confession of a (not-so) aca-fan #1
okay, before I get to write my full detailed plan of my dissertation, I feel a huge urge to write a confession here. I think, now I become a full fledge Korean pop culture fan. So, this post will be the first of a series of confession of a (not-so) aca-fan which will be updated (hopefully) regularly.
Well, my first encounter with South Korean (hereafter Korean) pop culture was perhaps watching episodes of Full House on one of Indonesian television broadcast station - if I remember correctly. I wasn't a fan of the actors and actresses at the first time I watched it, but later was drawn to watch more of Song Hye Gyo's work. What drew me first to Full House was a desire to watch a fresh romantic comedy which saved me from boring Indonesian soap opera with many eyes-widening-kind-of-acting. Though its storyline was probably not the best when I come to think about it later (for instance: I cannot accept the fact that a best friend sold her friend's house to a stranger, and the worst part is Song Hye Gyo's character didn't do anything about it, and still care to meet her), but hell, K-drama is not that spectacularly different from Indonesian soap operas in terms of logical narrative, so I leave it at the back of my mind. Full House is one of legendary K-drama in my opinion. I watch it almost every time it gets re-aired in Indonesian TV broadcast station (my mom also enjoys it). I even watched it again by borrowing my friend's DVDs when I was on the edge of falling form a stressful final year in undergrad. I like seeing how relationship grows from disliking to falling head over heel (though it's one of the repeated theme in K-drama and movie that gradually makes me sick). Then, there was this tragic love story, Endless Love a.k.a Autumn in my heart (with Song Hye Gyo, and made me fan of Won Bin --- or was it the other way around? Endless Love and then Full House?). Whichever the case, after that I sort of followed Won Bin's other work: Friends - a Japan-Korea co-production - so I guess, I do follow actors and actresses (but at the same time, before K-drama, there was this Japanese dorama craze also in Indonesia. I watched Tokyo Love Story, Long Vacation, Beach Boys, Strawberry and the Short Cake and Great Teacher Onizuka -- all of which made me fan of some respective lead actors/actresses - so it led me to watch Kyoko Fukada's work). But then, this craze was a bit forgotten with school life and other more interesting things.
I developed another thing with K-drama when I watch Boys Before Flower. I wasn't interested into renting dramas or films before this, I always watch through television broadcast (or free borrow from a good friend). Ah, but then, BOF was a craze for me. I was already a university student, but watching this 4 good-looking pretty boys appeal to me (though sometimes I wouldn't admit it). I was in love with their packaging and cute-funny acting. It seems fresh, yet you can argue it wasn't well-acted. What actually brought me to this was actually the fact that I did watch the Taiwan version of it. And I sort of enjoyed it (I had a thing with a guy like Jihoo sunbae - but I actually like the Taiwan version of it better - Vic Zhou anyone? ).
Then I watched more of Korean movies, most of which were romantic comedy such as My Sassy Girl (old time favorite). Why? Simply for laugh. It was funny, yet tear jerking sometimes though if you watch too many at small interval, you'll get tired of repeated formulas. Nevertheless, I also encountered Il Mare and Three Iron which to me were also legend on their own right. And I love Il Mare so much that I think it was waaaaay better than The Lake House -- the Hollywood remake of it. So, then I realized Korean movie and drama were not limited to sappy old romantic comedy at all. (and now that I think about it, I have a thing for sea and house by a sea, so this partly explains my love for Il Mare and Full House).
Though I don't watch every K-drama aired in Indonesian television (I don't watch Coffee Prince, Sassy Girl Chun Yang, Jang Geum, oranother drama about a girl pretending to be a boy in order to get into a boy band which I totally forget the title You're Beautiful), I have to admit that I save a space in my heart for Korean-produced drama or films once in a while. I watch them as a friend of mine kindly gave me the chance to copy from her external drives the movie her brother downloaded for hours. Other time I watch it with my friends through renting DVDs. When I went to Sydney, I admitted I rarely watch their TV programs (except for Offspring because it started just when I got there, so I wasn't lost in the story line, and I love it). My weekly escape was Korean films accessed through sites like mysoju because internet was super fast there, in comparison to my home in Jogja. However, when I went back to Jogja, the craze cooled down a bit as there was no more fast internet connection which allowed me to watch movies online. So I rely once again for friends who lend me their collection or renting DVD once in a while.
