The Good, The Bad, The Weird of Kdrama

Discuss Korean drama series here.
Ethlenn
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Post by Ethlenn » Jan 10th, '12, 17:53

I think we all are missing a point here. It's not like the writers, PDs or directors (actors too) WANT to present this innocent, idyllic and high fashion society. It's the rules of TV broadcasts they have to abide by.
They are NOT presenting the society as it is, but as TV eggheads want it to be presented.

This is why there is a huge difference between movies and dramas in Korea. Movies don't have restraints that dramas have.
Kissing like 13-yo? Like hell I'd believe that happens in real life in 95% like dramas show, but National Big 3 (SBS, KBS, MBC) are public broadcasts and are under pressure of moral guidance, like it or not.
Once more - TVs are not portraying the real society, they are portraying the child-fairytale-that-TVs-want society.
This is why, sorry to hurt everybody, I find this thread useless. We b*tch about things that directors and even writers have no impact on.

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Post by Issy » Jan 10th, '12, 18:11

but directors and writers do have control over repeated cliche stuff that is happening in the dramas and we "b*tch" about them in this thread. it's not that this thread was started to change the way they make Kdramas in the first place. but who knows? maybe it can be. it's from this thread that people like our Ori-chan starts writing in her blog then it goes to Hancinema....it can go places. I am sure. sorry E-chan, but I don't see this thread as useless as you see it. Plus, people need to rant and shout and b*tch about stuff that bothers them. right? :P

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Post by Ethlenn » Jan 10th, '12, 18:21

I know, I know, a place to write the frustration, I do get it. But sometimes it sounds as we blame drama creators for the things they have no control over.
Cliches? It's ok to b*tch about cliches, but we have to see that there is also other side of the drama (un)reality.

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Post by Issy » Jan 10th, '12, 18:26

and I do see your point too my dear E-chan. specially when you have weird netizens complaining about certain storylines. of course in those cases, directors/writers have no power over the drama they are making and writing. remember the case "A Thousand Kisses" drama? which I dropped by the way. :whistling:

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Post by Orion1986 » Jan 10th, '12, 22:22

I see your point as well, Ecchan, but I think that by now, most of us here know that certain things are not under the control of the makers.
So when I say "why do they do that?", "why is this idiotic thing being added?", I am not blaming anyone but those responsible for doing it.

Be it a maker who decided it, an actor who demanded it, the moral committee fossils or government which ordered it, I don't need to comment on that.
"They" who did it know that and what they did. I comment on the thing and what is wrong with it or good about it, not on who did it. As a simple viewer.

It's also true that many things are not under creators' control and they suffer from it too, but many also are. Which is why some series are fresh and good despite certain "necessities" and some don't even try.
Take the "they happen to always meet in huge Seoul" thing. Or the "character goes martyr for <s>attraction</s> love". Is someone forcing writers to be unoriginal and cheap? If they are, shame on those people then.

I know others do have power on that too and that there are people who decide on which script will be made into a series. So, only the same-ey ones are picked up, but still. Writers don't even seem to try, sometimes.
Or then directors don't use any originals scenes and chose to do these in cliche and really bad ways. Or maybe producers force them. We have no idea and it's not important right here, that is what I'm trying to say.

Sometimes it's big and important things and sometimes it's details which are being overlooked. Sometimes, the entire thing feels like they glued other shows and scripts together.
I refuse to believe the creators have no control over that. It's their job. I do know audiences and ratings change a lot of things, but some series show their lack of effort from the start.
It's true that creators suffer and have their works changed because of kyaagirls and other idiots, and those I do feel for, but others are simply going for "easy" things right off the bat.

But even talking about this misses the point of the thread here.

This is a thread for viewers. Simple viewers who are not in the industry and are not involved enough to sit and analyze who and what and where. I didn't make this so we could cry and weep over how the mean meanies are doing these things. Just for the things.
We made this so that, as viewers, we can share the things that bug us or we find odd or funny. If more involved people noticed them, great. It's feedback for them and they can tell whoever is responsible for each "cliche" that it has these issues, or that it's liked.

And that is why I started on the articles as well. To get more spotlight on them and what audiences around the world (and I'm sure many in Korea) think.

In hopes that maybe, little by little, whoever is responsible or whoever doesn't fight them will see that they are oversaturating the industry and hindering originality and creativity. And quality.
I doubt they will and I doubt they even notice what we think, but nothing gets done without some effort. Maybe the ripples will eventually reach someone and help, even if by tiiiny little.

And to mention one good thing the article reminded me of, skinship between friends. I don't see how that would be unwanted or immoral, but a lot of shows miss it.
And then some which have it are so lovely. Like the ladies in "Protect the Boss" or the doctor and the young lady in "The Man Who Can't Get Married", with the sleepover.

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Post by Silverman » Jan 11th, '12, 02:57

I see your point E-chan, that ultimately what we/I rant about amounts to nothing, since its doubtful, that it will influence the creators, but i also said so in the end of the previous post. But if we want to be truthful, if we cut the useless things here or the internet overall, then the amount of posts would be reduced by 95%. Since it doesn't matter if the fans from england go kyaa over an korean actor, since he will never read it. But it matters for the fancommunity.

And yes writers and other creators of dramas have boundaries and rules they have to obey. But they also have the power to play around with these things or at least to insert the required things, so that they fit the drama and don't seem to be out of place. They can come up with a reason, because of which a poor character suddenly buys expensive things.

Here another example:
If you have to portray innocent love, where sex comes not after a first meeting, but at the point of mad love and long consideration, then don't let your characters in the beginning sleep with some guy/girl after the first meeting. As a writer you can say, that the characters, who have sex in the beginning, dated for a long time. So the later celibacy in the drama itself would make sense and not be ooc. Or let the character see for himself/herself, that the screwing in the beginning was a mistake and that the character comes to the resolution to never have sex with someone before the marriage. Or something among these lines. But not something like screwing in the beginning and then sudden celibacy, because it doesn't make sense for the character.
In the drama Personal Taste they solved the problem sex imo very good. Its explained, why the character has problems with sex and it makes sense for her to wait . So it contains the "no-sex-cliche", but it fits in the story and makes sense.

