K-drama = Soap Opera...my views

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pockiiee
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K-drama = Soap Opera...my views

Post by pockiiee » Mar 8th, '06, 01:32

OK, so today my guy asked me why I was so addicted to Korean soap Operas... and I was a bit taken aback because I'd never really compared the two before - I didn't make the connection between dramas and soaps, but I think he has a point. I'll list them - I'm going to compare K-dramas to the American Soap Days of our Lives, which as cheesy as it is has a special place in my heart as I used to watch it with my mother over the summer holidays

1. Both seem to revolve around personal relationships - work is just a background- a place to receive phone calls.
2. Everyone is either ridiculously successful, like a hotel Mogul - or the exact opposite.
3. Evil characters. You know, those (mostly women) who will stop at nothing to break up our star studded beautiful couple - they never quit on Soaps, but in the drama they eventually give up.
4. Absurd plot twists - If anyone is following tree of heaven, the whole transformation from the animal that can barely speak to big powerful gangster. And if you watch Days of out Lives, there was a weird Demon possession/priest things a few years - or keeping one character alive buried in her coffin for a month -
5. Last but not least the beauty factor, even the "ugly" characters are so darn pretty - The men in American soaps look like a chisled Fabio - and there are numerous threads about hot Korean actors from K-drama - the women are OK too :)

Well, no point to this really except that I like both soaps and K-dramas, although I'm curious about whether you think the two are the same.

On a side note, any Dutch D-addicts watching the drama Lotte? This is the first time anything on Dutch TV has been like a drama series - It's adapted from the famous Colombian soap :http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/933647.stm which was so popular the president mentioned it in his speech - I think there is also a German and a Russian version going too - basically a cute little ugly duckling story like "Snow White, Taste Sweet Love" -

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Post by Corona » Mar 8th, '06, 01:37

Well the big difference is, that unlike soap opera's. It often does not involve as many people..and even bigger. It has a final resolution!

I haven't seen Lotte yet..maybe I should ^^ Talpa goes at it again ^^

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Post by Néa Vanille » Mar 8th, '06, 01:42

Of course they are a little like soaps, since KDrama usually revolves around love and relationships only... though there are, of course, exceptions such as Sandglass. The big difference is there has obviously gone more money into KDrama to make everything look nice and polished. The acting standard is usually much better as well, as are the script and soundtrack. I still like KDrama, though.

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Post by pockiiee » Mar 8th, '06, 01:42

Corona wrote:Well the big difference is, that unlike soap opera's. It often does not involve as many people..and even bigger. It has a final resolution!

I haven't seen Lotte yet..maybe I should ^^ Talpa goes at it again ^^
Good point -I'd like to see more programmes here with a resolution, soaps included, they stretch every show out as long as possible - i.e. Friends ran for 10 years.
( Oh, and you can watch all the Lotte eps on the talpa site under programma gemist)

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Post by who90210 » Mar 8th, '06, 01:54

my biggest concern with K-Drama is the love triangle. It seems there's no K drama without annoying love triangles. Other than that, I love watching beautiful ppl in K-drama.
I dunno ppl, do you like watching k-drama better or J-drama? I just recently watched hana yori dango, not bad at all.

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Post by Ssang » Mar 8th, '06, 02:04

Aren't these threads really old? It doesn't take insight or a genius to find and point out the common tropes in popular K dramas and compare them to whatever, soap operas, romance novels, or else. I can criticize many dramas but their problems aren't the triangles or whatever, so much as it's the way they are done. A love triangle done right can make for the GREATEST ENTERTAINMENT IN THE UNIVERSE!! Hahaha.

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Post by Athaclena42 » Mar 8th, '06, 02:11

I personally think that the acting is much better in K-dramas than in American soaps. The other kicker with American soaps is that one day you might be admiring an actress named, say, "Kate", who has brown hair and green eyes, and the next day you tune in and find she has been replaced by someone that has blonde hair and blue eyes. It's not always that extreme, but sometimes the replacement actor or actress looks completely different from the previous one. It usually takes me awhile to get used to that. Also, when a character dies in an American soap, there's a like, 99% chance that that person isn't really dead or will somehow be resurrected. From what I've watched, people in K-dramas stay dead, if they happen to die.

I used to watch Days Of Our Lives, Another World (before it was cancelled), and Passions (which replaced Another World). I can't bring myself to watch them anymore, and neither can my mother, because they're just too silly. Does anyone remember the weird "doll" Timmy in Passions? I don't know how much weirder it gets than that.

