PART 3:
I have long known that I am deeply affected by what I see — therefore I cannot watch horror movies, I once got seriously upset with an Australian acquaintance who dragged me to watch a film on n- philia ; any type of severe violence is also a no-go area for me, some action movies are okay, p— I find annoying and revolting, and even a type of psychological pressure action is hard to stomach and it enters my dreams and even days (there is a very fine-line to that which I love, as in the K-drama of The K2 which I value a lot). I have, so far, for example, not watched the highly-praised Squid Game (2021) or Moving (2023) because my sense it that I will not be able to « stomach » it well, literally.

So, why do we look at this so rarely, or do Korean scriptwriters, being part of their culture, not fully realise this important «service» they offer to the world (and hence a responsibility to do this truly well) when they put out their scripts into movies or television dramas?

Is scriptwriting in Korea —although done largely by women so far as I can tell— still very much a yang culture phenomenon ? Of course if talking about historic themes, there is no way around this, since violence, war, blood-shedding and social stratification are clearly very tough Korean topics dominated by “male” interpretations of culture and society. Is there a change in sight, albeit slowly?

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    I share your discomfort in watching something with doesn’t resonate with me or which is “not fun”. I like my dramas cute and friendly and not angsty and I have enough of that IRL.

    There is a clear demarcation of the worldview of K-movies and K-dramas. The former more often than not are gritty, violent, sexual and (for me) scary. Dramas are 180° opposite with glamorized actors, cute fluffy coating hiding a bitter pill of reality usually in small palatable doses.

    I agree the majority of women writers do give a different flavor but it is true of most women led projects across the world.

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    While the repeated tropes add a sense of familiarity and comfort to K-dramas I do feel that the earlier K-dramas till say Full House in 2004 were more Korean in their sensibilities and had a certain je ne sais quoi which was irresistible.

    With the Hallyu wave one of the downsides has been that in a bid to appeal to a more global audience the uniquely Korean values and themes have been watered down and the presentation has in a way been more glamorized.

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