DORAMA
So, I pretty much got addicted to K/TW/J-dramas. Oh god, I don't know why but apparently sometimes the mood strikes me to watch totally sappy shows with foreseeable story lines and almost always a happy ending. Sometimes it's not your usual 'Girl is forced to marry/live/help/work for Love Interest' stuff, sometimes it's really serious work (like Jyoou no Kyoushistu aka The Queen's Classroom, A litre of tears - which I haven't watched yet because the concept makes me twitch, too much angst for my taste). There is of course your normal Soap-ish Drama. And most of the time you have a happy ending, which isn't bad perse because if you KNOW it's going to end well it sometimes makes it easier to watch.
What I really like about Dramas is the fact that they give me what they promise (most of the time it's sap, and angst and tearful confessions of love, while a singer is wailing in the background) and nothing less. Sometimes they give me even more, because some dramas have nicely fleshed out characters, even less important characters can be interesting. While watching Drama, I know exactly what to expect and even if I know the story beforehand it isn't that bad for me because sometimes I need that. These romance-dramas that I watch mostly come from Taiwan or Korea and it's really interesting to listen to Hangul and Mandarin. Mostly they vary on the humorous side and sometimes even downright cracky (Delightful Girl Choon Hyang). There is, of course, angst and every time there is Girl B who is an old friend/fance of Love Interest, at first not interested in LI then realizes - after seeing him with Girl - that he is the man of her dreams/better than nobody and this means more angst.
Usually the feminist side in me would make me stop watching immediately since I cannot agree with how the female characters are treated most of the times in those dramas but it seems that my sappy side is stronger than I thought. So I can watch peacefully and squee loudly at my screen, without feeling that much guilt.
Essentially it's shojo for TV.
Some of my favourites include:
For J-Doramas I tend to go for the more serious, or the totally cracky (Hana Yori Dango).
As I said before, The Queens Classroom is one of my favourite Doramas, because it adresses so much and the children are so amazing. I was really blown away by their acting, it felt so natural for once. And while I knew how it was going to end, I was still amazed that they went that far with their characters. I loved that you could see the growth of these children. That they matured first slowly then faster until they became independent persons who could stand up for themselves even against the hardest challenges. Another Dorama in that vein is Dragon Zakura although I actually prefer the Queens Classroom one because I like the children better and the characters mature more over the series.
Other Jdramas I liked are Hana Yori Dango, which I think is infinitesimally better than Meteor Garden (the older TW - version of Hana Yori Dango) which was too long for my tastes. And also? MatsuJun? Has Doumiyouji down PAT. If you read the Manga you'll understand. Meteor Garden fleshed out the F4 more, their bonds were more focused on, but for a series with 9 episodes Hana Yori Dango truly managed to capture the mangas most important points, which were Doumiyoujis totally cracky crush on Tsukushi and her growing affection for him. Also MatsuJun as Doumiyouji. It's fantastic.
Another one is Nobuta wo Produce which I liked despite not really liking the actors at first, but they grew on me, SO MUCH. Oh man. Thank you Nobuta for making me laugh so hard and also making me cry so hard at the ending I had red eyes for hours. Oh man. Why are so many endings so good? I'm a sucker for killer-endings. And happy endings. ... Apparently I'm a sucker for pretty much any ending, as long as it's not angst overload.
You can download all of these dramas on www.silentregrets.com but you'll probably need a Premium account with either sendspace or MegaUpload. It's worth it though. SO worth it.
I would also be willing to upload ^^ just drop me a line if you want.
Oh god, I just wrote 1000 words on Dramas.
Enough on Dramas. Onto Movies or specifically one K-Movie: The King and the Clown (Wang ui Namja), the highest grossing Korean Movie ever. Even without a A-List cast or -Director this movie drew in over 12 million people into the Cinemas. And this with just cause. Due to it's homosexual theme it may draw allusions to Brokeback Mountain and while that movie was great as well I think I may like Wang ui Namja more since the emotional impact is greater. It's about a short time in Korean History where a King fell in love with a jester who mocked him. But the real love story lies elsewhere and god, I'm tearing up even thinking about it. With minimal effect Wang ui Namja created a setting that seems so colorful and yet so tragic the emotional impact of the ending is even greater than Brokeback Mountain. It's more soft-spoken than BBM and with that the desired effect is delivered so fantastically. Definitely a MUST SEE. (is also DL-able on SilentRegrets ^^)
Also? Lee Joon-gi is so pretty it almost HURTS.. christ.
And now I need to see goong again. And Wang ui Namja. *throws in DVD*
What I really like about Dramas is the fact that they give me what they promise (most of the time it's sap, and angst and tearful confessions of love, while a singer is wailing in the background) and nothing less. Sometimes they give me even more, because some dramas have nicely fleshed out characters, even less important characters can be interesting. While watching Drama, I know exactly what to expect and even if I know the story beforehand it isn't that bad for me because sometimes I need that. These romance-dramas that I watch mostly come from Taiwan or Korea and it's really interesting to listen to Hangul and Mandarin. Mostly they vary on the humorous side and sometimes even downright cracky (Delightful Girl Choon Hyang). There is, of course, angst and every time there is Girl B who is an old friend/fance of Love Interest, at first not interested in LI then realizes - after seeing him with Girl - that he is the man of her dreams/better than nobody and this means more angst.