It wasn't until I got to London where my craze totally developed. You could give me a quiz. I could write an essay about it. Now, I could tell you who is who (well not entirely, but yeah my knowledge has really expanded beyond my expectation). Before, I only know Rain, Song Hye Gyo, Won Bin, and BOF casts (don't ask me why - it's just because they are a candy for my eyes), full stop. I don't know the rest, and I don't care. Not only I know some of the actors and actresses names now, I also know some of the comedians and K-pop idols and few other singers who don't belong to the idol category.
Now, I am a fan of Yoo Jae Suk. I saw first when I watched Family Outing (I can't remember what drew me to watch this show, though). And then I just liked him and started to watch more of his shows.
Hwang Bo (becoming fan as a result of watching We Got Married - she is a singer and TV persona). love this song. she sings as if crying her heart out. bonus: meaningful lyrics and wonderful music video. not particularly in love with her singing ability live, but her voice is unique. plus, the way she sings sad song definitely makes it even much sadder. mostly, I'm a fan of her personality. It's a deep song about woman who just experiences heartbreak, but strives hard to grow out of it (see for eng sub: here), and the music video is just simply as deep as the song.
Lee Si Young (again a result of watching We Got Married) - an actress I first noticed through her role in Boys Before Flowers, but then had forgotten since then. I "found" her again when I watched Five Sense of Eros, and then We Got Married through her make-to-believe marriage with Shinhwa Junjin. But after that, I am still a fan of her because of her unusual and strong character *some dubbed it as 4D*: tomboyish, witty, cheerful, yet complicated.
Park Hyo Shin (ah his voice is definitely gold, and I've referred to some of his singing lately in this blog). Here he is, singing a cover of Baby Baby by 4Men when serving military duty (he's the one with glasses) - it was the first performance I heard of him.
and Gummy (below vid, her singing I'm Sorry feat. TOP from Big Bang - her voice is damn good, also when singing live. powerful and you could really feel the emotion).
As well as several other singers or groups for instance Alex (who I came to know from We Got Married - I link it to his sad or perhaps ill performance of Flowerpot - a cover version from Loveholic), Shin Hye Sung of Shinhwa (the link provided to my favorite of his live performance) and Leesang - (hip hop duo - well i'm not avid listener of hip hop music, but I got to know this one through Running Man and Come to Play which casts each of its members. And I like some of their songs like the one I link here --again with lyrics people can easily relate to). Though I don't really know these mentioned artists' songs one by one, but I like quite a lot of their songs.
Apart from that, I regularly watch variety shows like: Family Outing Season 1 and Running Man and also We Got Married Season 1 (to be specific, I only watch 4 couples so I skip unrelated parts).
And I must admit, I also grow fond of 3 K-pop idols boy band: Shinhwa, JYJ [DBSK], SS501 (and well, maybe a bit of Big Bang won't hurt either) - a fact which still amuses me as I had gotten over the fact that I was a fan of Boyzone in my teen years, and then suddenly, at 24 years old, I become a fan of boy bands whose live performances sometimes annoy me with their rawness and dullness or even complete absurdness (from my standpoint). It's actually not only how they perform musically which appeal to me, but most of the time, their personalities constructed for viewers at home that attract me.
Bonus: Big Bang's music video of Blue *with English sub
I also find my weekly (or sometimes, more often than that) escape by watching Korean drama; even some new ones which are constantly being fansubbed and uploaded via various sites such as Gentleman's Dignity and I Need Romance 2 and many other films (which at some point I may review here).
Well sometimes, I laugh it off - this new habit. But, I think I have to admit it. I'm slowly becoming Korean pop culture fan in closet.
