This blog will be about Asian TV series reviews, music and random venting/ranting. For now. I don't know how I will keep updating this site and what changes I will do but hey, I'm new and I'm glad to share my thoughts here. And don't get me wrong, this blog will be critical, realistic. I'm not here to drool over hot celebrities.
Nota: sorry for my English, I try my best.
Let's start.
Korean dramas, or TV series, if you don't know what I'm talking about. They're a mix of soap operas and romantic TV movies. In my opinion, since American TV series are completely different from Asian series.
I've seen a few Korean dramas, which sometimes portray 30+ year old single women struggling to find a partner in order to settle and marry. And I've noticed a lot of things about South Korean society, at least about traditional mentality and mariage there.
Those dramas kinda have this the traditional mentality as the rightest while entertaining people. Those dramas don't really promote career women. [Obviously, producers don't say it explicitly, these dramas are romantic comedies, so there are many funny and moving scenes/moments. I actually enjoy them.]
Usually these women are laughed at, feel guilty about their situation. I kinda get the idea of getting married before getting old and ugly and losing "value" (very pejorative term, I hate it).
30 year old women are still very attractive and pretty for many of them. Asians are lucky to be skinny or thin with a smooth skin until their 30s and +, the same body they had when they were teenagers. There shouldn't be a best before date anyway, so to speak, no matter your body shape. Being pretty in any country is important, let's face it, beauty is the first thing we see when meeting someone. But in South Korea, plastic surgery is pretty common (no bad pun intended. Ok, yes), parents sometimes offer to pay for surgery for daughters, even when they don't suggest the idea. "You'll like it, it'll be a bonus in life, really". It's so easy, you even have discounts if you go with your friends (who will have surgery too). I've read an article on this phenomenon. I also noticed in TV dramas that the boyfriend's mother often look at his 30 year old girlfriend and doesn't hesitate to tell her what she thinks of her, face to face: "You're ugly, fat, old, desperate, etc". And this is just the first encounter with her, an introduction because the mother doesn't know her yet. I understood that in-laws are very important for Koreans. Family is important as well as getting along with them. Sometimes, as the mother or father-in-law get older and widowed, s/he lives with her/his kid who got married and has kids. It's very common. I guess this why parents are that strict when meeting the partner of their children. But what I don't get is the value of respect. Asians are known for being very respectful and quiet. In TV dramas, older people have all the rights to bash/make fun of their younger pairs but the not the contrary. You have to respect the elders, I agree, but how come older people can act so mean and arrogant? How come they act like they're hysteric/very angry at them when they're supposed to be wiser? I've seen many characters acting mad and yellling at their kids...Korean parents seem very controlling too. Arranged marriages still exist and they have pretty good advertising on TV in general.
So those dramas say "yeah, this single woman has found a boyfriend after being alone for a couple of years but it happens very rarily, after searching hard, and look at the dude she's dating; too young, a little imature or he doesn't have a great job and his parents hate her".
Examples: Drama 1: "The Woman Who Still Want To Marry" ;
The new boyfriend of Shin Young is much younger than her. She's 33 and he's 24, if I remember well. He's still a student, who depend on his parents (his mother bought a flat and lend it to him). Of course his mom is opposed to him dating a 33 year old woman.
The new boyfriend of Da Jung is an acupunturist, they're the same age but he's never had a girlfriend and is unexperienced, act like a stupid and creepy person. And his parents already thought of an arranged marriage with a girl from a rich family.
Drama 2: "My Lovely Kim Sam Soon" and Drama 3: "Dal Ja's Spring" both have female protagonists who have no choice at their age (30+) to date the first men interested in them, as they have fallen in love with them. These 2 men happen, again, to be in their 20s, one of them has quit his good job (lawyer) after a traumatic case he was in charge of. He's working in a restaurant then. Not a boyfriend to be proud of, in South Korea. Moreover, Dal Ja is in a dilemma: 2 men are into her and she has to choose between them. One of them is a gentlemen, 35, wealthy and has a good job. The problem: he's married, he wife doesn't want to divorce. Nice 35 year old men who are celibate seem to be hard to find. All these dramas have the same message, these women can't have a "perfect" man (celibate, wealthy, good social status, older than them, marriage and kids in he future.). Indeed, in Kim Sam Soon's series the guy's mother refused to let her son marry her, and even if he attempted to make a baby with Sam Soon to get her mom's approval, she didn't get pregnant and couldn't marry him in the end. Shin Young didn't marry but she had to wait for 2 years and a few months before being in a relationship with her boyfriend without any worries. I supposed she married him when she turned 35 or so, but it's likely she didn't. Getting married in South Korea is very expected, more than in Western countries.
These dramas are interesting for other reasons too. Having a protagonist who is in despair or pain, who has to make choices and evolve. Realizing that what she thought wasn't that true and accepting her feelings, putting less pressure on herself, letting time go by to see if her love is worth it. It's really human and touching. Sometimes, these dramas are really realistic, I enjoy watching them =) They're definitely not "old fashioned", I just can't see them without thinking about the women situation in South Korea.
What I was trying to say here is that Western countries like the US or France don't put that much pressure about getting married, there's many women who are in their thirties who find a partner and marry. I'm not blaming Korean people, I'm just saying what I see, what I understand and what "bothers" me in all that. I respect their culture, but I can't agree on certain points. Dramas are interesting, they reflect quite well South Korea, the modern as well as the traditional South Korea.
