50 Things You Can Learn From Korean Dramas

Flashjeff

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A friend emailed me this list which i found humorous. Hopefully, you will too!

1) Hot, rich, younger men love fat, older vulgar women.

2) If you have a best guy friend, he is in love with you. And secretly you are too.

3) You and your boyfriend will always playfully chase each other on an ice rink, at the beach, or in the leaves. And you'll laugh for no reason and your boyfriend will hit you "playfully" but the force of his push will have you flying across the room. But it's okay. Cuz you're still laughing like a crazy person.

4) Brothers/cousin/uncles-newphews will always love the same girl.

5) You're allowed to make uturns wherever you want in Korea. And there is never traffic on the side you want to u turn to.

6) There is a super quick payment device that allows you to pay a bill quickly enough for a guy to run immediately out of a restaurant after his angry girlfriend storms out.

7) Everyone has cancer.

8) If you're sick, all you need is an IV to make you feel lots better.

9) There is vomit and urine all over Seoul at nights.

10) Fighting at a pojangmacha with a random stranger is merely part of a normal night's event.

11) Soju must cost 10 cents. Everyone drinks it everyday all the time, especially the poor people. I still don't get why that's all they drink in drams

12) If you're rich, you're a jerk.

13) If you're poor, you're an angel.

14) Women sleep and wake up with full makeup on.

15) You're not studying hard enough unless you get a nosebleed.

16) If you have a nosebleed, you most definitely have cancer. And you have no money to pay for the surgery that will save your life. And your liver is missing. We're not sure where it went, but it's making your cancer progress faster.

17) If you work in a sool jeep, you have massively curly hair and wear flashy colors from the early 90's.

18) You always order orange juice or coffee at a cafe. And you never drink it. EVER. They drink almost as much as soju

19) You will always call your boyfriend by his job title. Or simply sunbaenim. Never his name. Never. He doesn't have one.

20) If you TRULY love each other, you must die together in the end. Frozen outside instead of finding shelter like sane people. Just frozen....

21) You go to America you come back miraculously successful. You go to England you come back amazingly fashionable. You stay in Korea the only thing that changes is your hairstyle.

22) And if you come back with no apparent reason then it's because you have cancer.

23) Everyone always goes to the same hospital no matter where they are.

24) If you stand out in the rain for more than five minutes, you'll end up with a fever and vertigo and people will rush you to the hospital to get some magic IV. And instead of taking an ambulance or driving they'll race you on their back.

25) Even if you're poor and can't eat, you never wear the same clothes twice.

26) If you play a poor kid, you always have dirt on your face and your hair is always messy.

27) If you're saving someone from being hit from a car, you'll push them out of the way and wait for the car to hit you instead. Couldn't be more true, their like a deer in headlights

28) Everyone has a long lost sister/brother/twin.

29) If you don't want to answer your cell phone, you can't just turn it off. The battery needs to be taken out.

30) All Korean men can drink hard, smoke long, sing well and play piano. Usually all at the same time. And at the same restaurant that has a piano that they let anyone use.

31) If you're in a relationship, you must at one point leave and have your lover tearfully come RIGHT before you board the plane (vice versa applies as well. You can be the chaser). 60% of the time you see each other, the other 40% you're roaming around in circles and pass each other about six times, but miraculously never see them.

32) If you're getting off a plane, you're ALWAYS wearing sunglasses. ALWAYS.

33) All guys wear hideous tracksuits zipped up to their neck. Even if all they're doing is jump-roping.

34) Girls will always storm off because they're mad and the guy will stoically grab them by the arm and swing them back - and by magic, not dislocate their shoulders.

35) Guys always look like they're 6 feet tall, even if they're only 5'8. Thank you camera angles.

36) Guys like to wear foundation, eyeliner and sometimes a smudge of lipliner.

37) You always get stuck in an elevator with someone who makes you feel uncomfortable. Even if there are six different elevators, you'll always be stuck in the same one with that bastard you hate (or just fought with).

38) Unless you're fabulously rich, your in-laws will always hate you

39) So will your sister-in-law.

40) Your brother-in-law might be pining away for you.

