Play this song while reading. It’s the English version of a song from the Descendants of the Sun OST.
Artist: Gummy [] Song Name: You Are My Everything
“What is so good about Korean dramas?” my brother asks. I feel joy from watching them. When I am resting, it is my form of excitement. I watch Korean dramas (K-dramas) for the unique storytelling and screenwriting. Most of them have similar concepts: Cinderella and her stepmom, rich guy and poor girl, a rich girl and poor guy, old women and young man, an old man and young women, and sick man and healthy girl. Even though these concepts are so similar, I watch for the drama hence the genre, drama.
Korean dramas are not similar to American dramas because American dramas represent the mindset of the one’s directing the drama, while Korean dramas can focus on a wide set of people and mindsets. The really good dramas are able to differentiate between good writing and good directing. There are really not separate, but synonymous with each other. For all Kdramas, there is only one writer and one director. Once all the writing is done, the actors are hired and the director is chosen. Most dramas that had popular actors act in them had high ratings. In South Korea, since these dramas air on a TV network, the drama’s life is determined by the percentage of people watching the drama as it airs.
2016 has been one of the best years for K-dramas. Many of the highly rated dramas aired this year and last year. Dramas like Signal, W-Two Worlds, 25 Task Force, Uncontrollably Fond, and Doctors. All 5 of these have different flavors. Signal was about a guy getting a radio that enables him to communicate with a person in the past. W-Two Worlds is thriller K-drama about a female surgeon that has a father who draws a cartoon comic named W, but the surgeon is able to travel to the comic world. 25 Task Force is about conning people for the good of society. Uncontrollably Fond is a melodrama that focuses on a rich actor who becomes diagnosed with a terminal disease and falls in love with a girl. This one hits the correct emotions at the right moment. Doctors is about two neurosurgeons falling in love but meet several obstacles in the workplace and their private life. There are a variety of dramas about different things.
Amazingly enough, all those dramas I mentioned are better than most of the trash that are made in the US. If people were to ignore the culture differences and watch Kdramas without any prejudices, they would enjoy watching the art.