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Post by Silverman » Jan 18th, '12, 08:38

How bad is a divorce in korean society? Is it really so bad, like the kdramas suggest? Or is it a drama-exaggeration? If you believe the kdramas, then a woman, who looks like a supermodel, is smart and has a good career is divorced, is even less "worth" than a fat and ugly loser, as long as he is not divorced.
At the moment I'm watching "I'm glad I loved you" and there is a supportcharacter divorced and didn't tell it to her husband, that she was once married for a short period of time. At the point, where the family finds it out, then they treat her like a childmolester and murderer on probation. Even the "modern" and relatively freeminded female lead(the sister of the brother, to whom the divorced woman now married) is not better and tells this woman in the face how shameless she is and how disgusting she is and how she ruined her brothers life.
In the west a divorce is nothing to be proud off, but not a crime.
Seriously such things let me dislike the korean society. I'm not even a woman and sometimes it disgusts me. An ideal korean woman is a woman, who cuts ties with her family as soon as she marries and is a nurse and maid for her in-laws, who can abuse her however they want (not just parents, but also the siblings of the groom). And also a woman has to be married at an age of 25-30 and quit her job. And she has also to worship her husband, like a god.
I mean tradition is one thing, but this is prehistoric and barbaric. The reality may be different, but we have to agree, that the kdramas often represent the "ideals", even if they are exaggereated.

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Post by moadeep » Jan 18th, '12, 08:59

Well, I living in the US and I see this attitude still. To a certain degree it seems that the man is seen as more of a failure, but there's still this preconception. It's...I don't know exactly how to describe it. A woman who has gone through a divorce has either made a bad decision or has bad judgement. A man who has gone through a divorce just doesn't have what it takes to make a marriage work. I mean, it's bull, but it is the nebulous idea that floats around. I wonder if part of it is the fact that if children are involved the woman usually gets custody, or if the reason the woman usually gets custody is because of that preconception?
I'm not really sure, and probably shouldn't be tackling this at one am, but that happens to be the time at which I have read and responded :D

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Post by Silverman » Jan 18th, '12, 09:05

Seeing such an attitude is one thing. Here in my country you can also see such things here and there. Especially the older people (~70+) are so. But for the younger generations its not a big deal. But the korean TV makes it a big deal.

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Post by moadeep » Jan 18th, '12, 09:19

I'm 28 and I see it in people of my own generation is what I was trying to communicate. Yay not sleeping! lol. See, if it were a previous generation I would just think 'outdated attitudes', but I see it in *my* generation. Oddly enough, in the one preceding us I don't see it as much. Probably why most of my friends are older than me ;). Less judgmental.
As for Korea, I'm not sure. I do know that that attitude towards divorced women is apparently culturally acceptable in Taiwan (as I've mentioned before I have a Taiwanese friend whose parents need to be drop kicked). Makes me miss my former job. I would have just asked Mrs. Kim or her friend Jen (both first generation immigrants and both go back to korea to visit family on a regular basis).

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Post by Silverman » Jan 18th, '12, 16:55

No i get it, that some people have prejudice against divorcées in every country. But In Korean dramas its more extreme. The guy is married to a woman for 5 or 6 years. He is very in love with her. Then he discovers, that she was married once. And then he suddenly changes and thinks of divorcing her. I know trust is one of the problems there, but cmon almost nobody in half of Europe would think of a divorce for such a reason. And nobody would start to ignore the wife.

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Post by moadeep » Jan 18th, '12, 19:42

Aaaah. Got it. So it was the weird severity of the reaction. I don't know, obviously any drama from any country is going to dramatize a reaction. I can see a situation IRL where that could still cause serious harm (or even end a marriage), but yeah, not to that extreme of behaviour from everyone.

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Post by Orion1986 » Jan 21st, '12, 23:41

Public tv dramas (I guess especially family ones) are censored by the Korea Communications Commission, which consists of conservative fossils (I saw a picture and all but one were men and over 60) who are simply fascists.
They like them "old ways" and "old days", when women knew their damn place. In the kitchen. The in-laws command, women have no rights and are only baby machines and maids and men are useless if they can't be perfect.

That is the society they would like to keep and that seeps into dramas sometimes. Or maybe it's because the makers consider these things plain barbaric, they add them as "obstacles".
But some series seem to justify such characters or show them as "she does mean well though" and actually good people. Those are the ones I personally hate for doing such a thing.

One thing I like about some dramas is the little butt smacks. Like what Moo Won's mom did in Protect the Boss. I'm sure I've seen it elsewhere too, but can't remember.
It's just such a cute thing to see and we have em as well. I wish they'd use such signs of affection in more dramas. They make the characters feel so very endearing.

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Post by Silverman » Feb 21st, '12, 13:52

In every second kdrama the people throw salt at not welcomed guests. But every time i have the question: Where the hell comes the whole salt from? I mean the Koreans cook most of their dishes with soy sauce, so they don't have the need for much salt. It doesn't make sense, that they have a few pounds of salt in their kitchen.

I don't know, if anybody noticed, but actually in half of the kdramas are the "evil" second lead females victims and the female leads or male leads are actually the "evil" ones, if you think objectively. For example there are a lot of scenarios, where the second female lead is the fiancé, who was introduced by an arranged meeting or this fiance is a childhoodfriend. And there comes the first female lead and takes him away. Granted, that the first male lead doesn't really love the second lead, well or doesn't love her enough. I will skip the discussion, if the second female lead is better off without a guy, who doesn't really love her. But a fiancé is a fiancé and if you grab him, you are a couplewrecker, even, if you didn't really mean it. If you kill someone and didn't want it, so you still killed someone and should be punished. For reference: I'm talking about dramaland with the rules, which apply there and not real life.^^

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Post by Issy » Feb 21st, '12, 13:59

Silverman wrote:In every second kdrama the people throw salt at not welcomed guests. But every time i have the question: Where the hell comes the whole salt from? I mean the Koreans cook most of their dishes with soy sauce, so they don't have the need for much salt. It doesn't make sense, that they have a few pounds of salt in their kitchen.
I think you find salt is present in every kitchen in every part of the world no matter what they cook their food with most of times. :mrgreen:

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Post by Silverman » Feb 22nd, '12, 09:09

Yes, you find salt in every kitchen in the world. But thats not the problem. The problem is, that in dramas they ALWAYS have a FEW POUNDS(10+) of salt. In a household with 4-5 people 1 pound salt can last a few weeks. And thats in the west. The koreans use soy sauce in almost every dish and this decreases the need for salt. So one pound salt will last one or two months in a korean kitchen. So why should a kitchen, which rarely uses salt have 10+pounds of salt? I pretty sure, that none of you has more than one or two pounds of salt in the household. And you use salt for basically every dish.

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Post by Ethlenn » Feb 22nd, '12, 09:29

You obviously didn't make kimchi. To prepare the cabbage you need to soak it in really salty water first. And Koreans eat a lot of kimchi. And other pickles too.
Plus salt is used in Korean kitchen, trust me. My eonni said once that there are 2 adjectives to describe korean cuisine - hot and salty.

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Post by Silverman » Feb 22nd, '12, 11:00

Oh right i forgot the kimchi^^. Then it does make sense..
And i made kimchi^^. OK I've to admit, that i didn't achieved to make a good (modern) korean kimchi.But i make good kimchi with white cabbage.
Damn...to forget the kimchi is like to forget that birds have wings.

btw. do we have some sort of cooking-thread? We can trade old kimchi recipies^^ or something like that.

