You don't have to be a certain race to be able to post a hate comment. But in fact, Koreans are the best at neglecting their mental filters and it has resulted in irrevocable consequences.
South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the world. There are numerous causes, of course, but it's true that one of them is unfortunately, the hate comments that are posted on blogs and cafe (just a Korean website, basically) posts. It's not that if you have a blog on a Korean site, you will receive hate comments no matter what, but they're so common. They're common because on these blogs and cafes, you have the option of posting anonymously, which you may find weird, because, that option is available on some American websites as well. But, at least in my opinion, Koreans tend to be very expressive of their opinions and by that, I mean they can extremely blunt. They say what they want to say, and it's done. No fluffing it up or using soft diction.
Many of these face-less, name-less bullies online have been one of the causes to suicide. The funny thing is, of course celebrities are targeted more, but just everyday people are targeted just as much. It's incredible how far they can go. Naver has created a page where you can comment your condolences to the victims and families of the victims of the Sewol Ferry incident, but instead of condolences, some were commenting their criticisms about the government. Seriously? Why?? Go do that on your own blog or something, tweet about it on your own twitter, use that freedom of speech right, but not on a place specifically for giving your condolences. There are other ways to express your opinions and feelings.
Wait, let me back up, so I said to exercise your freedom of speech, but not at the expense of other peoples' right to feel secure. If you're thinking these Korean "netizens" (Korean net citizens, so people who are active on the Internet) post death threats, you are wrong. That's just children's games. Many, but not all, Koreans go to the extent of unleashing such horrific profanity that if they were to be translated into English, it wouldn't be possible, because no English word is as harsh as the Korean profanity word is.
Koreans have been aware of this craze with the hate comments being posted, and the result of too many victims. But honestly, I've seen a bunch of campaigns to pledge to only post nice comments, however, there has been no apparent change. Maybe anonymous comment posting should be outlawed altogether. But I feel like expressive netizens would post on, with their identities revealed, anyway.
(451)
Saturday, April 26, 2014
The Extremity of Korean Dramas - When Does it Become Too Much Drama?
I came across this interesting article that addresses how Korean drama (soap opera) producers have been writing nonsensical scripts to attract more viewers.
My mom and I used to be hard core K-drama watchers. Now we don't watch them anymore, although I do watch the children's drama, which is basically a whole another genre in itself. Yes, I would have to say K-dramas have now turned into something more of a genre in itself. Which means they're all the same, so the plot is pretty predictable.
So what do I have to offer, as someone who hasn't watched a Korean drama for some time? Well, it is true that I don't have first-hand, personal experience of watching today's Korean dramas, but what I do watch is "Gag Concert". One of the corners today is called "The King of Viewer Ratings", and basically, the director sits in his chair and directs the actors and actresses in the drama according to the graph that shows the number of viewers next to him. So if the number of viewers is going down and he feels that the drama is boring, he'll throw in something random and/or outrageous and then the graph will show that the number of viewers will go up. This director does a lot of parodies of the actual Korean dramas and what he parodies is so crazy that sometimes I am deceived that the comedian exaggerated or just made it up, but the shocking thing is, he gets those crazy plot twists straight from actual dramas, with no exaggeration. So basically he pokes fun of it all along the way. Based on all of this, I'm actually relieved I don't watch Korean dramas anymore.
The article lists some specifics in Korean dramas these days, and they're all just so illegal, right? Just like the article title says, it's all trash. A married man marrying some other woman while his wife is on a trip? What is this?! Who watches this?! The frustrating thing about Korean dramas is that the cliff-hangers are intense - you have to watch the next episode, and the next episode. You get hooked to the drama. Before my family just altogether quit watching Korean dramas, I've encountered a couple of Koreans who wouldn't even watch one episode of a drama with us, saying that, once they watch a drama once, they have to keep watching it. I didn't understand them at the time, but now that I'm older and wiser, I agree with them 100%.
