I watched the Korean drama "Coffee Prince." It's a very good show, but Korean reactions to situations are so different! For instance, the two main characters meet through a misunderstanding. In America, a person will do just about anything to clear up that mistake or misunderstanding! In Korea, however, they just sort of freak out inside their heads at the misunderstanding (and don't say anything much out loud~~)! They don't really try to make the effort to clear it up! Weeeeeeeeirrrrrd...
In the Korean movie "He Was Cool," the two main characters HATE each other! (That's a common theme in Korean love stories as well.) And a strange thing in Korean movies that when someone tells you to do something (even if they're a complete stranger), you do it! Even if it's ridiculous or crazy, or they're wrong! Especially if they're older than you. In America, that would almost never happen. If someone tells you to do something (ESPECIALLY if they're a stranger), you usually ask "why?" It's so strange!
The same kind of situation happens in "My Sassy Girl." The main character helps this drunk girl and people make the mistake of thinking they're together... he tries to clear up the misunderstanding, but not very hard! On top of it, they don't really like each other and she orders him around and is always making him do embarrassing things! Things NO American man would EVER put up with. And then he ends up falling in love with her, and she with him. That would never happen in America either! If a girl humiliates a guy, and if a guy acts really weak like that... they would have no respect for each other. It's strange!Another common theme is "waiting." In all three shows above there was some sort of "waiting" happening between the two main characters. For YEARS! In Coffee Prince, he waits for her for 2 years; in "He Was Cool," she waits for him for 1 year; and in "My Sassy Girl," he waits for her for 3 years! In the shows, in all that time their feelings have never changed for each other. And in all that time, they never contacted each other or anything! ...And they still love each other?
Cultural differences that are shown in movies like this really make me look hard around me to see what reflects reality.
I'll let you know what I see...
Oh my gosh! I SO get that. I know I'm not there in Korea with you, but Dr. Park always had us watch Korean Soap Operas in class and the point was to notice the cultural differences. Of course, Amy, Joe, and I just got into the drama and wanted to know how it ended. And we watched one show all the way through the end and everything you said to summarize Korean movies/shows is everything I noticed in them as well - which is interesting and kinda funny. But yes, there was definitely a lot of HATE going on between two of the three main characters. And more than 3 years went by before the girl and the guy got together. She didn't even know he was still alive and they found each other years later and they still loved each other and it was as if they were waiting for each other. And yes, there were a lot of misunderstandings that were never explained. WeiRd. But man, I loved that show. :) hehe
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