[NEWS] Adultery, Evil Mothers-in-Law: Korean Soaps in 2007

Adultery, Evil Mothers-in-Law: Korean Soaps in 2007

The hottest topics in Korean TV soaps in 2007 were adultery and conflicts between woman and her mother-in-law, and the resolutions were inevitably physical.

Viewers were treated to cheating spouses being cursed, kicked in the stomach and hit over the head with a washboard. The stock conflict between women and their mothers-in-law also reached new heights of intensity on TV.

◆ Coming to blows

The SBS series “My Man’s Woman” offered a slightly new angle on the age-old adultery problem. In an early episode, Junpyo, the male lead who is having an affair with his wife’s friend Hwa-young, is caught kissing her by his sister-in-law, Eun-su. Viewers were stunned when Eun-su kicked Hwa-young and hit her in the face.

The characters in the SBS drama “First Wives Club” also came to blows. In the drama, Han Won-soo who has an affair, beats his wife Nah Hwa-shin, and Han Bok-soo, who is angry with her husband’s affair hits him over the head with a washboard.

“In the past, Korean drama showed fantasies about adultery, like something out of a fairy tale,” cultural critic Kim Jong-whee says. “But now dramas show the reality that is created by adultery.” Kim Soo-hyun, the writer of “My Man’s Woman,” earlier told the Chosun Ilbo, “I write my script based on in-depth inquiries of adultery itself, rather than dealing with it as an episode.”

◆ Nasty mothers-in-law

Conflicts between women and their mothers-in-law reached new pitch. One mother-in-law in MBC series “Winter Bird” accused her daughter-in-law of being “spoiled goods in a pretty package.” In KBS’ “Golden Age of Daughters-in-Law”, a woman is seen to cause the death of her daughter-in-law when she visits her in hospital and harangues her about splitting up with her son. Some viewers felt this was going too far.

◆ Regressing

Some experts say these storylines are a step back in time. Park Woong-jin of the Korea Broadcasting Institute said, “It remains a question whether viewers can feel catharsis from such fights.” In the case of Eun-soo, viewers were impressed already by her feisty character; the fisticuffs were surplus to requirements. “The fight was a hackneyed old device to attract viewers,” Park says, but admits that the ubiquity of such scenes suggests viewers prefer action to storyline.


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[NEWS] Korean TV Series Breaks New Ground in Japan

Korean TV Series Breaks New Ground in Japan

All 500 seats of a cinema in Shinjuku, Tokyo, are taken up by women of all ages, there to watch "Taewangsasingi (The Four Guardian Gods of the King),” starring Korean Wave star Bae Yong-joon. The drama is directed by Kim Jong-hak and deals with the life of King Gwanggaeto the Great, known as the “Great Expander” of ancient Korean history.

Showing a 24-episode drama one installment at a time in a theater is certainly a new experiment for the Korean Wave. The series has already been broadcast on cable TV since Dec. 3 and will be accessible for all on national network NHK TV next year. Nevertheless some 20,000 fans paid up to W20,000 (US$1=W923) to watch the drama in a theater, and some 1,000 spent W3 million on a ticket for the entire series.

The press and audience response to Bae’s new series was fulsome. Even though the man known as Yonsama in the island country appeared only fleetingly in the 70-minute episode shown on the day, they were mesmerized by the drama's scale and CGI effects. “It was a great deal more real and exciting to watch on a large screen,” said Haruko Marukawa (67). “The computer graphics were on par with 'The Lord of the Ring.'” Advertiser Koki Matsukubo (37) was impressed by the decision to show the series on the big screen. “This kind of thing doesn’t happen with Japanese drama, and I'm amazed by the idea. I’m sure other theaters will show 'Taewangsasingi ' thanks to Yonsama’s loyal fans.”

As of Dec. 4, the series is playing in 10 theaters across Japan, growing to 30 by the end of the year. “We expect more than W10 billion in profit from theater screenings,” says a staffer with SSD, the show's distributor. According to the company, the total of 26,040 tickets sold out and some 20,000 people watched "Taewangsasingi" in theaters on opening day alone. SSD is also working to promote the novel, brochure, perfume, necklace and other "of the series" merchandise.

“If women of 30 years or older have so far been the main target audience for the Korean Wave, 'Taewangsasingi' could broaden its influence to those in their teens and 20s,” said Keiko Sawagi, a journalist with weekly magazine Joseijishin. Enjoying viewer ratings of over 30 percent, "Taewangsasingi " ends its run on Wednesday here. It started airing on Dec. 3 on high-resolution cable channel BS HiVision in Japan and will be broadcast by NHK in the second half of next year.

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My, does anyone even remember me? LOL!!!

Hi, guys!! I know it's been like three months and no new posts!! I'm so so sorry!!! I was having some computer problems and I spent a couple of months offline.

In this new year I really hope to get this blog going, making it more personal, not just news only. I'm definitely going to change the layout, too.

Hope you guys are having a great Holiday Season!! I wish you all the best in the new year. I will be adding some news in the upcoming days hopefully.

Love you!