Even before Korean dramas started to become hyper actively irrational and just plain ridiculous, they were already pretty predictable. The same line of plot was and still is: rich guy likes poor girl, rich guy's mother hates poor girl, and someone dies. But murder was rarely the cause of the deaths. Of course, back in those good ol' days, even if you could say that all dramas are the same, there was so much more originality then. I don't know if script writers are running out of ideas, but the article says it's more because of the competition. But before the producers put their needs first, which is making money for themselves, they should think about what kind of society they are potentially forming with their projects. Like Jackie Chan said, the directors are responsible for what society becomes.
(558)
My mom and I used to be hard core K-drama watchers. Now we don't watch them anymore, although I do watch the children's drama, which is basically a whole another genre in itself. Yes, I would have to say K-dramas have now turned into something more of a genre in itself. Which means they're all the same, so the plot is pretty predictable.
So what do I have to offer, as someone who hasn't watched a Korean drama for some time? Well, it is true that I don't have first-hand, personal experience of watching today's Korean dramas, but what I do watch is "Gag Concert". One of the corners today is called "The King of Viewer Ratings", and basically, the director sits in his chair and directs the actors and actresses in the drama according to the graph that shows the number of viewers next to him. So if the number of viewers is going down and he feels that the drama is boring, he'll throw in something random and/or outrageous and then the graph will show that the number of viewers will go up. This director does a lot of parodies of the actual Korean dramas and what he parodies is so crazy that sometimes I am deceived that the comedian exaggerated or just made it up, but the shocking thing is, he gets those crazy plot twists straight from actual dramas, with no exaggeration. So basically he pokes fun of it all along the way. Based on all of this, I'm actually relieved I don't watch Korean dramas anymore.
The article lists some specifics in Korean dramas these days, and they're all just so illegal, right? Just like the article title says, it's all trash. A married man marrying some other woman while his wife is on a trip? What is this?! Who watches this?! The frustrating thing about Korean dramas is that the cliff-hangers are intense - you have to watch the next episode, and the next episode. You get hooked to the drama. Before my family just altogether quit watching Korean dramas, I've encountered a couple of Koreans who wouldn't even watch one episode of a drama with us, saying that, once they watch a drama once, they have to keep watching it. I didn't understand them at the time, but now that I'm older and wiser, I agree with them 100%.
Even before Korean dramas started to become hyper actively irrational and just plain ridiculous, they were already pretty predictable. The same line of plot was and still is: rich guy likes poor girl, rich guy's mother hates poor girl, and someone dies. But murder was rarely the cause of the deaths. Of course, back in those good ol' days, even if you could say that all dramas are the same, there was so much more originality then. I don't know if script writers are running out of ideas, but the article says it's more because of the competition. But before the producers put their needs first, which is making money for themselves, they should think about what kind of society they are potentially forming with their projects. Like Jackie Chan said, the directors are responsible for what society becomes.
(558)
The Yellow Ribbon Campaign - Symbol of Hope for the Sewol Accident
The hottest trend in South Korea right now is the binding of yellow ribbons and/or posting a picture of it on social media, whether as a post or as your profile picture. You can read more about the Yellow Ribbon Campaign here.
This tragic accident had made me feel and think a lot of things. One of the things I realized is how small of a country Korea is. I mean that they're physically small, but the hearts of these people are not. One thing that struck me as a reminder of how physically small the country is was when I got on the Korean portal site, Naver. Right underneath the search bar are your popular search items, what's trending. Three of these are shown at a time and you can scroll through them and there's about 3 or 4 scrolls. However ever since the Sewol ferry accident, all that's been trending were "The Rescue Situation for Sewol" "Live Updates" and now with the Yellow Ribbon Campaign underway, "Yellow Ribbon Campaign". Those are the only three items that are offered underneath the Naver search bar and you couldn't even click the next line of trends. The entire country was on their phones and computers about this, and reasonably so. Not only that, the variety programs that are widely viewed in South Korea have all been cancelled for last weekend. All that's been on television is the news. On top of that, much of artists' concerts have been cancelled.
In comparison to a much bigger country in its physically size, the United States, does not all collectively react like this. Sure, in the instance of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting accident, the whole nation was mourning, there's no doubt about that. But paying condolences was limited to the Newtown community, not necessarily other cities in other states. Does that make sense? Sure all the Americans were bashing the shooter, they were mourning with the families affected, but that was it, not to degrade that or anything, but that simply was all. As for South Korea, it's about a third of the state of Texas, so it's a much smaller country compared to the United States, so it's much easier for all parts of the country to actively do something about it. Not that America's vast size would have prevented the people from doing such a campaign as the Yellow Ribbon Campaign.