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Post by groink » Mar 8th, '06, 02:16

A lot of Korean drama fans think they're soaps.

http://starbulletin.com/2004/10/11/news/story3.html

--- groink

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Post by pockiiee » Mar 8th, '06, 02:16

Ssang wrote:Aren't these threads really old? It doesn't take insight or a genius to find and point out the common tropes in popular K dramas and compare them to whatever, soap operas, romance novels, or else. I can criticize many dramas but their problems aren't the triangles or whatever, so much as it's the way they are done. A love triangle done right can make for the GREATEST ENTERTAINMENT IN THE UNIVERSE!! Hahaha.
Well, my point wasn't to criticize - or to show any particular insight or genius :) - it's just that Soap operas and dramas seemed very seperate to me - but as Groink points out maybe it was just me, Koreans seem to think of them as soaps.
- and I agree about the love triange thing, they've been around in one story or another for centuries and we haven't gotten tired of them yet -
One thing that does bother me about both is when I see a drama with so much potential turn to the same old cliches
Last edited by pockiiee on Mar 8th, '06, 02:19, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Ruroshin » Mar 8th, '06, 02:19

who90210 wrote:my biggest concern with K-Drama is the love triangle. It seems there's no K drama without annoying love triangles.
You mean love squares :P always 4 there are, 2 guys and 2 girls.

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Post by ovo » Mar 8th, '06, 02:26

What's wrong with love triangle or rectangle (or square :D )? I think those things make the drama more interesting and fun to watch...if there is just 2 people then woudn't it make love to easy, too smooth and too boring for us to watch???

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Post by Paniolagirl » Mar 8th, '06, 02:58

groink wrote:A lot of Korean drama fans think they're soaps.

http://starbulletin.com/2004/10/11/news/story3.html

--- groink
I see your good buddy had something to say about korean "DRAMA"
viewership in the islands.

"Jeff Chung, the station's general manager, said it's not just Koreans watching the soaps. Thirty-four percent of his viewers in Hawaii are Japanese, 18 percent are white, 18 percent are of Hawaiian or Pacific Island ancestry and 13 percent are Filipino."

To bad there is no mention about Upn, oops I meant Kiku. :lol

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Post by groink » Mar 8th, '06, 03:42

Paniolagirl wrote:To bad there is no mention about Upn, oops I meant Kiku. :lol
That's because Lord Chung hunted down the Star-Bulletin to do the story. Free publicity for him and his TV station. I've been pushing KIKU-TV to contact the Honolulu Advertiser and do the same thing.

--- groink

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Post by Ssang » Mar 8th, '06, 04:48

pockiiee wrote:Well, my point wasn't to criticize - or to show any particular insight or genius :) - it's just that Soap operas and dramas seemed very seperate to me
I can understand the distinction but I think it depends on how particular or broad one's notion of "soap opera" is, as a term or else. Also, of course, it depends on what one thinks K drama is.
- but as Groink points out maybe it was just me, Koreans seem to think of them as soaps.
Hawaiians seem to use the term soap opera. I don't think Koreans do. But, again, I can understand the use of the term. If soap opera is taken broadly to mean something like highly social drama with a close focus on romance, etc.. then the term fits.

Other people, Filipinos for instance, refer to these dramas as'novellas' (I'm not sure if that is just a common term used to refer to tv shows or what), but I think the connotations in that term fit too.

In truth, "soap opera" reveals more about those who are either watching K drama or those from the sidelines who think they are clever enough to criticize K drama. K drama is anything. I think it's more appropriate to think of it in terms of "modes"; in K drama there's sometimes a "soap opera" mode, and sometimes there is a "novella" mode, as well as politcal modes, theater and cinema, and sitcom modes, if you know what I mean.

Well, since I just watched ep 2 of Spring Waltz a few miniutes ago (the ep was adorable), I'll post some caps. I think it's relevant. Does this look like a soap opera to anyone?

