Some thoughts on dramas
Mar. 21st, 2004 12:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirAd Mundo Exteriore,
Just finished watching the last five episodes of Hotelier. I'm either a hopeless sap or an accomplished procrastinator. Most likely a combination of both. Still, there are some very disturbing messages in that series, including the rather depressing thought that I won't be able to find true love or at least a suitable marriage partner until I (1) turn thirty-two, (2) go back to Korea, (3) charm the socks off someone with whom I have nothing in common through tons of money and an earnest heart. >_< See, the male lead (played by my favorite Bae Yongjun, of course) is an adopted child who graduates from Harvard and makes his fortune on Wall Street as a "merger and acquisition" specialist. Somehow, despite the fact that he was adopted by white parents, he also manages to speak Korean better than I do. >_> Honestly, what a confusing role model to have. ^_^ Why don't writers ever realize that if you're going to add "glamour" to a character by having him/her be raised in America, they just won't be able to speak Korean that easily? Are we expected to tap into some sort of racial memory and come up with beautiful poetic metaphors for love because sappiness just happens to be in our "blood"? Heh...
The episodes I downloaded were fansubs, and the translations got, um, more and more liberal towards the end. It's kind of a shame because they came up with really strange ways to express idioms that weren't so difficult to translate in the first place. I mean, "mountain tortoise"? Uh...sure. I think maybe they translated from Chinese subs instead of from the Korean dialogue. There were places where the subtitles reported a completely different conversation than the one I was hearing, although they all converged on the same point after a while. Oh well, didn't matter all that much because I didn't really pay that much attention to the subtitles anyway, unless there was a word I didn't know.
Last Tuesday, in Korean class, the drill instructor asked us whether we would give up friendship for love, or love for friendship--then commented, in front of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aetherangelette and bottledgray, who were visiting, that girls tended to do the former rather than the latter. I've never been so insulted in my life...but anyway, the point I wanted to make was that this is so typical of Korean dramas. Well, maybe not friendship specifically, but giving up everything "society" values in order to pursue romantic happiness. On the one hand, it is a noble and touching gesture to bankrupt yourself for the sake of your beloved, but it is also genuinely stupid. I can watch such antics in a drama, and think, "Oh, how romantic," but the truth is, if someone I knew in real life ever did such an idiotic thing, I would probably laugh my head off. I don't approve of gambling, especially not for stakes as low as someone's immediate infatuation or affection. Mother tells me that I'll understand once I fall in love, but my general reaction after watching a drama or reading a love story is to hope that I never do. If I ever end up in a relationship, I would like to have a straightforward, boringly sensible one, without all these histrionics and immature power struggles. Oh, and don't forget the underlying neurosis--it can't be mentally healthy to be so fixated on a single person. Dramas are fun to watch, but whenever I finish one, I always come away with a firm conviction to be as much of an antisocial misanthrope as possible.
All right, so I'm a weird control freak. Am going to cease feeling disgusted and actually study chemistry now. ^_^
...Tari
Post-script: Have just realized "antisocial misanthrope" is redundant. Uh...yes, I've been hit on the head one too many times. No brain cells left. ::whistles innocently::
Just finished watching the last five episodes of Hotelier. I'm either a hopeless sap or an accomplished procrastinator. Most likely a combination of both. Still, there are some very disturbing messages in that series, including the rather depressing thought that I won't be able to find true love or at least a suitable marriage partner until I (1) turn thirty-two, (2) go back to Korea, (3) charm the socks off someone with whom I have nothing in common through tons of money and an earnest heart. >_< See, the male lead (played by my favorite Bae Yongjun, of course) is an adopted child who graduates from Harvard and makes his fortune on Wall Street as a "merger and acquisition" specialist. Somehow, despite the fact that he was adopted by white parents, he also manages to speak Korean better than I do. >_> Honestly, what a confusing role model to have. ^_^ Why don't writers ever realize that if you're going to add "glamour" to a character by having him/her be raised in America, they just won't be able to speak Korean that easily? Are we expected to tap into some sort of racial memory and come up with beautiful poetic metaphors for love because sappiness just happens to be in our "blood"? Heh...
The episodes I downloaded were fansubs, and the translations got, um, more and more liberal towards the end. It's kind of a shame because they came up with really strange ways to express idioms that weren't so difficult to translate in the first place. I mean, "mountain tortoise"? Uh...sure. I think maybe they translated from Chinese subs instead of from the Korean dialogue. There were places where the subtitles reported a completely different conversation than the one I was hearing, although they all converged on the same point after a while. Oh well, didn't matter all that much because I didn't really pay that much attention to the subtitles anyway, unless there was a word I didn't know.
Last Tuesday, in Korean class, the drill instructor asked us whether we would give up friendship for love, or love for friendship--then commented, in front of
aetherangelette and bottledgray, who were visiting, that girls tended to do the former rather than the latter. I've never been so insulted in my life...but anyway, the point I wanted to make was that this is so typical of Korean dramas. Well, maybe not friendship specifically, but giving up everything "society" values in order to pursue romantic happiness. On the one hand, it is a noble and touching gesture to bankrupt yourself for the sake of your beloved, but it is also genuinely stupid. I can watch such antics in a drama, and think, "Oh, how romantic," but the truth is, if someone I knew in real life ever did such an idiotic thing, I would probably laugh my head off. I don't approve of gambling, especially not for stakes as low as someone's immediate infatuation or affection. Mother tells me that I'll understand once I fall in love, but my general reaction after watching a drama or reading a love story is to hope that I never do. If I ever end up in a relationship, I would like to have a straightforward, boringly sensible one, without all these histrionics and immature power struggles. Oh, and don't forget the underlying neurosis--it can't be mentally healthy to be so fixated on a single person. Dramas are fun to watch, but whenever I finish one, I always come away with a firm conviction to be as much of an antisocial misanthrope as possible.All right, so I'm a weird control freak. Am going to cease feeling disgusted and actually study chemistry now. ^_^
...Tari
Post-script: Have just realized "antisocial misanthrope" is redundant. Uh...yes, I've been hit on the head one too many times. No brain cells left. ::whistles innocently::
