K-Drama - My New Addiction

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 Photo by Yuri Yuhara from Pexels
                                               

Sharing this image here because these cherry blossoms keep appearing in every KDrama that I have seen.

I came across this genre of TV/web series about 2 years back in a mommies group on Facebook. I had fleetingly watched some series on NBK during my stay in Malaysia but it wasn't so appealing.

I just noted down the popular series names to check out later. So sometime in 2019, I watched the first of many - What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?

I found it to be mildly funny, moderately entertaining and the words Appa/Amma (for Father/Mother) seemed to catch my attention because those are words we Tamilians also use to address our parents. 

The show however did not catch my fantasy and I did not watch another one for the next 2 years.

Come January 2022, I decided to give the Korean Drama series another shot. And in about 3 weeks, I've already binge watched 5-6 series and I am loving it. 

I loved most of them, but did not resonate/like some aspects of a couple others. Yes, most of the series are centred around Bollywood-style romances, some are romance + fantasy, some sci-fi, some historical fiction + romance and some thrillers/horror shows. 

While I have been staying away from the thriller/horror genre for the past few years, the fantasy one seemed to be watchable. After all, having lived through 2 years of the pandemic, we could all do with some magic/fantasy in our dull and mundane lives.

I have to admit, the comedy in most of the shows are pretty good, I have been chuckling and some times laughing out loud at the comic scenes. 

The OTP (one true pair) or the stars in the show are very pretty - yes, the men are pretty too. Oh ma, how can they have such clean shaven looks all the time! Makes a girl's heart flutter every time they come on screen. 

I am not judging or comparing with the Indian scenario but some starkly visible aspects of the Korean society include - the need to look perfect always, their obsession with beauty products, their love for food, the Soju, a patriarchal society, leaving shoes outside homes (the only one I admire), bowing to greet/thank, the change in language/tone when you speak to someone out of respect. Overall, Korean society and culture, like all Asian cultures is admirable. 

Another point I noticed was the on screen pair, whoever it is, finds it very hard to display PDA - I am not sure if it is a thing in Korea but the way they hug and kiss is very awkward and I find it funny. 

The down point of binge watching these series is that it has made me an insomniac. The episodes are more than an hour long - 1 - 1.5 hrs each. So I am forced to watch it at 1.25x or 1.5x speed :( Enjoyable nevertheless.

Let us see how far I go. In the next posts, I shall share some of my favourite themes and series in KDrama. 

Gamsa Hamnidah for reading so far :) 

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