoking and challenging, with lots of culture clashes and different perspectives and good points and counterpoints even from POVs I disagree with. It is absolutely fascinating to see the influence of different cultural and personal upbringings manifest in each country rep and in how they react to each other. There's heated debate on the show, but they all do seem to respect and like each other off-set (though I'm sure it took time to get to know each other).
The current reps are from Ghana, China, Italy, Canada, USA, Turkey, France, Belgium, Germany, Australia and Japan (though the German rep came in after the initial four reps, where we had a UK rep instead). They are all either adorable or attractive or both, and with personalities I am super fond of now, nine episodes in.
intomorning is watching this show slowly with me, episode by episode, and we text/email/tweet to flail and react after each show.
Things I love a lot: All the different languages and cultural clashes! The Belgian mocks the Canadian's French. The Canadian is a former pro Starcraft player. The French guy is a breakdancer! The Brit climbed Mt Everest at 19. The Australian is all tatted up and left home at 15. The Japanese dude is an idol, and the Chinese guy is a former news anchor and super nationalist, and everyone tries to play matchmaker for China and Japan so they get along better! Honestly, they all make fun of each other but also have serious discussions and it is kind of great.
Julian, the Belgian, is mouthy and talkative and a relentless liberal. Enes is very, very conservative, but with a strong emphasis on relationships, familial and otherwise. (And then that scandal...) Daniel, the German, is very measured and seems to consider other perspectives, such as altering expectations and behaviors while working Korea versus how he would act at home in Germany. Daniel, the Australian, is the youngest of them all and consequently does not get as much screen time. Takuya is similar - so young! so naive! - but gets some additional screen time every time Zhang Yuan talks. ;) Alberto is a DREAM. A DREAM. I HEARTEYES HIM THE MOST. Italy is the best at everything, he says, except they are terrible at marketing. But also his stories about his wife are the cutest ever. (Plus he spent eight years in China so he can speak some and understand some in addition to Korean!) Tyler, the American, is so smart and well-educated that he knows all these idioms and turns of phrases and historical allegories that even native Koreans don't and it's hilarious. Robin is a sweetfaced qt pie who gets defensive about France's bread and wine. Guillaume, the Canadian, is quiet but loves meat, and gaming, and has sort of a tragic past, but also biceps bigger than my face.
SAM FROM GHANA IS AN ABSOLUTE DELIGHT. Always hilarious, often confused, and sometimes more Korean than Ghanaian, but gives an absolutely necessary look into the world outside of East Asia and "the West" (Western Europe/N. America). Sometimes the things they joke about to him, like if there are lions roaming the streets in Ghana, reinforce the fact that, to them, Africa is this nebulous continent of African stuff and nobody has any clue where Ghana even is or how diverse AN ENTIRE FREAKING CONTINENT IS. Bless your hearts, guys.
Zhang Yuan, oh Zhang Yuan, he made me so uncomfortable with his rigid ideals and nationalism, but as time goes on you start to see why he is the way he is and almost reluctantly admire his principles. He makes some good points, but he also seems the most unwilling to bend. Maybe it is because of my own confused ties to China that I both sympathize with him (and his pointed non-Western perspective) and wish him more open to compromise.
It's also fascinating to see how liberal Europe is socially compared to, of course, the East Asian countries and Turkey. But then in other ways Korea (and its hosts!) are surprisingly self-aware and self-critical about their own cultural problems, which is really encouraging. And yet, at heart, they all agree on the same things: the importance of love and family and relationships, and of doing your best. It just manifests in different actions.
One of my favorite episodes to date was about sex education, which I was afraid would be really contentious, but despite all the agreements, they all came to some salient conclusions. (And were even thoughtful and considerate about same-sex relationships, which, to be honest, is more than I expected from a k-variety show. Ahh, feelings!)
Things I wish were better: Not enough female perspective. :( Oh man, sometimes they have female guests, but that often runs the risk of them being treated obsequiously, like with Miss Korea. Or oftentimes because they're the guest, they pose the issue/question and don't participate as much in the ensuing debate. I really miss having female perspective, especially on issues like relationships (great, you guys have opinions on how you should treat girls; MAYBE THE GIRLS HAVE OPINIONS ON HOW YOU SHOULD TREAT THEM) and sex ed/societal pressures, and essentially how much different living as a girl in the world is to a guy - especially in Korea, especially as a foreigner, especially in so many ways.
Only 19 out of 25 episodes have been subbed. :( Noooooo. IT'S LIKE KOMAHOSHI ALL OVER AGAIN. I WISH I COULD HELP. But what there is so far is glorious.
You can watch it subbed here: Abnormal Summit
You can follow their adorable Instagram here: http://instagram.com/nonsummit
(The individual members' Instagrams are listed here.)