I've already mentioned this before, but in South Korea, such high tragedies do not happen much. America is a much bigger country, like I said already, and so there's more this sense of each state doing its own thing, everyone plays separately. But as South Korea is already a small country in itself and tragedies like the Sewol incident does that happen anywhere in Korea, it's just a huge shock and trauma for all Koreans, regardless of which region they live in.
The Yellow Ribbon Campaign is beautiful. To see pictures of Koreans binding their yellow ribbons or change their profile pictures to like that of the one above, shows a great sense of unity. Despite all the accusations to each other, we Koreans are all in this together. In one other article I read about this campaign, there was a rather rude comment posted about how a bunch of yellow ribbons do not really create a sense of hope. What a thoughtless thing to say. And a very narrow-minded comment, too. This hope we're talking of here goes beyond hoping for survivors, it's the hope that in the midst of the chaos, even if we're still looked down on as a small country, as long as there's unity, there is hope.
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Saturday, April 19, 2014
The Korean-American Dilemma
You're Korean-American. Your parents are Korean and you live in the land called America in your Korean-ness. Not in a metropolitan part of the U.S., you're surrounded by more whites than other Asians, let alone other Koreans. And your parents would like you to marry a Korean in the future.
So you ponder about this. A Korean partner would be nice in so many ways, you share the same culture, same language, and just within these two things, come about more specifics: you can understand Korean jokes together, enjoy the same food, and talk about Korean news.
Then you think deeper. "Do I want a Korean-Korean or a Korean-American like me?" Does this matter? Kind of. Both are Korean but their degrees of "Korean-ness" may be different. The Korean-Korean would not understand the American culture that you've grown up in. When you're speaking Korean to your Korean-Korean partner, you have a brain fart and cannot remember a word in Korean but you know it in English. Well your Korean-Korean partner does not know that English word. Or what about the food? American food is generally nothing too foreign for Korean-Koreans to encounter. But there's the greasiness that Korean-Koreans find frightening. Or the sweetness in the snacks and desserts that are too much. While you're inhaling these American food, will you leave your Korean-Korean to push around their fork/spoon and yearn for some kimchi?
So Korean-American, it is? Well, here's the thing: you find Korean-Koreans more attractive than Korean-Americans somehow. The environment that one grows up in must have some kind of factor into this. Not only that, most Korean-Americans are not very Korean. Some, and by that I mean a vast majority of them, are in fact, white-washed. But you have the Korean and American cultures balanced out in you. So if you do go with a Korean-American, what if he can't even properly introduce himself in the most simple way in Korean? Wouldn't it be horribly humiliating when you introduce him/her to your very Korean parents?
Okay, but let's go back to the fact that you are actually surrounded by white Americans. Where do you find a Korean-American your age, let alone a Korean-Korean, near you? Oh, maybe you'll meet him/her in South Korea, for whatever occasion you may be in. Wait, then how does that Korean-Korean meets Korean-American from the U.S.A work - do you bring him/her with you back to the States or do you stay with them? Okay, well, you're not exactly living under a rock, maybe going to college or moving to a bigger city will let you encounter many more Koreans! Wait. Korean-Americans, that is.
Oh look, there goes another attractive white American. Parents still want you to marry a Korean. You don't object. But hey, there's another attractive white American.
----
Disclaimer: This is surely not every Korean-American's dilemma, despite the title, it's more personal. But hey, it can be some other Korean-American's problem too - hi there!
(499)
So you ponder about this. A Korean partner would be nice in so many ways, you share the same culture, same language, and just within these two things, come about more specifics: you can understand Korean jokes together, enjoy the same food, and talk about Korean news.