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Post by Ethlenn » Feb 22nd, '12, 18:48


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Post by Neliets » Feb 22nd, '12, 19:48

Ethlenn wrote:You obviously didn't make kimchi. To prepare the cabbage you need to soak it in really salty water first. And Koreans eat a lot of kimchi. And other pickles too.
Plus salt is used in Korean kitchen, trust me. My eonni said once that there are 2 adjectives to describe korean cuisine - hot and salty.
EXACTLY! :mrgreen:

I used to make kimchi quite often, to be honest. When my sister and her korean husband came to visit us for a few weeks, we both(me and her husband) ate quite a few kg of kimchi. We both love spicy food. :mrgreen:

Anyhow, the most important thing, when making kimchi, is to salt the cabbage well enough. Basically it has to be as salty as possible. When salting kimchi, you have to put it under pressure and leave it like that for at least 24 hours, so it won't get bad. And it has to be spicy enough to not go bad. About the sauce - it doesn't really matter what you put there. As long as it's spicy and to your liking. Of course, if you're not making a specific kind of kimchi. But I guess that's another topic.

And Korean food is just awesome. I have had some and I loved every single peace of it. :mrgreen:

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Post by Silverman » Feb 22nd, '12, 20:07

Damn, they are pretty abandoned^^. But you posted a few recipes there. I think hard, if i should post a few of mine. But i would have to make these, to look how are the proportions, since i learned it from my grandma and learned all the seasoning by visual judgement (f.e. spicy carrot salad-its very different than yours and is basically a carrot-kimchi, white cabbage kimchi and spicy potato salad). And the great thing is, that they are westernized, so they kinda taste similar to the original, but you don't have to run in an asia-shop. I don't know, how it is in America, but here in my country you can buy almost all the Chinese and Japanese spices and special "things", but almost no korean ingredients like Gochujang.

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Post by Peggy » Feb 25th, '12, 05:25

What a wonderful thread Orion. I just found it and have started from page one and got to p.four. I have to stop and do some taxes but at least I must mention one or two things from the posts I read.

1.. the floors in Korean houses are probably still being heated from underneath. We once had a house in New Jersey,US and it was built on a concrete slab and copper piping ran through it. It was heated by hot water which could be controlled by thermostat. It was so lovely to sit or lie on a carpet on a heated floor in the cold weather. The Koreans had those lovely thick quilts to sleep on and cover them so they were warm all night.Their heat came from the fires in the kitchen and ran through specially built channels under the floor. Hot air heat.

2 Divorce. Well it will always be the woman who will get the short end of the stick if she is divorced. Why? Because in days of yore the girl would be virginal and chaste. Hence later the habit of white gown. Still have white gowns but the virginal meaning doesn't stand for much these days. Anyway a man did not have to be virginal or chaste so after divorce he was still the same as ever. The woman was now like second hand goods. Not worth looking at . It is not that way in the Western world any more but there is always that slight diminished idea I think.

3 I agree that the wrist grabbing is dreadful. I have neveer had to slap anyone but really if I was grabbed that way I would haul off and belt the guy between the eyes.

4 Kissing and sex...groan. Well I am sure those sweet faced idol lads are hot to trot any time, and know how to achieve their ends. But in dramas even the most passionate love affair ends up being very dramatic and buried under the covers. Impossible of course, and never a smile or laugh. Sex is funny you know. I mean funny ha ha once you get the hang of it. In dramas it is much too serious and would become so boring eventually.

Gotta go.... :-)

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Post by Silverman » Feb 25th, '12, 11:40

What is about living together before marriage in Korea. In dramaland its something just sl*ts do. But imho its much better to live together before marriage.
korea has one of the most, if not the most, highest divorce rate in the world. If you believe in dramas, there is a good reason for this. If its not common to live together before marriage and to marry just after a few months or 1 year of dating, then its plausible, that a lot of marriages in Korea end in a divorce. You have to have "testdrive" of living together and a healthy sexual relationship to know if your partner is the right girl/guy. If you just date, then you don't really know each other, because in the date mode you show just your best.

So no wonder, if in Korea a lot of arranged marriages end bad. But then again i don't have the rl facts for Korea.

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Post by Issy » Feb 25th, '12, 12:19

We tend to forget that Korea is still very tradition based country. No matter what is our opinions and how right or wrong they can be, there are still certain ways of living that are considered out of question for them. Now even if you keep telling them your divorce rate is high because of so and so, it will not change much. And to be honest, I don't find it an Issue that bothers me when I watch a Kdrama. It annoys the hell out of me when they treat a divorced woman like a criminal but I do find them two traditionally different issues that one can change and other can't even after many years.

Recently I read an interview with Shin Ha Kyun where he was asked why he is not married till now and he really should because he's 39 and is he not pressured at home ( obviously from his parents) ? As this is something very usual for them. Thinking about it, it comes from the background that your parents have a say in your life as long as they are alive. This is something acceptable in their lives. We should not compare it with our ways of life.

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Post by Neliets » Feb 27th, '12, 12:01

I am not sure why people even marry anyways... But it's probably just me.

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Post by Issy » Feb 27th, '12, 20:54

Neliets wrote:I am not sure why people even marry anyways... But it's probably just me.
But then it's not our business to criticise them if they decide to do so too. :mrgreen:

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Post by Silverman » Feb 29th, '12, 10:08

A marriage has its advantages: f.e. taxes, paperwork and it's better for the children, if the parents are married.

A few pages back i trolled about kdramas and their inconsistent timelines. At the moment i'm watching Wild ROmance. And this is another one, where the ages and the timeline don't really work out.

I'm talking here about the age of the second female lead (Jessika). This idol for herself is ~20 years old, but this is just secondary. But the age of her character is somewhat mysterious.
She and the first male lead were together and broke up 8 years ago. They were together for at leas one year, so they knew each other for at least 9 years. That would make her at least 28-29 and that , if they broke up in the first year of college. If they broke up in the last year of college, this would make her at least 30 in present time.
But the character of the female lead is 24. This is concluded through the "motherstory" of the female lead. The mother left 15 years ago and she was 9 at that point, so that makes her 24 in the present time. At one point of the drama, she says, that the second female lead is younger than her.
So the whole thing doesn't fit. At first i thought, that the subs mistranslated something. But some scenes of the drama show, that the translation is correct.
They broke up 8 years ago. This fits because the son of the friends of the first male lead is 8 years old and this couple was introduced to each other in college. All the characters were at the same time in college (and the mother of this son+the second female lead were classmates in middle school).
The age of the first female lead fits also, because the scenes of her childhood show a 9 year old girl. And she says that this was fifteen years ago (yes it was, i can count to 100 in korean, so for the numbers i don't have to rely just on the subs alone and she says 15).

