When I lived in Guatemala, I used to watch the Spanish -language soap operas. They were great and really helped my Spanish. So now I watch Korean "dramas" as they are called. This was my first drama - The Emperor of the Sea - a 51-episode drama about a famous merchant whose influence supposedly brought prosperity and justice to the Shilla Kingdom in Southern Korea around 800 AD. Only about 6 things ever happen in this drama (characters peer out to sea on a boat, or they sneak around with swords and slaughter all their enemies in a sword fight, or they sit around a table and talk, or they hide and then peer around to look at the person they love with longing eyes, or they hide and eavesdrop on their enemies, or they ride around on horses.) Still, the scenes and costumes and manners and sound of the language seemed beautiful to me, and the cultural messages gave me pause. Here for example are two:- In these dramas, when characters (at least the "good" ones) review their life, they tend to ask, "Did I serve enough? Did I help my friend (family, country etc.) enough? Was my life used well enough to protect what I value?" Americans, it seems to me, tend rather to look back and ask,"Did I live life fully enough? Did I dance, love, risk, etc. enough?" Our focus tends to be more self-centered, more on whether we grabbed enough for ourselves. (Am I right on that?)
- When things go wrong, the "good" characters generally accept the blame. If a friend betrays them, it is because they did not care enough, did not inspire enough, , did not help enough. If a battle is lost, it is because they did not lead enough or plan well enough. It is never someone else's fault. They do not resort to lawyers to investigate all the defensive people who claim it was someone else's fault. The "good" characters look to see how they (not someone else) could and should have done better to avert a bad outcome.
I like my own culture, and I like the emphasis on individual opportunity, but these dramas prod me a little. Of course, there are all kinds of other things such as the emphasis on the role of fate and on hierarchy and on obedience and on national pride and.. lots of food for thought.
And - what a great way to hear spoken Korean. My teachers say my pronunciation isn't that bad; it that's true, I owe it to the hours I have spent watching dramas and getting a feel for the sound of the language (even if I can't catch much of the meaning of the words.)
For anyone interested in a taste of Korean (or Japanese, or Taiwanese, or Chinese dramas) these websites can entertain you for hours: Mysoju and Dramacrazy All are with English subtitles.
Very interesting! And yeah, Mysoju is so cool!
ReplyDeleteInteresting observation about the difference between western and Korean TV. I think the focus on living fully and dancing/loving/risking enough can be interpreted in lots of different ways in addition to a reflection of greed in the US. There's the 60's counter-culture interpretation where fun is seen as rebellious and threatening to some kind of repressive order that doesn't want to be shaken up. I think this is really popular in American movies and TV (American Beauty is the best example I can think of), and even though I really disagree with this perspective at least it's not transparently or intentionally selfish. I think these ideas and narratives are present in some Japanese media, but it would be interesting if these weren't too visible in Korean media.
ReplyDeleteUltimately though, I think the focus on fun and risk taking is symbolic of the importance individual freedom and control in the west. Characters who love and live fully are portrayed as those who had control of their life and their values. Not living fully is taken as a sign that a character was not able to be completely free, and was probably used by other forces for malicious purposes that did not necessarily work for what the character wanted. And also, since living fully is often a matter of issues like "did I spend my time at the office or going to my kids baseball games?" it isn't always self centered. So, although the focus on fun and living fully is indicative of value placed in the individual, it isn't necessarily a focus on value placed on the pleasure-maximizing atomic individual that fits so neatly into a capitalist/consumerist culture.
Given the focus on obedience and service that you mention, I guess it's not surprising that there is little focus on fun, living fully, and risk taking. Both perspectives have their strengths and weaknesses I think, but do seem at odds with one another. Definitely lots to think about, but I don't want to post too much!