Then you think deeper. "Do I want a Korean-Korean or a Korean-American like me?" Does this matter? Kind of. Both are Korean but their degrees of "Korean-ness" may be different. The Korean-Korean would not understand the American culture that you've grown up in. When you're speaking Korean to your Korean-Korean partner, you have a brain fart and cannot remember a word in Korean but you know it in English. Well your Korean-Korean partner does not know that English word. Or what about the food? American food is generally nothing too foreign for Korean-Koreans to encounter. But there's the greasiness that Korean-Koreans find frightening. Or the sweetness in the snacks and desserts that are too much. While you're inhaling these American food, will you leave your Korean-Korean to push around their fork/spoon and yearn for some kimchi?
So Korean-American, it is? Well, here's the thing: you find Korean-Koreans more attractive than Korean-Americans somehow. The environment that one grows up in must have some kind of factor into this. Not only that, most Korean-Americans are not very Korean. Some, and by that I mean a vast majority of them, are in fact, white-washed. But you have the Korean and American cultures balanced out in you. So if you do go with a Korean-American, what if he can't even properly introduce himself in the most simple way in Korean? Wouldn't it be horribly humiliating when you introduce him/her to your very Korean parents?
Okay, but let's go back to the fact that you are actually surrounded by white Americans. Where do you find a Korean-American your age, let alone a Korean-Korean, near you? Oh, maybe you'll meet him/her in South Korea, for whatever occasion you may be in. Wait, then how does that Korean-Korean meets Korean-American from the U.S.A work - do you bring him/her with you back to the States or do you stay with them? Okay, well, you're not exactly living under a rock, maybe going to college or moving to a bigger city will let you encounter many more Koreans! Wait. Korean-Americans, that is.
Oh look, there goes another attractive white American. Parents still want you to marry a Korean. You don't object. But hey, there's another attractive white American.
----
Disclaimer: This is surely not every Korean-American's dilemma, despite the title, it's more personal. But hey, it can be some other Korean-American's problem too - hi there!
(499)
Thursday, April 17, 2014
The Sinking of the South Korean Ferry, Sewol
Over 200 students are missing from the Ferry accident which you can read more about here. So I've only heard what's happened briefly, and so I did further research, spending nearly 30 minutes of my class time to read articles after articles, both American and Korean ones.
I can't believe this has happened. According to the article I linked, the last time this happened was in 1993. I don't know, I know the world hasn't gotten better, but I thought maybe the technology would be better now. I'm not educated much in this. It's rare for such tragic events like this to happen in South Korea, at least during the time that I've been alive. There are no school shootings or terrorist attacks in Korea. I thought all was well.
Plus the article says that the text messages that the passengers sent are fake. Maybe some of them are, but I took a look at the screen captures of the actual messages, and they seemed real. Another source said that it's hard to determine the authenticity of the messages for now, but one of the survivors had texted his mothers while waiting to be rescued. So texting during such a situation is not entirely impossible, in my opinion.
Along with the rest of the Koreans, tears come to my eyes the more I look into the pictures, the videos, these "artifacts" of text messages. If you've been reading my blog, you should know how crazy in love I am with Korea. Plus, the news have been playing during breakfast, and although the English dubber covers the answers to the interviews by a Korean, the first part at least isn't concealed and the cries I hear from desperate parents, I can understand them all. The various articles got me imagining the situation, how the students must have felt, trapped. About a year ago, there was the Sandy-Hook incident and now this. I'm just emotionally disoriented. These students were all around my age. I have a close friend in Korea who's their age. What if she had been on that ferry at the time? I don't have any direct, personal experience of the Korean High School life, but my friend had given me a glimpse of the actual interior of her school building. To imagine a school building like that empty of its former students... How is the school going to go on with this?
Last night, before I looked more in-depth about this and before more news came out, all I had were criticisms for the captain. I had heard that he survived, along with the rest of the crew members. What in the world were they doing?! But then when more news was released, and I saw the captain hiding his face from the public, just apologizing, I think my mind changed a little. Of course other measures should have been taken, but he's getting enough crap from the rest of the people. I think everyone's just going through a lot of crap.
I don't know, maybe I'm too much of a thinker but I wonder how this may revolutionize the class trips that all Korean schools take - will there be any more use of the ferries? Or will the design of the ferry be completely altered, enforced by some legislation?
All I can say is - my prayers go out to everyone who is affected.
