“..they say movies should be more like life, I think life should be more like movies.”
UNBELIEVABLE but true. There are serious academic studies and researches teasing out the phenomenon of how people coped with the pandemic by watching Korean drama series.
Apparently, watching the addictive dramas helped people deal with anxiety and the abundance of stressful information on the pandemic. True, binge-watching could become a problem, but the dramas did leave people entertained and reduced their stress.
My own experience is hardly unique. I can say that one of the scariest experiences of my life was Covid.
Like most people, I was confined within the four walls of my home, managing to get a dose of sunshine from the pocket garden in front of my house. Aside from regular Zoom office conferences, initially I coped by talking regularly with my friends on the phone, decluttering my house, reading and rereading books that had gathered dust in the shelves. I also took Zoom lessons in creative writing and Ikebana Sogetsu flower arranging, thanks to Sunshine Place, a place where “loneliness is a stranger.” (More about this place in a future article.)
I had to learn how to use gadgets so I purchased an iPad and upgraded to an iPhone. I watched movies on Netflix and YouTube. Can anyone imagine doing only that for about six months? Then a kind soul recommended a K-drama that was showing on Netflix, “Crash Landing On You” and that was it, I was hooked. Now I juggle watching K-movies and dramas on Netflix, YouTube, IQiY, Viu and Viki.
K-dramas are a global entertainment brand that has captivated audiences around the world because of their unique narrative style and high production values. In 2020, the film “Parasite” won best picture at the Oscars, the first non-English language film to bag the award. The film also won the best director award for Bong Joon-ho, as well as best international feature film and best original screenplay.
K-dramas started to catch the attention of Filipinos quite early, back in the 2000s. In 2003, ABS-CBN broadcast Meteor Garden, a Taiwanese drama that starred Barbie Hsu, and Jerry Yan. Its Korean remake Boys Over Flowers was aired years later. Korean K-dramas shown in Philippine TV stations are dubbed in Filipino, among them, Bright Girl, Stairway to Heaven and Moon Embracing the Sun.
K-dramas are often predictable just like the dramas from other countries. Yet there is something about them that makes them more marketable, apart from the attractive and beautiful actors and the outstanding cinematography. One of the things I admire about them is that respect for elders is emphasized. It is through these dramas that foreign viewers learn something about Korean culture, history, beautiful places, Korean cuisine like kimchi jjigae, samgyeopsal, doki galbi. Many Filipinos now look at Seoul, Jeju island, Busan and Bukchon Hanok Village as desirable tourist destinations.
K-dramas come in the form of tv series or movies, either dubbed or subtitled in English.
Part of their appeal to me is that they are short, never going beyond 16 to 26 episodes, unlike the Chinese dramas which run into hundreds of episodes. Also, each episode lasts only for about 1 1/2 hours, while other serial dramas would keep you awake until 2 a.m.
I consider April Snow and A Man and A Woman among my favorites. April Snow is a contemporary South Korean movie set in Seoul. It is the story of a man and a woman who meet by chance in a hospital ICU while keeping watch over their comatose spouses who were involved in a fatal car accident. I have no wish to spoil it for the moviegoer, so let’s just leave out the rest of the story.
The 2003 film is directed by famous South Korean filmmaker, Hur Jin Ho. The main characters are In-su (played by Yong-jun Bae who may be remembered for his highly successful film, Winter Sonata) and Seo Young (played by Son Ye-Jin, remember her Crash Landing on You?).
The 2016 movie A Man and A Woman begins in Helsinki, Finland, with the accidental meeting of a man and a woman as they dropped off their respective kids for a children’s camp. The cast top billed Gong Yoo (remember him in the Coffee Prince and the Guardian?) and Jeon Do-yeon (the first Korean actress to win an award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and the Best Performance at the 1st Asia Pacific Screen Awards). It also stars Lee Mi-so who plays Ki-hong’s young wife who has mental health problems; and Park Byung-eun as Sang-min’s husband. Both Ki-hong and Sang-min are devoted parents to their respective children who are suffering from emotional health issues.
They would meet again in Seoul with Sang-min saying their second meeting was not coincidental. They get to know more about each other and a love affair blossoms, each filling in the void in their lonely lives.
The ending of these two movies may either be good or sad. Indeed, “falling in love is awfully simple, falling out of love is simply awful.”
I asked four friends what particular movie or drama series they prefer and why. I asked An Lukay, a journalist; Girlie Canlas, a writer/researcher; Aida Zita-Reichert, a retired banker; and Connie Angeles, a former vice mayor, broadcaster and corporate executive.
An Lukay did not discover K-drama until after the pandemic and her epiphany came in the form of Mr. Sunshine, a superb historical drama that has at its core a love story so wrenching she says it left her completely destroyed for months — and made her seriously addicted to watching anything that stars Lee Byung-hun and Kim Tae-ri, the two versatile actors who headline Mr. Sunshine.
The highly rated series is set at a time of profound change and suffering in Korean history as Japan prepares to conquer and occupy Joseon (the last kingdom of Korea). The hero, Eugene Choi (Lee Byung-hun) was born a slave but escaped to America as a child after his family was killed by a cruel noble family. Now a captain in the American Marine Corps, he is sent to Joseon on a political mission. He becomes conflicted in his drive to revenge himself on the people who destroyed his family and the country that had rejected him, when he falls in love with a noblewoman Go Ae-shin (Kim Tae-ri) who is involved with a secret network of Korean independence fighters.
Themes of nationalist identity, political loyalty, betrayal, revenge, friendship, love and sacrifice are skillfully woven in this utterly brilliant series that embodies the best of K-drama: well-written and well-developed storyline, stunning cinematography, compelling characters, extraordinary acting, smart and poetic dialogue, fabulous costumes, masterly production design, and a unique audio identity with original soundtrack of songs by K-pop artists.
Connie Angeles lists Under the Queen’s Umbrella among her favorites. This 2022 television series is set at the time of the Joseon dynasty with Kim-Hye-soo as Queen Im Hwa-ryeong.
It also stars Kim Hae-sook and Choi Won-young as the Queen Dowager and King Yi Ho, respectively. The story revolves around the determined effort of Queen Im Hwa-ryeong to transform her sons into princes capable of fulfilling their royal responsibilities.
You’re the Best, a series about family, self-discovery and reconciliation stars IU (also a popular singer and songwriter) and Jo Jung Suk. This K-drama is the favorite of Girlie Canlas, a writer and researcher. That Winter, The Wind Blows which starred Song Hye-Kyo and Zo In-Sung is also another favorite of Girlie. It is a story about a con man played by In-sung who falls in love with a blind heiress played by Hye-Kyo.
Aida Zita-Reichert, a retired banker, prefers Suspicious Partner which stars Ji Chang-wook as Noh Ji-wook and Nam Ji-hyun as Eun Bong-hee. It is a story of how the two worked together to solve a mysterious case.
When I spent my Christmas holidays with my family in Sydney, I was so surprised when my daughter-in-law turned on the TV after an early dinner and started to watch a K-drama, I Have a Lover.
“Why are you watching this movie?” I asked her. She began to give me a litany of all the K-dramas that she had watched and was comparing notes with many of her friends about k-dramas.
For sure, K-drama has conquered the world!