The only possible explanation would be, that the second female lead is a genius and attended to the university when she was younger, than the average 20/21 of the freshmen. So if she is 24 or 23 at the moment and a genius, then it would make the first male lead a child molester. Because at the point of 9-10 years ago, where they came to know each other, she would be about 13-14 y old and he would be at least 21-22.

Yes i know i'm trolling a little bit, but i don't like it, if the writers are not consistent with basic facts, like age and the connection between the characters. So sry for that^^.

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Post by Ethlenn » Feb 29th, '12, 11:14

I think they both said in the drama they're around 30. So what if Jessica (not Krystal, btw) is 24 in real life? Can't she play older character?

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Post by Silverman » Feb 29th, '12, 11:38

It's not about the real age of Jessica. It's about the age of the character.

Edit: Watched further and it makes sense now. The female lead is also ~30 year old. It was just one scene, where she said the mother left 15 years ago, when she was 9. But in a later episode she says, that it was 20 years ago, that the mother left. So it was just an error in one scene.

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Post by Silverman » Apr 2nd, '12, 16:46

Well it was a month since someone(namely ME) posted in this thread. But here i come again^^.

Some dramas teach us questionable morals. Has someone noticed, that in every drama, where some rich people or just people helped an orphan/poor family/whatever by taking them in, pay for schools and studying in a university abroad, buy clothes and meals e.s.o. , this poor people turn evil and try to ruin the family which helped and take all away what they possess? And thats their reason for being evil: they received help, when they needed it...that destroyed their pride...Just to name a few 49 day, Shining Inheritance, Temptation of Wife and Pink Lipstick. So what do these dramas teach? If you help the people in need, they will destroy you. So don't help and just care about your own stuff.

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Post by Silverman » May 15th, '12, 16:21

I WILL KEEP THIS THREAD ALIVE^^.

Now i want to write about the topic "pregnancy" in Kdramas.
-If you are 21 or younger, unmarried and you have sex for the first time, then you can be sure, that you are pregnant...and no korean citizen has ever heard of condoms....
-if you are older, than 21 and are not married, then the chances are, that you get pregnant by 50%
-if you are married, then your chances for pregnancy are almost ZERO...period
-if 1 or 2 weeks after the marriage you are still not pregnant, then you need therapy, herbal tonics and the in-laws ask you every 2 hours, if you are not pregnant...here a hint: don't live with your in-laws, so you can have sex more often, than just once every two weeks(thats a basic rule for procreation)

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Post by Orion1986 » May 17th, '12, 16:07

Do keep it alive, because life has not been kind to me and I've been away for some time. I'm still reading though. Might continue with some cliche articles too. There's pleeenty of material in kdrama.

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Post by moadeep » May 18th, '12, 00:35

Silverman wrote:and no korean citizen has ever heard of condoms....
Actually, from what I understand this is actually an issue there. Not that they don't know what condoms are, but that their attitudes towards sex and contraception make it a tricky subject. I tried to find the documentary I watched on the subject, but I can't remember what it was called. i did find a Grand Narrative post that's kind of similar http://thegrandnarrative.com/2008/12/10 ... uth-korea/ . If I can ever remember what the doc was I'll let you know. I think it might have been a BBC one, it seems like the narrator had that sort of accent (in my memory at least!).
As for the in-laws and pregnancy pressure... again, serious issue. The low birthrate has the politicians pulling all sorts of stunts from what I understand. ... And when I went to find stuff about it that I read I found myself distracted and inundated. Heh. Suffice to say they try to give incentives to get pregnant and there were some laws affecting abortion. I am thoroughly distracted re reading about this so I'm going to go ahead and press submit.

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Post by Briar » May 31st, '12, 16:23

Hi, I'm new here and I asked this on a thread but no one has replied. I've noticed that when they "confess" their feelings (FINALLY) they will say "I like you". Sometimes they will say love, but after going through absolute hell for each other, to say "I like you" seems a bit understated. Is it a translation thing? They seem to mean love but perhaps another word more synonymous with love? Am I making sense

I love this thread, though I haven't read it all but you guys have mentioned a lot of the things I wonder about. I like that Kdramas are less vulgar than American shows, and more imaginative because they don't rely on casual sex. They are more emotional. I like them.. Okay I'm obsessed. But sometimes i think that the kisses could be less like kissing your grandma!!

You've talked about etiquette too and like I said, I have read all of the posts, but no matter if they are rich or poor, classy or not, they are NOISY ramen eaters. It would drive me nuts!!!

I've noticed the nosebleed thing, so here's a little list of things I've noticed:
Humidifiers.. Isn't it already humid there?
Along with the poor people taking taxis and drinking a lot, I notice that they can also afford a cellphone and most times it's a smart phone.
I understand being obedient and respectful to your parents, but when do you finally just say "DISOWN ME!" They would be so much safer!
When they see something that suggests that the person they love is betraying the (caught in an embrace or kiss) but they are innocent, why is it that the girl is more likely to find out the truth than a guy is and sometimes they just go on as if it never happened.
When they go out drinking, they often drink something from a small green bottle, why do they bother with a glass? They take shots until it's gone anyway, why not save time and drink from the bottle?
When they stay out in cold weather they always get really sick but it's gone in a day. They can get hit by a car and be better the next day.

I'll probably think of more, but that's it for now :)

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Post by Silverman » May 31st, '12, 20:08

Briar wrote:Hi, I'm new here and I asked this on a thread but no one has replied. I've noticed that when they "confess" their feelings (FINALLY) they will say "I like you". Sometimes they will say love, but after going through absolute hell for each other, to say "I like you" seems a bit understated. Is it a translation thing? They seem to mean love but perhaps another word more synonymous with love? Am I making sense
I asked a korean about this too and he answered me the following, but i don't know if it's true, so correct me if i'm wrong. The koreans don't have a word for "i love you". The words, which comes the closest to love is saranghae or joha(good). But it's more like our like, than love.

