Wednesday, January 18, 2012

In the Beginning...


Goong

For a long time my daughter had been trying to get me to watch Korean Dramas with her.  For some reason, I was under the impression that Korean Dramas were not unlike American soaps… which I loathe for one major reason: the characters you spend weeks and even months rooting for, once they find resolution in their relationships or goals … suddenly those things they fought so hard for become nothing.  The thought of watching the same thing only with sub-titles made my blood run cold. 


Padam Padam

I declined frequently and often.  I finally agreed after she begged me to watch just one with her… she chose Goong, because she hadn’t seen that one before and she thought it might be good… so starting in August of 2011 we began watching an episode or two now and then…

Unlike American Soap operas, the Koreans do their television series from beginning to end as one story.  They are basically a romantic novel on TV. Each episode is a chapter and the story has a beginning, middle and end.  While they have the same melodramatic quality as Soap Operas, the Korean dramas each come to a more or less satisfying conclusion.  The k-dramas are also, for the most part, very moral, which is refreshing in a modern day romance.  Relationships between men and women are chaste, but no less passionate.

Kimchi Family (aka Fermentation Family)
Anyway, after watching the first series with her I was hooked.  I’ve been watching them almost exclusively, since.  By exclusively, I mean, I haven’t watched much TV or gone out to very many movies since I’ve started watching these things.  I’ve also started this blog about k-dramas… Since I keep boring everyone I know about them, it might be a nice outlet.  Anyway, if you are curious about what I’m talking about you can view them several places, but dramafever.com is my favorite.  I have a premium account there so I can watch them commercial free. 

Wild Romance
… I only recommend ones that are rated 4 stars or better.  My current favorites are “Padam Padam” and “Kimchi Family.”  Neither of those dramas are finished and I’m watching them as episodes get subtitles added and are posted.  I’ve also gotten hooked on Wild Romance which I touched on in a previous post.  It’s simulcast like Padam Padam and Kimchi Family.

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