K-POP Idols turned Soap Opera Darlings

Recently, K-POP stars have been creating a new kind of excitement for their fans, and also for their critics. We can observe that while they are dominating the mainstream music scene all over the world right now, these idols have also been stealing hearts as actors and actresses in top-rating Korean dramas!

To name a few, I'm starting of with YOONA from the popular K-POP group, Girls Generation!

  

Yoona has recently starred in LOVE RAIN, which depicts a love from 1970's, which may have a connection to a present-day love. LOVE RAIN has aired in the Philippines in 2013, and Filipino Koreanovela and Girls Generation fans had positive feedback, and of course, supported the lovely Yoona.

      

Aside from acting and performing, Yoona also has brand endorsements, like BABY-G by Casio, etcetera. 

Another popular band in the K-POP industry is CN BLUE.

One of my personals favorites, is HEARTSTRINGS. A korean drama that I've really spent time on watching, learning soundtracks, and yes, maybe stalking on the actors.. It's because CN Blue's Kang Min Hyuk (on drums) and Jung Yong Hwa (on lead guitar and vocals) have been cast as main actors! (OMG!!!) 

(Jung Yong Hwa)

(Kang Min Hyuk)

For me, Heartstrings showed how love for music can bring people together, even when they have very different tastes. It was such a cute love story! And it was also well-loved by Filipino fans (hearts everywhere).

I'm pretty sure Yong Hwa and Min Hyuk have enjoyed working on this Koreanovela because what could be better than starring on a Koreanovela about music? Heartstrings got me hooked up from the very first episode because I'm a lover of music myself!

Which K-POP group or singer do you want to see on a Koreanovela next? :-)

Gumiho goes on air again on ABS-CBN

The funny love story between an ordinary guy and a mythical creature called ‘gumiho’ returns in afternoon TV as ABS-CBN, in celebration of its more than a decade of being the first and true home of Asianovelas, brings back the hit Koreanovela My Girlfriend is a Gumiho last Monday (Mar 17). 

The series hasn’t started yet but it already landed among the top Twitter trending topics worldwide recently after netizens tweeted it upon seeing a teaser plug aired on ABS-CBN. 

Re-experience the romance and relive the 100 days spent by Dae Woong with Mi Ho to return a favor after the gumiho saved his life. 

As Dae Woong gets to know Mi Ho more, he falls in love with her despite the odd fact that she is a nine-tailed fox guised as a beautiful woman.  

But Mi Ho’s desire to become a normal human being gets in the way and after their 100-day long pact, Dae Woong’s life must end before Mi Ho gets what she’s been wanting for in her eternal life. 

Let's all experience, Miho's innonce and Daewoong's unconditional love for her. Hoi !Hoi!

Manga to Live Action

I think every asianovela addict knew that a lot of K and J dramas that they love came from a Japanese manga or anime, am I right? Well, to be honest, even though I knew that most of the asianovelas started out as Manga, sometimes I'm surprised by some of the dramas that I watch because I wasn't even aware and has no idea that it came from a Manga before. 

A lot of asianovelas that became successful usually came from Manga. May it be a Korean Drama, Japanese Drama or a Taiwanese drama, people still learn to love it no matter what the version is. I wonder why? hmmm :D

Manga (mɑːŋ.ɡə) are comics created in Japan, or by Japanese creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art.( Source: Wikipedia) 

Are you aware of the asianovelas that started out as Mangas? Well, here are some of it!

1) Boys over Flowers/Hana Yori Dango

 

2) Coffee Prince

3) To the Beautiful You/ Hana Kimi

4) Goong/Princess Hours

5) Playful Kiss/It started With a Kiss

6) City Hunter

I said before that even though I've been a fan of Asian dramas for a long time already, i'm still being surprised by some of the dramas I've watch because, as I was saying, I was not aware that they came from a Manga! And today........City Hunter surprised me. A lot :o haha! 

If you haven't watch these dramas yet........Go watch it! IT'S A MUST! 

 

A glimpse of Post Modernization in Asian Dramas

We Filipinos had always loved watching Korean and Japanese Dramas. It can make us laugh. It can make us cry. It can even make us mad and frustrated sometimes. Our emotions are easily stirred by the story plots of these K&J dramas over and over again without us realizing it that it has the same story plot as the other dramas we've already watch.

Example:

Coffee Prince. A girl disguise as a guy to help the leading actor

Hana Kimi. A girl pretending to be a guy to enter the school where her favorite
athlete is studying.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal. A girl disguise as a guy to be able to study in a university

You're Beautiful. A girl pretending to be a guy to help her brother. 