But, how and why this craze started in London? For those I mention above, what's so appealing about them? Also, why Korean pop products in the frist place? Would I still be liking things Korean, had I not chosen this topic for my dissertation? Well, I think I'd better save it for next post. See you then! :)
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| Full House |
Well, my first encounter with South Korean (hereafter Korean) pop culture was perhaps watching episodes of Full House on one of Indonesian television broadcast station - if I remember correctly. I wasn't a fan of the actors and actresses at the first time I watched it, but later was drawn to watch more of Song Hye Gyo's work. What drew me first to Full House was a desire to watch a fresh romantic comedy which saved me from boring Indonesian soap opera with many eyes-widening-kind-of-acting. Though its storyline was probably not the best when I come to think about it later (for instance: I cannot accept the fact that a best friend sold her friend's house to a stranger, and the worst part is Song Hye Gyo's character didn't do anything about it, and still care to meet her), but hell, K-drama is not that spectacularly different from Indonesian soap operas in terms of logical narrative, so I leave it at the back of my mind. Full House is one of legendary K-drama in my opinion. I watch it almost every time it gets re-aired in Indonesian TV broadcast station (my mom also enjoys it). I even watched it again by borrowing my friend's DVDs when I was on the edge of falling form a stressful final year in undergrad. I like seeing how relationship grows from disliking to falling head over heel (though it's one of the repeated theme in K-drama and movie that gradually makes me sick). Then, there was this tragic love story, Endless Love a.k.a Autumn in my heart (with Song Hye Gyo, and made me fan of Won Bin --- or was it the other way around? Endless Love and then Full House?). Whichever the case, after that I sort of followed Won Bin's other work: Friends - a Japan-Korea co-production - so I guess, I do follow actors and actresses (but at the same time, before K-drama, there was this Japanese dorama craze also in Indonesia. I watched Tokyo Love Story, Long Vacation, Beach Boys, Strawberry and the Short Cake and Great Teacher Onizuka -- all of which made me fan of some respective lead actors/actresses - so it led me to watch Kyoko Fukada's work). But then, this craze was a bit forgotten with school life and other more interesting things.
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| Friends |
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| Boys Before Flower - from Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango (turned to Taiwanese TV drama, to Japanese TV drama and then Korean) |
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| Vic Zhou as Hua Che Lei (F4 Taiwan version) |
Then I watched more of Korean movies, most of which were romantic comedy such as My Sassy Girl (old time favorite). Why? Simply for laugh. It was funny, yet tear jerking sometimes though if you watch too many at small interval, you'll get tired of repeated formulas. Nevertheless, I also encountered Il Mare and Three Iron which to me were also legend on their own right. And I love Il Mare so much that I think it was waaaaay better than The Lake House -- the Hollywood remake of it. So, then I realized Korean movie and drama were not limited to sappy old romantic comedy at all. (and now that I think about it, I have a thing for sea and house by a sea, so this partly explains my love for Il Mare and Full House).
 |
| Il Mare (my all time favourite) |
Though I don't watch every K-drama aired in Indonesian television (I don't watch Coffee Prince, Sassy Girl Chun Yang, Jang Geum, or
It wasn't until I got to London where my craze totally developed. You could give me a quiz. I could write an essay about it. Now, I could tell you who is who (well not entirely, but yeah my knowledge has really expanded beyond my expectation). Before, I only know Rain, Song Hye Gyo, Won Bin, and BOF casts (don't ask me why - it's just because they are a candy for my eyes), full stop. I don't know the rest, and I don't care. Not only I know some of the actors and actresses names now, I also know some of the comedians and K-pop idols and few other singers who don't belong to the idol category.