If you have some time, check it out! Come flail with me. :D
I mentioned last entry I was going to check out Abnormal Summit/비정상회담, which is a Korean variety show that invites 11 foreigners (fluent in Korean) on to a mock G-12 summit (the twelfth is the Korean rep/weekly guest), wherein they debate various societal issues like cohabitation before marriage, Seoul living, sex education, and other topics. Being variety, it is always hilarious. But it is my new favorite show because it is also thought-provoking and challenging, with lots of culture clashes and different perspectives and good points and counterpoints even from POVs I disagree with. It is absolutely fascinating to see the influence of different cultural and personal upbringings manifest in each country rep and in how they react to each other. There's heated debate on the show, but they all do seem to respect and like each other off-set (though I'm sure it took time to get to know each other).
The current reps are from Ghana, China, Italy, Canada, USA, Turkey, France, Belgium, Germany, Australia and Japan (though the German rep came in after the initial four reps, where we had a UK rep instead). They are all either adorable or attractive or both, and with personalities I am super fond of now, nine episodes in.
intomorning is watching this show slowly with me, episode by episode, and we text/email/tweet to flail and react after each show.
Things I love a lot: All the different languages and cultural clashes! The Belgian mocks the Canadian's French. The Canadian is a former pro Starcraft player. The French guy is a breakdancer! The Brit climbed Mt Everest at 19. The Australian is all tatted up and left home at 15. The Japanese dude is an idol, and the Chinese guy is a former news anchor and super nationalist, and everyone tries to play matchmaker for China and Japan so they get along better! Honestly, they all make fun of each other but also have serious discussions and it is kind of great.
Julian, the Belgian, is mouthy and talkative and a relentless liberal. Enes is very, very conservative, but with a strong emphasis on relationships, familial and otherwise. (And then that scandal...) Daniel, the German, is very measured and seems to consider other perspectives, such as altering expectations and behaviors while working Korea versus how he would act at home in Germany. Daniel, the Australian, is the youngest of them all and consequently does not get as much screen time. Takuya is similar - so young! so naive! - but gets some additional screen time every time Zhang Yuan talks. ;) Alberto is a DREAM. A DREAM. I HEARTEYES HIM THE MOST. Italy is the best at everything, he says, except they are terrible at marketing. But also his stories about his wife are the cutest ever. (Plus he spent eight years in China so he can speak some and understand some in addition to Korean!) Tyler, the American, is so smart and well-educated that he knows all these idioms and turns of phrases and historical allegories that even native Koreans don't and it's hilarious. Robin is a sweetfaced qt pie who gets defensive about France's bread and wine. Guillaume, the Canadian, is quiet but loves meat, and gaming, and has sort of a tragic past, but also biceps bigger than my face.
SAM FROM GHANA IS AN ABSOLUTE DELIGHT. Always hilarious, often confused, and sometimes more Korean than Ghanaian, but gives an absolutely necessary look into the world outside of East Asia and "the West" (Western Europe/N. America). Sometimes the things they joke about to him, like if there are lions roaming the streets in Ghana, reinforce the fact that, to them, Africa is this nebulous continent of African stuff and nobody has any clue where Ghana even is or how diverse AN ENTIRE FREAKING CONTINENT IS. Bless your hearts, guys.
Zhang Yuan, oh Zhang Yuan, he made me so uncomfortable with his rigid ideals and nationalism, but as time goes on you start to see why he is the way he is and almost reluctantly admire his principles. He makes some good points, but he also seems the most unwilling to bend. Maybe it is because of my own confused ties to China that I both sympathize with him (and his pointed non-Western perspective) and wish him more open to compromise.
It's also fascinating to see how liberal Europe is socially compared to, of course, the East Asian countries and Turkey. But then in other ways Korea (and its hosts!) are surprisingly self-aware and self-critical about their own cultural problems, which is really encouraging. And yet, at heart, they all agree on the same things: the importance of love and family and relationships, and of doing your best. It just manifests in different actions.
One of my favorite episodes to date was about sex education, which I was afraid would be really contentious, but despite all the agreements, they all came to some salient conclusions. (And were even thoughtful and considerate about same-sex relationships, which, to be honest, is more than I expected from a k-variety show. Ahh, feelings!)
Things I wish were better: Not enough female perspective. :( Oh man, sometimes they have female guests, but that often runs the risk of them being treated obsequiously, like with Miss Korea. Or oftentimes because they're the guest, they pose the issue/question and don't participate as much in the ensuing debate. I really miss having female perspective, especially on issues like relationships (great, you guys have opinions on how you should treat girls; MAYBE THE GIRLS HAVE OPINIONS ON HOW YOU SHOULD TREAT THEM) and sex ed/societal pressures, and essentially how much different living as a girl in the world is to a guy - especially in Korea, especially as a foreigner, especially in so many ways.
Only 19 out of 25 episodes have been subbed. :( Noooooo. IT'S LIKE KOMAHOSHI ALL OVER AGAIN. I WISH I COULD HELP. But what there is so far is glorious.
You can watch it subbed here: Abnormal Summit
You can follow their adorable Instagram here: http://instagram.com/nonsummit
(The individual members' Instagrams are listed here.)
If you have some time, check it out! Come flail with me. :D