These are just some of the popular K&J dramas that features this kind of story plot. A woman disguising herself to be a man. 

This plot just keep on repeating and repeating, with the writers recycling what the previous similar drama have shown. Despite the fact that this story line have been overused in the K&J novelas, we still continue to watch it because they make it appear like it's our first time watching something like that.  

Haven't you noticed that these kind of story plot emerges in the mainstream one after the other but these dramas still manage to get high rates in Television? Personally, even with me realizing this, I still like watching dramas that have this kind of story plot. I never get tired of it and I don't know why. 

Well, maybe I do know. Because even though there's nothing new in the story plot of that particular drama or we can't get any good knowledge from the story itself, as long as the actors are good-looking and famous, we patronized it. Am I right or am I right? :P Some of the K&J drama fans only patronize a drama if their favorite actors and actresses are in it. They will first love the actors, then later comes the "loving the plot" stage.  

Feminisim in K&J Dramas

FEMINISM, FEMINISM....

I've never thought one word would mean so much for so many people. There have been many views, reactions, and comments about Feminism in different countries. 

On this blog post, we will be talking about Feminism we observe in Korean and Japanese Dramas.

One of the best examples where feminism is obsevervable, is in the well-loved Japanese drama, GOKUSEN. 



"Never underestimate the power of a woman who knows what she wants." A strong statement, indeed. In Gokusen, I can say that I may have observed a hint of socialist feminism when Kumiko Yamaguchi's (lead character) other family members do not approve of her being a teacher, because they want her to take over the family business. 

Normally, women in the family are not the ones being entrusted to take charge of the family's business. They usually say that, "It's a man's job." Although in the case of Gokusen, Kumiko gained all the trust, yet this is accompanied by high expectations. She was forced to keep her teaching job a secret, but come to think of it, teaching is a very difficult profession, so to find someone willing to risk her peaceful life for a stressful profession is very inspiring. 

I believe that the J Drama GOKUSEN empowers women all over the world. 

Next is a Korean Drama entitle, SUNGKYUNKWAN SCANDAL...



SUNGKYUNKWAN SCANDAL is a 2010 South Korean fusion-historical drama about a girl who disguises herself as a boy while attending Sungkyunkwan, the Joseon Dynasty's highest educational institute, where no women were allowed.  

The setting of this K-Drama is during the era wherein women are not allowed to have opportunities at work or education, which describe Liberal Feminism. Nowadays it's fair to say that there's no sense in depriving women of opportunities for education and employment because we have seen many women succeed in different fields already, even in the ones dominated by men. 

Although the story of SUNGKYUNKWAN SCANDAL is quite common because we have seen more TV series with the same concept, in my personal view, concepts like that tell poorly about women. Our weakness in love takes us into making decisions that are out of this world, like disguising yourself as boy. Would you really do that for a boy? I'm not one to judge, because I am aware that different people have different views. 

Another Japanese drama showing Male domination in the society is HANA YORI DANGO.



Yes, F4 boys are good-looking, F4 boys are rich, F4 boys are popular.... And F4 boys think they run the school and don't care who you are, so you better watch your step and what you say, or you will get a red card, and this'll mean you should ready to be bullied. 

But what's good about this series is that a girl enters the picture, and she suddenly inspires these boys to live a better life. The boys, and the whole school may have thought poorly of Tsukushi Makino (female lead), but her courage to speak her mind on what she thinks about them is truly amazing, thus she impresses people. 

It's very important that women know and keep in mind their self-worth. And Feminists, although they are fighting for equality among women, must also be open-minded about the changing society and perceptions that come with it.

Social Class: Who Rules?

Sungkyungkwan Scandal. Rich Man, Poor Woman. Coffee Prince. Hana Yori Dango. Gu Family Book.

These asianovelas have it's own different story lines. However, they have one thing in common. And that is the idea wherein rich people always get the upper hand. We're not saying that all of the asianovelas we have cited above featured that idea in the whole series, but they may have included bits of it somewhere in the story. Actually, almost all of the asianovelas have that "fact" included in their story line. There's always this poor character  who was being bullied or harassed by the rich people and ending up doing what they are asking of him/her. 

And why is this a fact? Because it is indeed happening in our society. The idea, that is: the ruling class will always have the power over the working class, has been implanted to the minds of the viewers by showing it through the media, specifically these dramas that we fell in love with. It became sort of a reminder, i guess? 

Repetition.This idea just keep on repeating and repeating in all the Korean and Japanese dramas that we watch and we ended up believing it and it's just the media's way of relaying that message to the working class that the ruling class will always have the power over them, on way or another.

Structuralism

In every movie, series or in any show it will never be complete without these Characters....

