Dramas in Asia are more or less the equivalent of soap operas in America, except they aren't as long-running and none of them feature Timmy the Talking Doll (which is a bit of a shame, really). Japanese dramas are usually twelve episodes long and somewhat less melodramatic than their American counterparts. Korean dramas, meanwhile, are 16 episodes long and completely insane.
But boy, they sure are popular. And Ryan and I felt that we would be remiss if we didn't at least try to understand them. So we did some cursory research on the internet and downloaded the K-drama that allegedly sparked Japan's fascination with the genre: Full House.
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No, not that Full House...
Full House is the story of a woman named Ji-eun whose terrible, terrible friends sell her house and pocket the cash after sending her on a bogus trip to Shanghai. While in China, she meets famous movie star and heart-throb Young Jae. Through a series of whacky misunderstandings, Ji-eun and Young Jae end up married and living in the very house Ji-eun's stupid friends sold at the beginning of the show. Turns out they sold it to Young Jae! Man, what a kooky turn of events! The madcap, unbridled zaniness is further heightened by the fact that Ji-eun and Young Jae despise each other and only got married so Young Jae could protect the privacy of his childhood friend and Ji-eun could earn her house back by acting as his maid/slave. Somehow!
If you couldn't follow any of that, don't worry. I suspect the success of Full House has less to do with its intricate plot and more to do with the guy who plays Young Jae.
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| SQUEEEEEEEEAAAAAL! |
So now for some of the defining features of Korean dramas, as manifested in Full House.
1. Korean dramas are filmed as they air. From what I understand, this means that lots of time and money are lavished on the first few installments while subsequent episodes have to get pooped out in a hot hurry. In the case off Full House, the initial episodes had our heroine traveling around Shanghai, staying in a fancy hotel and visiting various up-scale restaurants. By the end of the show, though, she and Young Jae just hung out at home a lot and always went to the same empty bar that played the same Bob Dylan song on a constant loop. It was clear that the crew had run out of time, money, and possibly the ability to care less.
2. Korean dramas are very receptive to audience feedback. Apparently, the creators of Korean dramas regularly troll the internet in order to suss out fans' opinions. If the fans don't like a character, the character will suddenly die of a massive heart attack in the next episode. If fans love a character who is in the final stages of terminal brain cancer, that tumor will suddenly decide to take a hike. Most bizarrely, if fans enjoyed a particular scene, the writers will throw in a very similar scene later on. In Full House, this translated to the exact same things happening over and over again without any variation at all. The writers literally wrote in the same scene eight times.
3. Korean dramas are addictive. I have to admit, as tiresome as it got hearing Rain emotionally abuse a girl whom he had manipulated into a contract marriage, and as repetitive as it was watching the EXACT SAME SCENE for the ninetieth time, I couldn't just stop watching. I had to see if they got together in the end. Unfortunately, the pay-off in the final episode was Young Jae and Ji-eun sitting together (fully-clothed) in a tent and engaging in a "hot kiss." And I use that term loosely, since I've seen hotter kisses planted on the cheeks of people's grandmothers.
In the final analysis, I don't believe Korean drama is a genre I could get particularly invested in. But I can see why a lot of people are completely consumed by them. They are kind of fun.
Plus Rain, you guys. Rain.
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