Now, I am a fan of Yoo Jae Suk. I saw first when I watched Family Outing (I can't remember what drew me to watch this show, though). And then I just liked him and started to watch more of his shows.
 |
| Yoo Jae Suk - comedian and what people refer as national MC, I tell you what, he's super duper funny, and he seems to have such great personality |
Kim Jong Kook, a ballad singer and TV persona known for his part in X-Man, Family Outing Season 1, and Running Man. below is a music video of his song (my favorite). a really sad song, and I bet anyone who falls in love with a good/close friend could obviously relate to it (see here for english translation of the song). the music video itself starred his fellow cast in Family Outing, with whom he was famous for a fake scandal (don't ask me what a fake scandal is): Park Ye Jin. You can also click on the mp3 here, to find his other famous sad song. * I wonder why many of his songs are sad and about unrequited love, though*
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| some of Family Outing Season 1 Cast (which I already made a bit of reference here) Yong Jong Shin, Park Ye Jin, Lee Chun Hee, Kim Soo Roo, Yoo Jae Suk, Lee Hyori and Kang Daesung |
Hwang Bo (becoming fan as a result of watching We Got Married - she is a singer and TV persona). love this song. she sings as if crying her heart out. bonus: meaningful lyrics and wonderful music video. not particularly in love with her singing ability live, but her voice is unique. plus, the way she sings sad song definitely makes it even much sadder. mostly, I'm a fan of her personality. It's a deep song about woman who just experiences heartbreak, but strives hard to grow out of it (see for eng sub: here), and the music video is just simply as deep as the song.
Lee Si Young (again a result of watching We Got Married) - an actress I first noticed through her role in Boys Before Flowers, but then had forgotten since then. I "found" her again when I watched Five Sense of Eros, and then We Got Married through her make-to-believe marriage with Shinhwa Junjin. But after that, I am still a fan of her because of her unusual and strong character *some dubbed it as 4D*: tomboyish, witty, cheerful, yet complicated.
Park Hyo Shin (ah his voice is definitely gold, and I've referred to some of his singing lately in this blog). Here he is, singing a cover of Baby Baby by 4Men when serving military duty (he's the one with glasses) - it was the first performance I heard of him.
and Gummy (below vid, her singing I'm Sorry feat. TOP from Big Bang - her voice is damn good, also when singing live. powerful and you could really feel the emotion).
As well as several other singers or groups for instance Alex (who I came to know from We Got Married - I link it to his sad or perhaps ill performance of Flowerpot - a cover version from Loveholic), Shin Hye Sung of Shinhwa (the link provided to my favorite of his live performance) and Leesang - (hip hop duo - well i'm not avid listener of hip hop music, but I got to know this one through Running Man and Come to Play which casts each of its members. And I like some of their songs like the one I link here --again with lyrics people can easily relate to). Though I don't really know these mentioned artists' songs one by one, but I like quite a lot of their songs.
Apart from that, I regularly watch variety shows like: Family Outing Season 1 and Running Man and also We Got Married Season 1 (to be specific, I only watch 4 couples so I skip unrelated parts).
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| WGM season 1 picture, includes most of the couples I watch the most |
And I must admit, I also grow fond of 3 K-pop idols boy band: Shinhwa, JYJ [DBSK], SS501 (and well, maybe a bit of Big Bang won't hurt either) - a fact which still amuses me as I had gotten over the fact that I was a fan of Boyzone in my teen years, and then suddenly, at 24 years old, I become a fan of boy bands whose live performances sometimes annoy me with their rawness and dullness or even complete absurdness (from my standpoint). It's actually not only how they perform musically which appeal to me, but most of the time, their personalities constructed for viewers at home that attract me.
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| JYJ -- idol (or not so idol) with the most controversies in the industry |
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| Shinhwa with 14 years in the industry as the longest running idol (or should I say boyband, err manband?) in South Korea and should I say, funniest? |
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| SS501, another idol group currently in hiatus I got to know them after watching BOF (Kim Hyun Joong as the leader) |
I also find my weekly (or sometimes, more often than that) escape by watching Korean drama; even some new ones which are constantly being fansubbed and uploaded via various sites such as Gentleman's Dignity and I Need Romance 2 and many other films (which at some point I may review here).
Well sometimes, I laugh it off - this new habit. But, I think I have to admit it. I'm slowly becoming Korean pop culture fan in closet.
But, how and why this craze started in London? For those I mention above, what's so appealing about them? Also, why Korean pop products in the frist place? Would I still be liking things Korean, had I not chosen this topic for my dissertation? Well, I think I'd better save it for next post. See you then! :)
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