I have a new addiction: Korean K-Dramas on Netflix. An idea for a show: CATS VS DOGS. Working in and around an animal shelter has all the intensity and daily drama that a good K-Drama producer could want. Comedy, Tragedy, and Romance. Medical mysteries to solve. Personal struggles. The ups and downs of working with a team. Disappointments and Triumphs.
CATS V DOGS A crusty old cat lady versus a sincere and sympathetic dogs veterinarian. She shows him how cats can be lovable. He teaches her to be more trusting. Pasts revealed. Medical cases solved. Funds raised. Romance blossoms. Setting: a fishing village on a beautiful beach surrounded by jungle. Almost true to my life except I have not yet met the veterinarian of my dreams.
They must have amazing acting schools in Korea. And wonderful directors and writers for the shows. The shows have typical formulas depending on type - but the formulas get reworked in various settings. And they all have elements underscoring the contemporary clashes between conservative traditions and the values emerging in 2022.
Startup was so exciting for insights into the business world and 21st century technology.
Forecasting Love and Weather is a lovely May-December romance between an older woman boss and a brilliant young male forecaster while delving into the world of meterology.
Have been binge-watching Good Doctor - Korean and The Good Doctor - American. Both center on an autistic but savant character who comes up with answers to medical mysteries and genius solutions. Doctor Romantic is another I loved, especially the 1st season characters. I like the focus on the characters and dynamics of the members of the teams that surround the central characters.
One Spring Day has an adorable couple - a strong female lead and her sisters and the humble but beautiful man she is drawn to. She is a librarian; he is a pharmacist. Simple settings - the library, the pharmacy, their homes apartments. And much time spent in cars, restaurants and walks in parks. He plays basketball. She deals with a boyfriend she is bored with. He has a gorgeous little son. The same settings repeat in so many of the K-dramas. But this one has such naturalistic acting that it seems impossible that they are repeating scripted lines. It feels so real.
Crash Landing on You pairs a South Korean woman with a North Korean man in such an intense romance that the real life actors fell in love and recently had a lavish wedding.
All time best so far - HOMETOWN CHA CHA CHA. The polls agree. Setting: a seaside fishing village. Characters: A big city woman dentist who starts her own clinic. The town's chief who is both big chief and bottle washer. Many delightful characters - townspeople and visiting TV crew. Romance: 5 stars. The series tracks the growth of the relationship between the dentist and the chief = at first very distrustful through growing trust and admiration with setbacks as past scars are revealed until a very very happy ending! The "chemistry" between the leading actors, the richness of characterizations, and the beauty of the place - all alluring.
High production values for all the K-Dramas impress me too.
But the real key to my addiction is the "comedy of manners" that seems to underscore all the series. Sometimes openly expressed in the various levels of bowing to each other - no nod or a small nod means superior disapproves of inferior. Female characters often are the leaders in the fight against older confining traditions - and the dramas underline how the world is changing. No longer is marriage a requirement - heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious scenes of older generations trying to demand preservation of traditions and misunderstanding the younger ones in their quests for self-determination.
American TV and movies in comparison have so much gratuitous senseless violence, abusive language and harshness. Caring as a theme seems to have been lost. To me, the cracks in the veneer came with the debut of The Simpsons. People laughed and we got "Trumped." Like taking the lid off a trash can, the garbage in American culture was revealed in the so-called Trump years. It's still there but maybe slowly it can be cleaned up. Otherwise I despair for American culture.
I know that there are still many Americans on the more liberal side - people who care about the environment, the climate disasters, the horrors of factory farms and the corporate takeovers of the global economy. I know there are people who care about the land, the sea, the animals, and the fates of people all over the planet.
But the left is under siege from the right - those who assert their rights to litter, to drive fast, to not to wear masks, vaccinate, or clean up their acts. The ones who do not care, who think that freedom means they don't have to be considerate of other people - they worry me greatly. May the ones who do care survive and thrive!
In the meantime, I find life in Asia and as depicted on Korean TV series much more enjoyable. People in Asia - or at least on TV - do consider others. They do care. And that gives me some hope.