Usually the feminist side in me would make me stop watching immediately since I cannot agree with how the female characters are treated most of the times in those dramas but it seems that my sappy side is stronger than I thought. So I can watch peacefully and squee loudly at my screen, without feeling that much guilt.
Essentially it's shojo for TV.
Some of my favourites include:
- Delightful Girl Choon Hyang - because it is so crackily adapted from a traditional Korean story and also because of the OST *covets*, but only the first half before they go all grown-up and uber-angsty. Jae Hee (Love Interest) has nice comedic timing and while not my type is strangely hot in this drama.
- My Lovely Kim Sam Soon - because for one it is set with mature characters who actually kiss before the last episode, have sex and for once it's Girl who has Guy (not LI) follow her around after he realizes that he made a mistake breaking up with her. Also? Girl is 'normal' looking not 'fat' as said in the drama but rather not 'dipped in Piranha-pond-and-and-pulled-out-with-whatever-flesh-left-on-her-skeleton'-skinny.
- Goong - Oh god, what can I say about Goong, besides that I fell in love with it at first sight. It's the Korean answer to Cinderella. Girl becomes princess at fictitious Korean palace and has to survive the life at court which does not befit her nature. I love it, so much. I love all the characters, even the bad guys and the ending is sweet and while a happy ending not uber-happy.
- It Started With A Kiss - Oh ISWAK, ISWAK, I love you. I don't know why since you could be the most boring of the lot but somehow you aren't Your characters SPARKLE and your story is so cute I could die. Thank you for also giving side-characters who are interesting and funny. And for the best WEDDING EVER, OH ISWAK I LOVE YOU SO MUCH FOR GOING THERE. Also the NGs show that LI has the CRACKIEST LAUGH EVER as witnessed here wait until 05:40 for the full effect. Oh Joe.
For J-Doramas I tend to go for the more serious, or the totally cracky (Hana Yori Dango).
As I said before, The Queens Classroom is one of my favourite Doramas, because it adresses so much and the children are so amazing. I was really blown away by their acting, it felt so natural for once. And while I knew how it was going to end, I was still amazed that they went that far with their characters. I loved that you could see the growth of these children. That they matured first slowly then faster until they became independent persons who could stand up for themselves even against the hardest challenges. Another Dorama in that vein is Dragon Zakura although I actually prefer the Queens Classroom one because I like the children better and the characters mature more over the series.
Other Jdramas I liked are Hana Yori Dango, which I think is infinitesimally better than Meteor Garden (the older TW - version of Hana Yori Dango) which was too long for my tastes. And also? MatsuJun? Has Doumiyouji down PAT. If you read the Manga you'll understand. Meteor Garden fleshed out the F4 more, their bonds were more focused on, but for a series with 9 episodes Hana Yori Dango truly managed to capture the mangas most important points, which were Doumiyoujis totally cracky crush on Tsukushi and her growing affection for him. Also MatsuJun as Doumiyouji. It's fantastic.
Another one is Nobuta wo Produce which I liked despite not really liking the actors at first, but they grew on me, SO MUCH. Oh man. Thank you Nobuta for making me laugh so hard and also making me cry so hard at the ending I had red eyes for hours. Oh man. Why are so many endings so good? I'm a sucker for killer-endings. And happy endings. ... Apparently I'm a sucker for pretty much any ending, as long as it's not angst overload.
You can download all of these dramas on www.silentregrets.com but you'll probably need a Premium account with either sendspace or MegaUpload. It's worth it though. SO worth it.
I would also be willing to upload ^^ just drop me a line if you want.
Oh god, I just wrote 1000 words on Dramas.
Enough on Dramas. Onto Movies or specifically one K-Movie: The King and the Clown (Wang ui Namja), the highest grossing Korean Movie ever. Even without a A-List cast or -Director this movie drew in over 12 million people into the Cinemas. And this with just cause. Due to it's homosexual theme it may draw allusions to Brokeback Mountain and while that movie was great as well I think I may like Wang ui Namja more since the emotional impact is greater. It's about a short time in Korean History where a King fell in love with a jester who mocked him. But the real love story lies elsewhere and god, I'm tearing up even thinking about it. With minimal effect Wang ui Namja created a setting that seems so colorful and yet so tragic the emotional impact of the ending is even greater than Brokeback Mountain. It's more soft-spoken than BBM and with that the desired effect is delivered so fantastically. Definitely a MUST SEE. (is also DL-able on SilentRegrets ^^)
Also? Lee Joon-gi is so pretty it almost HURTS.. christ.
And now I need to see goong again. And Wang ui Namja. *throws in DVD*