41) There are only 2 ways to kiss. You either press your lips against theirs with your mouth completely shut, and just press away for a very long and uncomfortable time. OR you devour the other person and suck out their soul. In both instances, the world spins.

42) A guy will always get the right size ring, even if you're never held hands.

43) People stare off into space and ponder a lot. They'll just stop in the middle of the road and watch a leaf on a tree for a good three minutes, and just ponder.

44) You'll get pregnant the first time you have sex.

45) You'll get pregnant if he kisses you on the forehead.

46) Hell, you'll get pregnant if you hold hands.

47) If you overcome great obstacles to be together, one of you must die. Probably due to cancer.

48) One Korean man can kick the butts of 6 gangstas. Especially when they all stand in a circle and attack the guy one by one. Then when each of them get their butts OWNED, they wise up and attack the guy at the same time. Then the guy will get pulverized and bleed out onto the dusty concrete floor of the empty warehouse they've found to fight in. There will be a fire in a trashcan somewhere. And the girl will have watched this the entire time, screaming in horror. Instead of calling 119, she'll just watch and cry. But it's okay. Cuz the next day the guy will be fine with a few random bandages and a few face scars. But never a black eye.

49) It ain't a real fight unless the gangstas fight dirty with a stick or switchblade.

50) If you study in the states (perferably Harvard), you are one of the top students and can speak perfect English (as assumed by the reactions of those around you). Of course, the rest of the world OUTSIDE of the TV can't understand a single word uttered out of your melodramatic mouth.

:D
 
35) Guys always look like they're 6 feet tall, even if they're only 5'8. Thank you camera angles.
So sayth Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Prince etc

Great list. Cheers Jeff👍
 
the guys ALWAYS cried broken hearted.:(
and feel no urge to hide it....strange..
 
Reminds me of Japanese soaps of the 50's and 60's... 😊
 
epigene said:
Reminds me of Japanese soaps of the 50's and 60's... 😊

Exactly !

S Korean TV programs recycled some old Japanese TV series storylines,no wonder pretty-boy Bae Yong Joon is smittened by Japanese obasan generation.A few high-viewer-rating dramas like " Dae Jang Geum " with seemingly good script have holes or flaws.My loose observations,S Koreans literature work is no where near their Japanese counterparts for they lack ingenuity.

Many Japanese TV doramas I've seen so far are scripted by females mostly,they could write spontaneous opening scene and flawlessly through out with seamless ending.
 
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Though I'm not into the sappy plots of Korean dramas, I do understand why Japanese obasans like them. It's the air of innocence and platonic love we no longer see in Japanese programs (there was a story of an older woman keeping a young boy as "pet" in her condo--imagine! :auch: ) I think Japanese "doramas" in general are still "in a rut" of a different sort, though there are a few "gems" once in a while... 👍

I never liked soap of any kind, but I like Dae Jang Geum (Changumu no Chikai in Japanese). I'm fascinated by the Korean period costume (I'm a history buff) and the heroine (she looks so much like Dan Fumi when she was young)! :joyful:
 
I haven't watched too many Korean Doramas, but of the ones I did watch, I noticed that the hotel restaurants, diners and other eateries all look like they were done on a set. No wonder everybody is coming down with cancer...there's no life to the dining experience....it's all cardboard...

I liked #50.....they did their study of speaking engrish from Japan very well :D
 
I've only seen about 2 episodes of the "Sam-soon" Drama. I never really made up an opinion on it though.

My experience with Korean movies... They aren't worth watching!. So far I've seen a couple of Korean movies. The only one worth a little star was probably Musa. All other Korean Horros, Action, and etc. haven't been worth watching. Therefore I automaticly put down a DVD again if I notice it is Korean.

Though the Dramas, I don't know.



Thumps up for Japanese movies however. Damn Are they good at making Horrors, Action, Dramas and almost everything else. There is only perhaps a handful of Japanese movies which I do not like (of those that I have already seen that is) The latest one being Izo. Though I was looking forward to seeing it, I really felt that I have wasted 215minutes of life watching it. :-)
but anyways, sometimes you get a good movie, other times a bad movie.. You just gotta take the bad with the good.

...somehow I ended up being quite off-topic ne?
 
I would rate majority S Korean films below average,only a few big production epic TV dramas might worth one's quality time.

