Just like my quick movie reviews, I’m doing this one because Full House was my first drama. It’s a great romantic-comedy where the two main actors start out hating each other but due to unseen circumstances are forced to live with each other. They make a great pair, complementing each other perfectly. Rain, probably the most famous male singer, plays the guy who doesn’t seem to care much about the girl and Hye-Kyo made it big through this drama with her great performance. This is a safe bet for anyone looking for a good K-Drama, I highly recommend it.
Culture Notes
Here’s a great little kids song that everyone knows. The main girl sings this out of desperation and later the guy sings it to make the girl laugh. It’s called The Three Bears.
Is the video broken? Please comment so I can find a new copy. Thanks!
클래식 is by far my favorite Korean romance movie. It combines the traditional dramatic forbidden love story with a modern tale of love and happiness finally found. If you like tear jerkers, this one’s for you. The flowing dialog, beautiful cinematography and music, and deep character development all contribute to potentially the best film out of Korea.
Sometimes I think I’m a hopeless romantic…
Music Video
Cultural Notes
1. Arranged marriages were and are still fairly common in Korea, though they are a little different than what Americans think they are. Instead of the parents finalizing the decision, usually the parents continually choose new suitors while the daughters/sons can choose from the people their parents put them with.
2. More poop humor, you have to love it. I think I kind fine some in every movie. Along with seeing guys look through poop to find some beetles and later collecting bags of their OWN poop, you get to see the infamous 똥침 (literally translated as poop-needle). I have only received this once thankfully. Korean kids love to walk behind people, put their hands together making a ‘needle’ with their two index fingers, and punch you in the butt as hard as you can. I’m not looking forward to this at all.
3. Korea is a very patriarchal and age-respective society. Not to say America doesn’t have some of the same traits, but it is much more engrained in the Korean culture. There’s a special character in Korean that means dedication to your elders (효) which most Koreans believe is much more important than personal thought / freedom. Thus you see more families living with their parents, less departure from parental beliefs, etc. I won’t say what happened, but you see a very sad turn in the plot due to this particular trait.
Language Notes
A girl asks a guy to say these tongue twisters before he runs away (go here for more):
간장공장 공장장은 장 공장장이고 된장공장 공장장은 강 공장장이다.
“The manager of the soy sauce factory is Manager Jang and the manager of the soy paste factory is Manager Gang.”