Briar wrote: You've talked about etiquette too and like I said, I have read all of the posts, but no matter if they are rich or poor, classy or not, they are NOISY ramen eaters. It would drive me nuts!!!
This is just a cultural thing, which occurs also in japanese culture. But on the other hand in most asian cultures it's rude to use a handkerchief to blow your nose.
Briar wrote: I've noticed the nosebleed thing, so here's a little list of things I've noticed:
That never happened to me and in the times i write my papers, i often go for weeks with like 2-3 hours sleep.
Briar wrote:Humidifiers.. Isn't it already humid there?
I hink i've written the same somewhere^^.
Briar wrote:I understand being obedient and respectful to your parents, but when do you finally just say "DISOWN ME!" They would be so much safer!
YES, that what i'm always asking myself. They also have, in most cases, a prestigious workplace, where they earn enough money and can be independable. But i think it's a drama thing, in rl a lot of modern koreans do this.
Briar wrote: When they go out drinking, they often drink something from a small green bottle, why do they bother with a glass? They take shots until it's gone anyway, why not save time and drink from the bottle?
They drink Soju. I think it's too strong to drink out of the bottle (22% alcohol). at least for most people. You also don't drink vodka out of the bottle^^.
Briar wrote:When they stay out in cold weather they always get really sick but it's gone in a day. They can get hit by a car and be better the next day.
This is what i call the " warped space time" of kdrama Sometimes there happens a lot and it were just 2 weeks. Sometimes nothing happens and it's stretched over 5 months. I know this is there because, well, they can't show people doing nothing. But the drama is always at the same pace and it seems all happening in "real time", but the time gaps are never explained. An example for what i mean.
Man and Woman say, that they like each other and they start dating. Next scene they are shown on a date. Next scene they parents say, that they dated so long. Meanwhile other things happen with other couples or parent or sibling. But the timeflow seems different for then, than for the first couple.
For example: Guy got a job. Next scene the guy is working. Next scene: the supervisor says to the guy, that he has done a good job in the last 2 weeks.

Well both scenes i described happen in the same timeframe. So it's confusing for me. Do they consider 2 weeks as long for dating and enough to get married or do the people of these two scenes live in alternative universes, where the timeflow is different and they cross the veil between the two universes occasional and meet each other...nobody knows.

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Post by moadeep » May 31st, '12, 20:32

Briar wrote: But sometimes i think that the kisses could be less like kissing your grandma!!
...
Along with the poor people taking taxis and drinking a lot, I notice that they can also afford a cellphone and most times it's a smart phone.
I understand being obedient and respectful to your parents, but when do you finally just say "DISOWN ME!" They would be so much safer!
Living away from home before you're married is actually a fairly recent phenomenon in Korea from what I understand. It's starting to become more the norm, but not for long enough that it's soaked into the pop subconscious I think.
I've heard from friends who taught in Korea that you can rent a nice phone with a pay as you go plan for pretty cheap. In dramas, though, I think it's more of a product placement thing ;)
It's culturally embedded. If you read anything about Korean history, it's kind of interesting that shift that took place once Korea embraced Confucianism. The Grand Narrative posted this link and it was really interesting to me!

Edited because I forgot to respond to the first thing! *sigh*
Anyhoo, what I was going to say, but forgot, is that apparently PDAs are frowned upon socially in Korea. So it makes sense that they would keep things on the down low for dramas.
Last edited by moadeep on May 31st, '12, 22:53, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Ethlenn » May 31st, '12, 20:58

There are TONS of articles and books on the situation of women during Joseon, Silla, Unified Silla, occupation period, post-war period, etc. But yeah, you have to read them.
If people do that more often, there wouldn't be that many things in Korean culture that would shock them. Oh yes, I'm snarky today.

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Post by moadeep » May 31st, '12, 22:52

Ethlenn wrote:There are TONS of articles and books on the situation of women during Joseon, Silla, Unified Silla, occupation period, post-war period, etc. But yeah, you have to read them.
If people do that more often, there wouldn't be that many things in Korean culture that would shock them. Oh yes, I'm snarky today.
:thumleft: :thumright:

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Post by Briar » Jun 1st, '12, 00:08

Thank you for your help Silverman :)

I actually HAVE read that Moadeep. Thanks.

Sorry, to have been a disturbance Ethlenn.

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Post by Neliets » Jun 1st, '12, 06:01

Silverman wrote:
Briar wrote: When they go out drinking, they often drink something from a small green bottle, why do they bother with a glass? They take shots until it's gone anyway, why not save time and drink from the bottle?
They drink Soju. I think it's too strong to drink out of the bottle (22% alcohol). at least for most people. You also don't drink vodka out of the bottle^^.
Soju is around 22% alcohol but vodka is 40% so I am not that sure how can these two be compared. I have drank soju, only the first second when you take it, it tastes a bit like ethanol, after that - very, very encouraging aftertaste(aftertaste is so good, that you kinda want more). And yes, it's no real problem to drink it from a bottle. And you can drink vodka from bottle, too, but you can easily start vomiting blood(if too much and too fast).

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Post by Briar » Jun 1st, '12, 06:20

What I meant was they are always drinking and it seems that they make their way through a few of the little green bottles (16 oz?) but they pour a little shot drink in, pour another little shot, drink it etc. I'd be like, "Forget the little shot glass, it's wasting my time." Just one of those things I've noticed. I think in one I heard them say that they were drinking rice wine because it was cheap...

They do the same thing with little tiny tea cups. I guess I'm just too American where everything is SUPER SIZED. :blink

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Post by Peggy » Jun 1st, '12, 08:10

:D Briar,

You are right when you say maybe you think the size thing is because you are American. When we first came to US I was amazed that almost everything was at least two and sometimes three times the size of stuff back home. I mean first of all the meal that is served to you in a restaurant has enough food on the plate to feed three people. Not an exaggeration. then cars were always much larger. Tomatoes are huge here compared to English ones. They don't taste any better and in fact sometimes no taste at all. Living in Manhattan was rather hard to get used to with all the skyscrapers. Hard to find the sky.Much more open in some of the other states we lived in.
So you see all countries are weird and wonderful. Korea is no different. the biggest difference to me is the confucian philosophy which still runs through families in daily life even if they are totally crude and harsh to the children and never discuss matters of importance to make life easier...
I suspect that we get ost of the dramas already set through rose coloured glasses most of the time.

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Post by Briar » Jun 1st, '12, 19:28

I can see so many things that Americans could learn from. We are often ungrateful and disrespectful to everyone and everything around us. And bigger isn't always better, sometimes it's just the road to obesity and bad health. I can see that the TV dramas are probably not a completely accurate representation of Korean life in general, just like most American shows aren't fully accurate. I like them because they are fun and different. AND I don't have to worry if my kids sit and watch one. They are far more moral.

Thank you Peggy :-)

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Post by moadeep » Jun 1st, '12, 23:37

Heh I so often end up googling the most entertaining things http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_glass . I wanted to check on something which is why I looked that up. One of my old customers used to go on about how Russian shots were bigger than US ones (no it was not innuendo, we actually were talking about alcohol). According to wiki he was telling the truth!
Edit: Heh. SK has the largest shots.

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Post by Briar » Jun 2nd, '12, 00:50

LOL thanks Moadeep! I find myself Googling something which reminds me of something else, until I am soon looking up all kinds of crazy things!!

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Post by toenail » Jun 2nd, '12, 01:46

Rooftop is so popular in kdrama? Attic Cat, Exhibition of Fireworks, Rooftop Prince (earlier), etc have "rooftop for the poor", while Coffee Prince & Rooftop Prince (later) got rich guys rooftop.

I'd love to live in a rooftop as long as it's not in a tropical country and there's a lift :-)

BTW, the rooftops in many kdrama are just that same one. Like the rich grandma/grandpa villa is often also that same one. Either it's owned by the production company or rented specially for drama-making haha.