Japan has the best scripted TV doramas and horrors ( include anime,2 thumbs up ) in that region.Japanese motion picture films are " a toss up " with both good and average,plus a handful of memorable ones I've seen so far.
 
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ricecake said:
I would rate majority S Korean films below average,only a few big production epic TV dramas might worth one's quality time.
Japan has the best scripted TV doramas and horrors ( include anime,2 thumbs up ) in that region.Japanese motion picture films are " a toss up " with both good and average,plus a handful of memorable ones I've seen so far.

I don't watch Korean dramas, but this friend's wife of my dad does. There is one time I went to her place and she showed one to my mother and me. She gets so involved in those dramas like disliking the actor so much who plays the villain in the drama. I mean it's just a story and the actors are just doing their job.

I don't remember the drama's title or the actor's names. But one time on CNN I saw the male actor from that drama and that he is very popular among mothers in Japan. These Japanese women fans of his even go to S Korea to visit the place where the drama was shot where the lead male and female characters fell in love.😊
 
Minty said:
I don't remember the drama's title or the actor's names,the male actor from that drama and that he is very popular among mothers in Japan. These Japanese women fans of his even go to S Korea to visit the place where the drama was shot where the lead male and female characters fell in love.😊

That's Bae Yong Joon starred in " Winter Sonata ",this S Korean TV drama took Japan by storm 2 years ago.He was quite a hit with Japanese obasan generation,I don't know how it is now.
 
ricecake said:
That's Bae Yong Joon starred in " Winter Sonata ",this S Korean TV drama took Japan by storm 2 years ago.He was quite a hit with Japanese obasan generation,I don't know how it is now.
I think he still has a following, but the craze has died down (thank God!). 😌
 
epigene said:
I think he still has a following, but the craze has died down (thank God!). 😌

It was plain stupidity,I couldn't understand how a simple storyline like "Winter Sonata " could have such pop-cultural impact.Well ....go figure.

Most S Korean actors and actresses can't act,I still do not grasp the " popularity " of so-called Korea-Wave in Asia.
 
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what I was wondering is that if the main guy gets run over by a truck in the first season, and gets run down again by another truck, you'd figure he'd have learned the first time...but it's a drama, so go figure :D
 
Post#1's list pretty much summed up what to expect from typical S Korean TV dramas,tasteless repetitious boring storylines.:LOL:

S Korean entertainment culture and literature work lack originality and ingenuity,unlike Japanese have provenly excelled in literary with countless pre-Meiji era and modern-day novels plus dorama scripts best reflect Japanese people/cultural aspects/history of any specific time periods.
 
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I moved to Seoul with a couple of friends from Canada a few years back. Before we got cable we used watch Korean soaps together. Since we spoke almost no Korean we made up our own plots and dialogue. 'Where's my Goat?' was my personal favorite. The actual soap (never found out the real name) took place in a 'traditional' setting. Of course our version centered around someone's missing goat.

Good times :)

Ps- Number 9 (There is vomit and urine all over Seoul at nights.) seems accurate.
 
I don't really watch dramas in general much less Korean Dramas but:D :D :D :D :D :D :D ROFLMAO That was too good XD
 
The only Korean dramas I've seen are the ones that air on MadTV. Great, funny stuff. Bobby Lee is definitely one of the best comedians in the business. Great, funny stuff!

Mauricio
 
Hahahha!
That list is fabulous, and somewhat accurate. The pojang macha ajumma do have frizzy perms and wear psychadelic colours (sp?), there is vomit and urine all over the streets, and the guys can be 6ft tall with the help of special shoes.. not just camera angles.
It's so funny watching Korean dramas, because in reality aside from the grotty things you see... the luxury bars and houses really are a minority.
Anyway I love Korea as my adopted home, so I feel justified in badmouthing it a little. There are more positive (sometimes) things than negative, but the portrayal of Korea is absurd.
Mind you, the young womens actions, and the businessmens drinking habits
are pretty realistic. The painted on full face makeup, and ever changing over the top hairstyles? Yup they are existant too.
I love this list, might have to forward it onto a few of my friends too, thanks Jeff!
 
Kari_Nari: The pleasure was all mine! Glad to read you enjoyed the list!

🙂
 
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