(565)
I can't believe this has happened. According to the article I linked, the last time this happened was in 1993. I don't know, I know the world hasn't gotten better, but I thought maybe the technology would be better now. I'm not educated much in this. It's rare for such tragic events like this to happen in South Korea, at least during the time that I've been alive. There are no school shootings or terrorist attacks in Korea. I thought all was well.
Plus the article says that the text messages that the passengers sent are fake. Maybe some of them are, but I took a look at the screen captures of the actual messages, and they seemed real. Another source said that it's hard to determine the authenticity of the messages for now, but one of the survivors had texted his mothers while waiting to be rescued. So texting during such a situation is not entirely impossible, in my opinion.
Along with the rest of the Koreans, tears come to my eyes the more I look into the pictures, the videos, these "artifacts" of text messages. If you've been reading my blog, you should know how crazy in love I am with Korea. Plus, the news have been playing during breakfast, and although the English dubber covers the answers to the interviews by a Korean, the first part at least isn't concealed and the cries I hear from desperate parents, I can understand them all. The various articles got me imagining the situation, how the students must have felt, trapped. About a year ago, there was the Sandy-Hook incident and now this. I'm just emotionally disoriented. These students were all around my age. I have a close friend in Korea who's their age. What if she had been on that ferry at the time? I don't have any direct, personal experience of the Korean High School life, but my friend had given me a glimpse of the actual interior of her school building. To imagine a school building like that empty of its former students... How is the school going to go on with this?
Last night, before I looked more in-depth about this and before more news came out, all I had were criticisms for the captain. I had heard that he survived, along with the rest of the crew members. What in the world were they doing?! But then when more news was released, and I saw the captain hiding his face from the public, just apologizing, I think my mind changed a little. Of course other measures should have been taken, but he's getting enough crap from the rest of the people. I think everyone's just going through a lot of crap.
I don't know, maybe I'm too much of a thinker but I wonder how this may revolutionize the class trips that all Korean schools take - will there be any more use of the ferries? Or will the design of the ferry be completely altered, enforced by some legislation?
All I can say is - my prayers go out to everyone who is affected.
(565)
Monday, April 14, 2014
Review of "Pluto Secret Squad" - Part 2
Click here for Part 1 of my review of "Pluto Secret Squad"
I have to say, I'm not particularly fond of the scenes that the director has been including and excluding. I feel like a lot of the bonding within the family that all of the previous children's dramas have shown are emitted in Pluto. I'm talking about meal scenes, where the whole family will just eat and chat about how their day was, what's been going on in their lives and also dessert scenes, where the whole family just eat a plate full of fruits (we Koreans love fruit) and again, talk together. Both of these meal scenes and dessert scenes have always been a part of children's dramas, and just regular dramas too, but in Pluto, there has only been two super brief meal scenes with absolutely no dessert scenes. Of course, it's hard to pack all of those details in the 30-minute time frame that makes up one episode, especially when the kids are busy solving some huge crime that has gone on in the neighborhood. But if this drama is supposed to be a "developing children's drama", where's the crucial scenes of family bonding times? I feel like the parents of two main characters, who are also brothers on the show, are just there because the presence of parents are needed. Other than that, they don't do much of anything else.
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| The main characters of 'Pluto' pose for a picture / Click here for picture source |
In addition, what I've been thinking while watching Pluto is that either I'm really old-fashioned or the world has just changed... a lot. I feel like in the older children's dramas, the children were more...child-like. The purity of their innocence was portrayed better, hence, this paved way for more amusing episodes. But nowadays, kids are just growing up too fast. I just look at the main characters in Pluto and the other "extra" actors and actresses, and they just dress more maturely, their hairstyles look like what K-pop idols would sport, and oh yeah, they all have smartphones. Not only do kids seem to be growing up so fast in their appearances, but also the way they talk. This is another reason why I'm complaining about the lines given to the child actors. They just talk so maturely. No child-like innocence at all. But this may just be representing not only Korea's children in real life, but also children in America. I go to the mall here in America, and I see the clothes for little girls and the styles are all the same as what teenagers/young adults wear. It's kind of a problem when I start to see clothes made for little girls to be what I'd like to wear.