P.S. Here's a very interesting article from Digital Chosunilbo. Enjoy!


Why Korea Reverses the Fortunes of Hollywood Movies

Around 6,000 people have watched “Wild Hogs” in Korea, some 60,000 checked out “Chuck and Larry”, but a staggering 1.35 million have seen “August Rush.” This may puzzle some in the U.S., where “August Rush” ranked a modest 77th in terms of box office takings and made US$28.48 million as of December 20. “Wild Hogs” by contrast raked in $168.27 million to become no. 10 at the U.S. box office but closed within a week of opening in Korea. What is it that reverses the films’ fortunes here?

Aside from major blockbusters that hit Korea this year such as “Transformers” and “Spider Man 3”, “August Rush” starring Freddie Highmore as a musical prodigy and “Music and Lyrics” featuring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore were the most watched Hollywood films, both attracting around 1 million moviegoers. This is not what happened in the U.S. According to the Internet box office database www.boxofficemojo.com, “Music and Lyrics” was in 42nd place and “August Rush” in 77th. The Irish independent musical film “Once” was also an unexpected sell-out in Korea, accounting for 1/10 of the movie’s worldwide revenue of $14.64 million and drawing some 200,000 viewers.

So what makes a movie a hit or a failure in Korea? Experts point to familiar storylines and music. “Dramas that succeed in Korea are usually those with Cinderella-type stories in which characters prevail against heavy odds,” said Prof. Sim Eun-jin of Chungju University’s film studies department. “The general public tends to be drawn to romantic love stories with clear changes in emotion.” Some think that Korean viewers are trying to find something in foreign films that they can’t in Korean ones. “Japanese literature and foreign independent films like ‘Once’ are attracting people in their early to mid-20s, especially women in Korea,” said Hong Seong-nam, a movie critic. “Not many domestic films feature the fun and inspiration of everyday lives, and this seems to prompt Korean viewers to turn to overseas.”

American comedies, on the other hand, are almost always a disaster here. For instance, “Superbad”, one of the top hits among low-budget movies this year in the U.S., is likely never to make its way to Korea. “Besides dramas with happy endings and action-packed blockbusters, it is incredibly hard especially for American comedies to succeed in Korea,” says a marketer from Sony Pictures Korea.

Language is another stumbling block. The humor and parody are often lost in the translation. “Austin Powers” is a perfect case in point. “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”, the second in the series, was a huge hit in the U.S., becoming no. 4 in the box office rankings, but most viewers in Korea were baffled. Some joked the movie must owe its 120, 000 audience figures here to the U.S. Forces Korea.

“Wedding Crasher”, no. 6 at the U.S. box office in 2005, closed within 10 days of opening in Korea, with many saying they don’t understand why anyone would just crash someone’s wedding for no reason. Steve Carrell’s mega hit “The 40 Year Old Virgin” drew a paltry 50,000 people in Korea. “For a romantic comedy to succeed in Korea, it must first attract women viewers, and excessively sexual comedies don’t really have an appeal for them,” says Hong.

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Hey, everybody!!!

Sorry for not updating in like two weeks. As some of you may or may not already know I am my grandmother's caretaker. So these past couple of weeks I've been so tired I've barely had the time or the energy to update my blogs.

I'll be posting some news and articles later today and if not then probably tomorrow.

Anyway, I want to address a comment that was left in my BYJ Bday post. Because I found it fairly funny. I'm thinking the person didn't realize that I
was talking about Bae Yong Joon. The comment talked about a Joon Park, who apparently is 38 not 28 yrs. old, and that he's a fake and whatnot. Anywho, I have no idea who Joon Park and I wouldn't really care
about his age considering I'm 27 myself. It's weird the person didn't realize who I was talking about considering that there's a picture of our Yong Joon and everything.

Anyway, here's some info about Bae Yong Joon for the benefit of the person that left the comment. If I'm not mistaken he's 34 yrs. old, from Seoul, Korea. He's an actor that appears both in dramas & movies. And has a huge following mostly in Japan and several parts of Asia but also in the Americas.

Anyway, to this person, sorry you feel disillusioned about your Joon Park, but I wasn't talking about him.

Ok, so that's it. Oh, I might have to research this Joon Park now, lol! To see wtf is up with him, hahahaha!

Ok, to the rest of my very few readers, lol, I will be updating very very soon.

Hugs!

[News] 'D-War' Breaks Korean Box Office Record in U.S.

'D-War' Breaks Korean Box Office Record in U.S.

"D-War", the Korean-made monster movie from director Shim Hyung-rae, earned US$1.55 million on its opening day Friday in the U.S.
According to U.S. entertainment industry newspaper Variety and box office reporter Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com), the movie retitled "Dragon Wars" scored the all-time opening-day box-office high for Korean films in the U.S. It opened in 2,275 theaters across the nation.

According to Box Office Mojo, "Dragon Wars" was the fifth biggest opener on Friday, trailing "The Brave One" and "Mr. Woodcock", among others.

The opening day box office for "Dragon Wars" topped that of all other Korean films released in the U.S. so far, including "The Host", "Typhoon", "Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring" and "Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War".


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