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Post by Silverman » Jun 2nd, '12, 14:42

Most of the kdramas we see are done in Seoul and there can be just a limited number of locations, especially for the chaebol houses. Thats the reason for seeing the same gates, houses and rooftops^^. I think they have 3-5 chaebol-house-exterior-sets at one time. You just have to watch the dramas which were made in the same period of 2-3 years and there are all the same houses.

As for rooftops. I think they represent the korean habitat for the poorest of the of the poor. So they basically show us, that the family/girl/guy, who live there are just little better off, than a bum from streets.
As for attics and rooftops as living place. Well, even if you don't live in a warm country, they are still hot in summer and cold in winter. And it doesn't matter how cheap or expensive the house is. It's always the same (ok in a more expensive house you have air conditioner and better isolation, but it's still worse, than the floors below it).

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Post by Briar » Jun 3rd, '12, 14:33

Yeah, I don't think rooftop living would be for me. The weather, the bugs and I can't even stand on a chair, I'm so terrified of heights. :blink

Silverman's point about it representing the poorest of the poor is kind of something I've noticed. It seems to be the location for the most extreme emotional moments and often times they aren't good ones.

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Post by Peggy » Jun 3rd, '12, 21:01

You know a rooftop is not always a rooftop. I live on the second floor of a duplex. You could not pay me to live downstairs. I have a very large patio and I see the ocean. I see my garden down below but I don't have to deal with it...just enjoy it.
I have an exterior elevator which at the moment I only use to send up groceries and packages and the occasional visitor. I used the outside stairway with flowers and great separate roof over it. I have tubs of plants on my patio. At the moment I have tomatoes growing.

Oh and the duplex belongs to me. Nice temant down below.

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Post by Ethlenn » Jun 3rd, '12, 21:14

Oh gods, I lived in rooftop room for a year. The hell starts in summer. And I mean hell.

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Post by Peggy » Jun 4th, '12, 04:03

That sounds awful E. The cool Pacific ocean breezes take care of my airconditioning.

I guess I am spoiled with my large apartment, Not really rooftop at all.

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Post by moadeep » Jun 4th, '12, 05:46

Ethlenn wrote:Oh gods, I lived in rooftop room for a year. The hell starts in summer. And I mean hell.
When I had the attic bedroom in high school that wasn't what bothered me. It was the spiders *shudder*. The attic was partially converted and there were spiders in the unconverted part and sometimes they would get into my room.

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Post by Peggy » Jun 4th, '12, 06:53

I can take a spider now and then but for me it was moths. It is a weird thing because I love butterflies but if a moth the size of a butterfly gets into the room I get hysterical. I don't know why and I have no way even now to stay calm.

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Post by Silverman » Jun 4th, '12, 08:49

It's not really weird or something, but i think it's interesting. I'm a fan of fantasy romcoms and god knows, that over the last 10 years there are just a few dramas, which fit this genre(~8-10 i've seen so far). But in the last 6 months they are flooding over in great numbers. There are as many of them as in the last 10 years together.

Padam Padam
Big
Vampire Prosecutor
Forgot the name...the daily with the fairy
Queen In-hyun's Man
Rooftop Prince
Time Slip Dr. Jin
(hmmm the last 3 involve time travel...suspicious)
King 2 Hearts (i don't know if this one can be counted as one, but it's an alternative world)
The new drama with Shin Min Ah <3

And these are just the the dramas, which i know right off the top of my head. There could be more.

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Post by moadeep » Jun 4th, '12, 14:22

Well...I think SpecFic would be more accurate. I mean, VP wasn't really a "rom"com. But I know what you mean.

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Post by Silverman » Jun 6th, '12, 00:33

Right, VP was more suspense. I wanted to write fantasy (i like fantasy-romcoms, but i wanted to say, there are in the last few months a lot of fantasy-dramas). Actually is fantasy not soo wrong. True, specfic pretty much includes all the dramas, but i thik (personal opinion), that we can further specify most of them to some fantasy genre, well or ah(like k2h), but i don't want to discuss semantics, since you can pretty much put the dramas in every genre you like^^

EDIT:
Is it me, or are doing a lot of kdrama-actors extra hours? I mean the normal pace of an average actor is 1 drama + 1 movie(for the more popular actors) every 12-24 months(if they are the mainleads in these dramas).
But i notice, that in the last few months a lot of actors make their 2nd or 3rd drama and perhaps 1 movie over the last 6-12 months.
Park Min Young: 3 dramas
Lee Dong Wook 2 dramas
Kim Hyun Joo: 2 dramas
Yoochun: 2 dramas
Gu Hye Seon: 3 dramas
Daniel Choi: 3 dramas
Jung Gyu Woon: 3 dramas
Well Ok these data isn't accurate and for some of the named actors the filming gap is almost 12 months inbetween, so actually you can count them out, from my example,
but nevertheless it shows a more frequent filming for some actors since middle 2011 till now. I noticed for some other actors, which would be better examples, but i can't remember off the top of my head^^.

Another topic. A few pages back i complained about the time-errors in kdramas. I just found another one. I'm currently watching My Love by My Side. The female lead gets pregnant from her CLASSmate at an age of 19(or 18?). So it was shown in the drama, that the character is born 1986. Later on it is shown (document in the drama), that the CLASSmate is born 1981. SInce they are classmates, they should have the same age.
So this is an error. Then the first male lead was already in college at the time the first female lead became pregnant, so the age difference should be at least 2 or 3 years, if not more. But it was also shown in the drama, that he was born 1985. So the difference is just 1 year.
I know these are just minor things, but it's funny, that NOT ONE kdrama, where the age/year of birth is shown at 2 different times in the drama, shows it correct.

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Post by Silverman » Jun 15th, '12, 01:01

I don't know, but has someone mentioned dating in kdramas? The kdrama-writers know just very few places and activities for dating and they are:

Ride on bikes or a tandem - i've never seen a dating-sequenze without it. I don't know, i like go biking with my gf, but it's not so romantic as i would do it for a romantic date to woo a girl. Well perhaps it's just me.

They go shopping in a market street, where the guy buys 1$ accessories and there is almost always these ice-cream-game.

Pretty Woman-sequence. The guy(in almost all cases) buys clothes for the girl. While he sits on a chair, she shows a few cloth-sets.

Movies-Ok this one is also very common in rl, so no comment.

Arcade - not in every drama, but quite common

Date in a high-class restaurant- same as movies.

picture- i forgot how these things are called, where you can take these small photos, but it's also in almost every kdrama-dating-sequence.

Yea i know it's nothing spectacular, but i think it's worth mentioning, that these date-sequences in almsot all kdramas, could have been made with copy/paste.True, there are exceptions, but these are very few.