The main character.. either He or She can be a rich person, or a less fortunate one...

Gu Jun Pyo (BOF) - violent, sort of irresponsible self-centered brat.

Na Mi Rae is a writer working in a broadcasting station YBS. She goes back in time and advises herself from the past to choose the right man so she can have a good life.

OF COURSE... THE VILLIAN.

Yoon Baek-hee is Go Hye-mi's best friend and sidekick at their old school, but she is betrayed by Hye-mi during the Kirin School audition. She is devastated by the betrayal and becomes Hye-mi's biggest rival.

 Yoon Hae-ra

She is considered as Baek Seung-jo's female equivalent by many. She is smart, good-looking and good at tennis like Seung-jo. She takes an interest on him when they went on college, but decides to give up when Seung-jo and Ha-ni got married. She later shows interest for Kwang Kyung-soo, the tennis club's vice-president. (credits to: wikepedia)

OVER PROTECTIVE PARENTS / MOTHER

Kang Hee-soo ( Goo Jun Pyo's Mother)

She opposes her son's relationship with Jan di and does everything in her power to stop them..

THE BEST FRIEND

Chu Ga-eul

                         Geum Jan-di's best friend who works with her at the porridge shop.

SYMBOLISM:

piggy rabbit from You're beautiful

Kissing Star Necklace - BOF

exchange value and use value

When we watch koreanovelas, we can see beautiful scenery, places or locations, either private or public place, they are costing up to 100,000,000 won ( Korean money) or more for that area, even though it’s expensive the producers and directors, really want to show the beautiful attraction, which they are really proud of, they want to the world to see what they have.

First, this is one of the shooting place of IRIS (2009) A war drama, they chose to use “Gwanghwamun Sqaure”  ( it is located in Seoul. Gyeongbokgung palace  is one of the most iconic cultural landmark in Korea because it is the largest of the Five Grand Palaces ( namely: Gyeonghuigung, Deoksugung, Changgyeonggung, Changdeokgung), 

Gyeongbokgung served as the main palace of the Joseon Dynasty. )  A realistic war site 

was created in the middle of downtown Seoul with high profile stars, like Lee Byung-hun, 

Kim Tae-hee, Kim Seung-woo, and Choi Seung-heyon (TOP of Big Bang), 200 extras, 80 

cars, and over 4000 bullets and gernades. How interesting that they shoot it in a historical 

landmark, with a twist of modern war setting.

shooting of iris

Second, Unhyeongung Palace it is said that it was the private residence of the last Korean emperor.

The exterior setting of the palace is the location of one of the most popular Korean drama “goong” or princess hours.

This where they shoot the exterior scenes of princess hours

Third, Myeong-dong is one of the most popular shopping districts in Seoul. The streets of Myeong-dong are always packed and full of life. Every nook and cranny is filled with places to eat and shop. Being centrally located in Seoul, Myeong-dong is the most popular, and a must-go destination for foreign visitors. From big-name stores like ZARA and Forever 21 to Hallyu paraphernalia; gourmet Korean restaurants to street foods - Myeong-dong has it all. It not surprising that this area has been featured in so many films and dramas despite being one of the busiest districts in Seoul.

Myeong-dong Cathedral

Myeong-dong Cathedral is the very first Roman Catholic parish church in Korea. It is also the first Gothic building ever

 built in Korea. On the basement floor of the cathedral you can find a small sanctuary where the remains of the martyrs are enshrines. Every May, Myeongdong Cathedral holds a cultural festival and the festival open to everyone.

in front of the church

basement of the cathedral

Myeongdong Cathedral Cultural Festival

Every May, the month of St. Mary, Myeongdong Cathedral holds a cultural festival. Non-Catholics are welcome. Apart from a few performances, most programs are free. The cathedral offers various programs during the month, such as traditional Korean music concerts, dance performances, calligraphy and flower arrangement exhibitions and folk games for overseas visitors.

Lastly, is the Namiseom Island - the most exposed and popular set of the "Snow Falling of Winter Sonata"
This island is the location where many scenes were shot. A leisurely walk around the island will take approximately 2~3 hours. Many visitors opt for biking part way. Bicycles can be rented at the administrative office located near the center of the island. There is a small farm area on the island with many ostriches, which are free to roam the island on days when there aren't many visitors. It's fun to race the ostriches while riding bicycles, but don't plan on winning unless you have legs of steel. Summer tourists can enjoy boating around the island, but fall is certainly the loveliest time of year here. 

Even though the settings of the said "dramas" were very expensive, the producers and directors of the "dramas" was eager to let the world see what Korea have, so their viewers can enjoy watching it, without any assurance ( at first) if the show will succeed.