So I wrote about how Korea has been trying to create a better environment for kids to grow up in (click here), but I don't know if they're doing enough. I don't know if Korean kids nowadays would buy the style of the older children's dramas. Don't get me wrong, I've been re-watching one children's drama from earlier this century (also one I've watched as a little kid), and it's not "lame". Those original children's dramas were not some Sesame-street type thing, they were of high quality. But it's true that kids these day grow up much more faster. It was on middle ground - it was definitely not like Barney but it wasn't a late-night, rated PG13 drama; both children and even adults could enjoy it. But nowadays, it seems like producers are struggling to keep it middle ground, and this isn't entirely their fault, did I mention that kids are growing up too fast these days? But KBS, the producer of those mega-hit children's dramas back in the day, made a fatal mistake, at least in my opinion, in making "Nose-picker Principal's Fairy tale Warrant". I've never watched it, but I recently watched a trailer for it since my favorite boy group had endorsed it in the trailer, and oh my goodness. It was just some little kids' show, like Sesame Street. Like I said, no middle ground.
In conclusion, I love Pluto. I really do, and it excites me that a children's drama exists today, after it's been extinct for too long. Sure, that middle ground has been dwindling, but Pluto is still keeping it's place. Also, it's been pretty popular, so I'm glad that the revival of children's drama has come and has been successful. Like I elaborated enough, they could do better, in comparison to the highly successful children's dramas back in the day, but it's a great re-start. Now to wait for EBS to upload the next episode on YouTube...
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(761)
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Review of "Pluto Secret Squad" - Part 1
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| Click here for picture source |
First off, I would like to point out that I love this drama. I just like to see kids act and to watch a drama that's free of questionable topics but still keeps you coming back for more is really refreshing. The story line has been great, they do a great job of creating needed suspension and although I hate them, cliff hangers. In addition, the humor in the drama is also great. I can tell that the producers have been investing a lot for this drama, as a handful of celebrities, largely well-known actors, have made cameos. These cameos are a good idea as EBS is not your go-to channel, it is actually just an educational channel for children, it's a Korean PBS. Nonetheless, they have made these children's dramas in the past but 'Pluto' is their first one in two years. So to keep up the viewer ratings and add pizzazz, they've been having these more popular celebrities make cameos.
Another praiseworthy thing is that like any children's drama should be, 'Pluto' has been doing a good job of keeping up to the producers' goal of making a "developing children's drama (성장드라마)", pretty much meaning, it's for kids who learn life as they grow up, so it has good morals, kind of like your Disney channel shows, don't they always have some kind of lesson in each episode? That's what the children's dramas do, but it's different from your Disney channel shows in that the characters do not necessarily make a catastrophic incident and then learn something from it. So 'Pluto' has been a good hearty drama, where you can be kept on your toes for all the suspense from the mysteries that the characters are trying to solve and that it gives you laughs as well.
But as a Korean who has grown up watching few of the original and most popular children's dramas, I have some criticisms that derive in comparison. First off, in the blog post that I've linked, I mentioned how the characters are middle-school students, totally different from any children's dramas before. But when I actually started watching 'Pluto', turns out that I was wrong, 4 out of these young actors and actresses who play the main character roles are in middle school (two are in their second year and the other two are in their first year in middle school) but the characters that they play are still elementary students. So although 'Pluto' didn't disgrace me by breaking the uniform of having the children be elementary students, but I'm still not satisfied with the fact that they're still middle school students in real life. Because boy, the two oldest actor and actress, 2nd year middle school students, look way to overgrown to be in the last year of elementary school.
Maybe it's because Korea has been so deprived of once prominent children's drama for a long time, I just feel like the producers in the broadcasting networks have lost their flow. They're ability to come up with super creative stories are still a little rusty. I'm not necessarily talking about the plot here, because I just praised 'Pluto' for that, but one of the things that make up a drama (or any film) are the lines that the characters say. Now, Korean dramas are known to be, well, dramatic, so the lines that the characters say will always be cheesy, but I feel like the cheesy level has stepped up a lot since the last time children's dramas were on the high rise. I've been kind of cringing a lot at the lines of these Pluto characters.
I've been typing and typing, and the result was a gigantic, 1420-word post. So I'll post the next half-ish part as the next blog post, so come back next week for part 2 of my review of 'Pluto'. :)
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