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Post by Silverman » Jun 23rd, '12, 16:09

Yay, tripple post^^. Sry for that.

In a lot of kdramas, there are close ups of the ears of the male leads. Well, that for itself is not weird. But in a lot of cases they have earring-holes in them. The problem is, that the characters never wear earrings. Well you can argue, that in a modern day drama, the characters take them off before they go to work. Thats OK, but whats with all the dramas, which play in the Joeson-era? Why do they have earring-holes? Yes i know, that a few hundred years ago koreans and men of other cultures wore earrings. BUT that wasn't the case in korea after the the middle of the 16th century and since the Confucianism was popular. Well and a lot of kdramas play in that time and that a nobleman would wear an earring is unthinkable (well as far as i know even women wore them just for special occasions, like the wedding). But then again i could be wrong, since i'm not an expert. So if anybody knows it better, i can learn.^^

Yes, it's nothing spectacular but for me, it's like seeing a cellphone in a joseon-drama.

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Post by Ethlenn » Jun 23rd, '12, 16:38

Silverman wrote: the Confucianism was popular.
1. Neo-Confucianism.
2. Jultagi was popular, pansori was popular, but n-Confucianism was a state philosophy, implemented vertically, so saying it was popular evokes some "freedom" in choice or flow. Confucianism, from its very own nature, rejects tolerance.

I have no problems with earrings holes. It's an actor's physical trait, and I'm not that picky when it comes to "historically accurate" details. Unless they use modern mirrors in Silla - I'm fine with everything.

One thing that annoys me though it's the glasses. It's the symbol of some ugliness, NOT only in kdramas though, in every damn movie around the world. I wear glasses, and I find it like a slap on my face when a character has to lose glasses to be seen as attractive. Especially girls, girls don't wear glasses, right? And sometimes characters put on glasses-frames when reading, working on PC.
Trust me, if you're myopic, after taking glasses off - you see damn nothing.

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Post by Viande » Jun 23rd, '12, 22:26

Ethlenn wrote: One thing that annoys me though it's the glasses. It's the symbol of some ugliness, NOT only in kdramas though, in every damn movie around the world. I wear glasses, and I find it like a slap on my face when a character has to lose glasses to be seen as attractive. Especially girls, girls don't wear glasses, right? And sometimes characters put on glasses-frames when reading, working on PC.
I've been wondering the same. I also wear glasses and I think I look better with them and I know some other people who look more attractive with glasses. I guess glasses are still seen as nerd accessory. Only nerds and smart or hard-to-get women can use glasses in movies & dramas. I don't know why on film women can't be pretty with glasses, like in reality. Maybe it's some conspiracy with contact lense manufacturers or makeup brands.

Also, in most of the movies and dramas glasses seem like they were plus but in reality most of the young people have minus glasses (like me) and don't need them while reading (I still do though..).

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Post by Ethlenn » Jun 23rd, '12, 22:45

Viande wrote:
Also, in most of the movies and dramas glasses seem like they were plus but in reality most of the young people have minus glasses (like me) and don't need them while reading (I still do though..).
Yep, same here, I wear them all the time. But yeah, if they don't need glasses in usual situation, myopic people won't use them for reading. And yes again, most of the young people, Asians especially, wear minus glasses.
Woman in glasses = ugly, insecure
Woman without glasses = princess, normal person.
OK.

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Post by Silverman » Jun 23rd, '12, 22:45

My theory for the "glasses"- conspiracy is the following. Its not that glasses make people ugly. It's just, that in movies and dramas, the characters have to have some kind of transformation from zero to hero or zero to babe. Well and such things as glasses and the hair are the most visible and memorable things, which you can change in the face of an actor, since the actors are usually in make up from the beginning. So if they "transform" and put enough makeup to make a transformation visible, they would have to put so much make up n the faces of the actors, that they would look like prostitutes. So the glasses-transformation is the most effective way to show a transofrmation, without make the girls look like harlots.
As for the real world...well since a lot of my friends and coworkers wear glasses, there is no discrimination^^, so i don't know. Well in elementary school were some cases of namecalling for people with glasses, but not in hs or later.

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Post by Ethlenn » Jun 23rd, '12, 22:55

Oh yeah, Clark Kent's case, I forgot. Super effective.

But I'm just pissed off and sad that glasses were, are and will be linked to some inferiority and catterpillar-before-turning-into-stunning-butterfly situations.
Haircut, clothes, make-up, lights - all can change people, not only glasses, dammit.

I'm not saying that glasses make people ugly, just saying they always link ugliness with glasses.

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Post by Silverman » Jun 23rd, '12, 23:35

I think you see it all too black and white. A lot of people associate glasses with intelligence and sophistication. So the image of glasses is not just ugliness. But you are right, that there is still this picture in everyones head of geeks with glasses.

On the other hand, i think that it's not so absurd of connecting ugliness with glasses in the asian regions. The reason is simple. A lot of thse asian kids wear these but-ugly "geekglasses". I have these glasses in mind, which were common like 50 years ago. The big, black-rimmed...you know which i mean. Additionally these asian glasses don't have these thin glasses, so that glasses of just minus 1,5 are so thik like bottlebottoms. It's not just a cliche. Watch just these youtube-videos of a korean street and you'll see highschool-girls with such glasses.

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Post by Briar » Jun 24th, '12, 15:10

They use them to look more studious or smart too.

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Post by Silverman » Jun 30th, '12, 22:18

A few pages back, i wondered about these korean gloves. and i made fun of it, that they literally do everything with them on. At the moment I'm watching a drama, where the female lead uses them to deliver newspaper (and no not these big packages, which are delivered at once, but the door to door kind). In another drama they delivered milk with them. Now i'm wondering, if there is really some glove-conspiracy going on. Mark my words, in a few years we will see a drama, where thethe characters wear these goves, while they are having sex...and one of them says: "No glove, no love".

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Post by Ethlenn » Jul 1st, '12, 07:03

Silverman wrote:while they are having sex...and one of them says: "No glove, no love".
That's called safe sex "Naked Gun" style.
As for gloves, you haven't been to Japan, right? Now they have some gloves obsession.