[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/579/ ... rhdtvx.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5126 ... hdtvx1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/6413 ... hdtvx2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/7395 ... hdtvx3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/6767 ... hdtvx4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3911 ... hdtvx5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/6061 ... hdtvx6.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/126/ ... hdtvx7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/4262 ... hdtvx8.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/9265 ... hdtvx9.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/144/ ... dtvx10.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/7265 ... dtvx11.jpg[/img]

:thumleft:

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Post by mangosteen » Mar 8th, '06, 05:59

ovo wrote:What's wrong with love triangle or rectangle (or square :D )? I think those things make the drama more interesting and fun to watch...if there is just 2 people then woudn't it make love to easy, too smooth and too boring for us to watch???
We never get tired watching the story of 2 guys and 2 girls :P

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Post by Maddie87 » Mar 8th, '06, 06:12

I don't think that they are soap operas because when I finish to watch a Kdrama (or any others dramas) I understand something important about life that i never thought about; which is not the case with the American ones. And at least they don't talk only about sex and money...

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Post by nalika » Mar 8th, '06, 06:18

mangosteen wrote:
ovo wrote:What's wrong with love triangle or rectangle (or square :D )? I think those things make the drama more interesting and fun to watch...if there is just 2 people then woudn't it make love to easy, too smooth and too boring for us to watch???
We never get tired watching the story of 2 guys and 2 girls :P
ditto... :D ...

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Post by nrg_hot330 » Mar 8th, '06, 15:18

well, soap operas and dramas are very different. days of our lives is sorta interesting, but never got into it. i prefer k-dramas.. coz' too many episodes just make me lazy. u can skip many episodes and can catch up with it in only with one ...
about love triangle thingies..... yup there's always 2 men and 2 women. and u can say which ones r losers very easily...lol. and goodlooking nice guys always end up being the loser.

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Post by Saragorn » Mar 9th, '06, 02:15

I think they're pretty much soaps with two basic differences: 1) Higher budget - They can afford better actors, the quality in general and in whatever it is with lights and film that soaps always look crappy is much better. 2) They're much cleaner, but that seems to be more of a cultural difference.

More importantly, did anyone else catch that last bit in the article Groink linked to? "...golf pro Tiger Woods has signed on to star in a Korean drama because his mother is a fan."

....









Hahahahahaa! :lol
Last edited by Saragorn on Mar 9th, '06, 02:55, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by pockiiee » Mar 9th, '06, 02:42

Saragorn wrote: More importantly, did anyone else catch that last bit in the article Groik linked to? "...golf pro Tiger Woods has signed on to star in a Korean drama because his mother is a fan."
Hahahahahaa! :lol
Haha! That's HILARIOUS - OK, so supposing Tiger woods stars in a Drama..... what character would he play? I just can't imagine it ......

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Post by Romance » Mar 9th, '06, 06:58

Soaps for me are crappy corny american shows that are aired in the afternoon, and have been broadcasted for 5-10 years.

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Post by Néa Vanille » Mar 11th, '06, 19:40

Really...? Tiger Woods? Another Henney-like character, eh? :lol

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Post by Paniolagirl » Mar 12th, '06, 00:55

Romance wrote:Soaps for me are crappy corny american shows that are aired in the afternoon, and have been broadcasted for 5-10 years.
Try 20-35 years sounds more like it.

People who call Korean dramas soap operas are not true korean drama fans.

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Post by groink » Mar 12th, '06, 03:26

Paniolagirl wrote:
Romance wrote:Soaps for me are crappy corny american shows that are aired in the afternoon, and have been broadcasted for 5-10 years.
Try 20-35 years sounds more like it.
More like 50+ years. CBS' The Guiding Light started in 1952. It's actually even older than that, when the series was a radio show during the late 1940's.

Do any of you know where the term "soap opera" even came from? Back during the 1950's, the contiuning daytime series like Guiding Light, As the World Turns, etc. were actually more about doctors and lawyers than they were about romance. At that time, all television shows were owned by corporations. They didn't have commercials back then like they do today. So companies like General Mills, Gerital (remember the movie Quiz Show?), among others would purchase programs. And during the shows, their products would be pushed. Like for example, one of the characters in the show would all of a sudden start talking about Alka-Seltzer.

Well, it just so happens that Proctor & Gamble purchased the entire CBS line-up of daytime dramas. For you non-Americans, P&G manufacture soap products, such as Ivory soap, laundry detergent, among other things. That's how the shows were coined the "soap opera" name.

As the years went by, the content covered in daytime dramas started moving towards romance, and the doctors and lawyers were getting less and less. That's basically how soap operas became known as romance shows for women.

So to coin any type of Asian drama series as "soap operas" is completely wrong. Soap operas are really a certain type of series that air during the daytime period. Technically, Korean dramas are basically continuing drama series. I don't know what the Korean word for it is, but in Japanese they're called renzoku dorama, where the word renzoku means "continuation".

--- groink

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