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Post by Orion1986 » Jul 1st, '12, 10:11

Those gloves are going to be part of those articles I (hope I can soon) make. I mean, they are everywhere! XD

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Post by tseon » Jul 2nd, '12, 18:23

Ethlenn wrote:
Viande wrote:
Also, in most of the movies and dramas glasses seem like they were plus but in reality most of the young people have minus glasses (like me) and don't need them while reading (I still do though..).
Yep, same here, I wear them all the time. But yeah, if they don't need glasses in usual situation, myopic people won't use them for reading. And yes again, most of the young people, Asians especially, wear minus glasses.
Woman in glasses = ugly, insecure
Woman without glasses = princess, normal person.
OK.
She's not from a k-drama or movie, but how about Bayonetta? She's all sexy with sexy glasses. And I think another witch character from the game uses too. :D

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Post by Ethlenn » Jul 2nd, '12, 18:31

tseon wrote: She's not from a k-drama or movie, but how about Bayonetta? She's all sexy with sexy glasses. And I think another witch character from the game uses too. :D
Pixels... pixels, celulose and celuloid characters are sexy, but of course. In real life, among people from flesh and blood, long-legged triple E sized beauties don't exist. With sexy glasses. :glare:

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Post by tseon » Jul 2nd, '12, 19:01

Ethlenn wrote:
tseon wrote: She's not from a k-drama or movie, but how about Bayonetta? She's all sexy with sexy glasses. And I think another witch character from the game uses too. :D
Pixels... pixels, celulose and celuloid characters are sexy, but of course. In real life, among people from flesh and blood, long-legged triple E sized beauties don't exist. With sexy glasses. :glare:
So after reading this comment, I decided to find a real life example in a movie or serie and....

I failed miserably...

Other than Austin Powers, I couldn't find a female character that wears for "sexy" reasons... The glasses are there to be taken out or used for a short instant of intelligence (like Sue Storm for Fantastic Four) or to be the "before" of a transformation into superhero/villain (like already mentioned Superman, also Selena Kyle and Uma Thurman).

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Post by Silverman » Jul 3rd, '12, 19:07

There are actually a few movies/dramas (american), where the female characters wear them to look better. Ok it's not for pure sexiness, but more or less to show, that the women are beautiful and sophisticated and not just pretty... but well in these cases it's at least not a sign of ugliness. But to be honest i also don't have the right example to show. The main reason is, that these are in most cases American romcom-movies, which i watch purely for company.
On the other hand, if my memory serves me right, there are also a lot of animes with the sexy-glasses-characters...f.e. "Onegai Teacher". But i don't know if it's still so in modern animes, since it's been a few years, since i watched my last anime.


Another minimalistic observation on my part.
I'm also a photography-buff and know a little bit about it (i also have a blog with my photos..mostly portraits, macros and aves). So i actually look at the cameras and the calibrations, which are shown, while the characters/reporter take photos.
So first of all, a lot of the reporters use cheap cameras (in rl they use 5000-8000$+ cameras + a few thousand worth of objectives). Well this point is understandable, since i doubt, that anybody would let extras use delicate equipment, which is worth 100.000$-200.000$ (professional equipement-camera itself+objectives-, which a reporter carries always with him/her is worth 15.000-20.000$). And there is also productplacement, so that these cameras are mostly low-end DSLRs, which are also affordable for normal people.
But i laugh always at the calibrations, which are shown.
Example: There is a dark bar and a investigator/reporter takes secret photos. The viewer sees, how this investigator takes photos. There is shown, that the calibrations on the display say: ISO 100, f=7-11+ and exposure time of 1/40-1/100. A lot of people here would say: and?????. Well the problem is, that without a flash and these calibrations, the picture in a dark bar, would be black. Well and with a flash these pictures would work, but then i doubt, that the pictures would be taken in secret, since a flash in a bar would be seen.
Another case i've seen. A guy runs and someone takes a pictures with an exposure time of 1/5-1/25. This would also never work, since with this exposure time there will be a blur, instead of a running person.

I know, I know, these things are things, which nobody cares about. But still. If you know, that 1+1=2 and in a lot of dramas is shown, that 1+2=3, then it's funny^^.

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Post by Ethlenn » Jul 3rd, '12, 20:03

You know, I base my observations on real life situations.
I walked few days ago into a bar with friends, blah blah (not relevant to the story, I'm not bragging) and I went after some time to buy me new drink, and bartender says: "I think you'd look really cute without the glasses". So I took them off and got free mojito.
Beat this, if you want, OK?
It's not about the "educated woman" air, and one person is not a paradygm for that thinking. It's about how guys think about girls/women in glasses. Because in 99.9% they think glasses are "the mask hiding the pretty girl".
BTW. I'm not pretty, bartender was probably myopic without HIS glasses.

Silverman, you remind me of this:
kkk, don't hate me

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Post by Silverman » Jul 3rd, '12, 21:05

Ethlenn wrote: Silverman, you remind me of this:
kkk, don't hate me
I don't get this comic. The example with rabbits is a good explanation and with this you can solve the mathproblem below. What's so funny about this? No i get it^^.

I just didn't want to explain the whole photography-things...but well actually is pretty simple.

ISO: is the sensitivity of the light sensor. The lowest ISO for the most cameras is 50 or 100. If you go higher with this value, then you can make pictures with less light in the room. But the tradeoff is, that with higher values the pictures get grainy. With good cameras you can set the ISO-number higher without losing quality.

F-Number: the f-number is the ratio between the focal length of the lens and the width of the entrance pupil of the camera. So basically if the number is low(more light can come through), then the entrance pupil is wide open and if the f-number is high, then the entrance pupil is less open(less light can come through). Also with a low f-number, you can make this effect, that the person you photograph is sharp and all the things behind him/her are blurry. The higher the f-number, the sharper are all the objects in the picture, which are also behind you "mainplane" (well it's not exact, but enough for a short explanation.

Exposure time or shutter speed: Is the time in which the image sensor is exposed to the light. 1/2 is half of a second, 1/5 is 5th of a second a.s.o. With a high exposure time, you can get "brighter" pictures, even if the room is just slightly lighted. The problem is, that 1. a human can't get not-blurry pictures with such high exposure times, except if you use a tripod, because of the handmovement of the photographer and 2. if you take a picture of a moving person/car/animal then the movement in the picture is also blurry. With lower exposure time, you can take pictures of faster movements and freeze the movement, so f.e. with an exposure time of 1/200 you can "freeze" the movement of a bird or a running horse. The downside is, that you need more light or you have to play around with the f-number and ISO.

So basically all these values have something to do with the light (amount of light, time/duration and the sensitivity).

It's just for people who care about it^^. But actually it's also interesting for people, who asked themselves, what the numbers in their cam represent.


EDIT:
btw. does anybody know, which formula it is? I don't want to say anything wrong, but i have an idea. It's seems very similar to a reproduction formula with death/birthrate-calculations inbetween. But like i said, i could be wrong, since there are no definitions for the variables.

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Post by Peggy » Jul 4th, '12, 03:42

I really know nothing about photography or cameras. for me I still think the longest lasting photos were taken with Brownie box camera black and white. I have pictures of my father in India during firsr world war that still have clarity,

re glasses. I always thought re Korean dramas that Bae Young Jun was the one who started the eyeglasses fashion. He wore glasses which had clear lenses and later he wore double scarves which became an instant fashion. Somehow men with glasses mean education and intelligence. It does not evoke that feeling for pretty actresses.
They soon take them off anyway.

Ethlenn...how do you make sense typing when you are under the influence. I cant do it.

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